From Stay and Play to Go and Serve

The Springfield Project started life as the parent and toddler group (‘Stay and Play’) at St Christopher’s Church, Springfield in Birmingham.

“A teacher who attended the church could see the potential of Stay and Play to engage with families in the community,” explains Project Director Angie King. “The project, though the church didn’t know it at the time, began to develop from there.”

In 1998 the church commissioned a feasibility study, then an architect’s study, to consider what could be done with the church hall to serve the community. Then funding was sought and successfully awarded for the appointment of a Community Project Leader and the launch of the Springfield Project.

“Since those early days the project has grown and continues to do so,” says Angie.

The depth, breadth and quality of what the project does in serving its community is impressive. In addition to Stay and Play, there is a nursery, out of school clubs, and a family support team that provides a whole range of practical support.

The area around the project is ethnically diverse but predominantly Pakistani Muslim. As a consequence, the project has become involved in interfaith work. “We are looking to secure funding to employ a Christian and a Muslim to begin to address the needs of the youth in our community,” Angie says.

The project was established with the aim of:

• Providing relevant community services in the area of Springfield, Birmingham
• Being a community focus open to all
• Crossing social and cultural barriers
• Networking and collaborating with other agencies
• Promoting understanding and the common good
• Supporting family relationships.

This has since been summarised by the mission statement to express “God’s love in our Community”.

Angie explains that the most exciting phase of the project came when they were approached by the local council to see whether they were interested in becoming a Children’s Centre. “This was a real encouragement,” she says, “because it meant the quality of what we were offering was being acknowledged by those in local government.”

This has led to the local authority awarding the project “just £110,000 short of £2,000,000 of capital grants to build a new purpose-built facility where the church hall used to stand.”

Of the 67 Children's Centres being built across Birmingham, The Springfield Project:

• is the only faith-based Children's Centre
• has a vision to engage as a faith-based project with other faith groups, in particular the majority Muslim community
• has become trusted in the local area so that large numbers from different cultural and faith communities attend and make use of its services and support
• has a very strong volunteer base
• is pioneering interfaith youth activities in partnership nationally with Faith to Faith, Scripture Union, the Christian Muslim Forum, the Church of England, and locally with schools, mosques and the Springfield Neighbourhood Forum.

The various projects are staffed by 40 paid and volunteer workers, with three staff paid for by the Health Care Trust.

“We could not do what we do without volunteers,” acknowledges Angie. “They have in many respects been responsible for the success of this project. We would like to be able to secure funding to employ a Volunteers Manager so that we can continue to secure a steady stream of volunteers from the church and surrounding churches.”

Angie says the project delivers what it can in partnership with others. Yet they remain distinctive as a Christian initiative, and ensure the project continues to be a part of the church.

“This has always been our primary concern,” says Angie. It is worked out in three ways:

• Key posts are always occupied by those who have “a deep understanding of the Christian faith”.
• The management committee is a sub group of the PCC. The majority of appointments are therefore from and by the church.
• They look to the church for volunteers.

But they also find that employing people from other faiths and none provides many opportunities to talk about issues relating to faith.

What are Angie’s final words of advice for others looking to walk down this path of community engagement?

“Relationship is everything,” she says, “both in terms of funding and credibility with the authorities, and also with clients. We need always to remember that making a difference with families is what this is all about.”

www.springfieldproject.org.uk

Last Updated 21 October 2008