When an eyesore can be an opportunity

“It seems that some churches seem to have worship written into their DNA that is what they are known for and what they excel at. For us mission has been part of our DNA,” says Susan Leiper, manager of The Hub, set up by Altrincham Baptist Church.

“We have also had a string of great ministers who have encouraged us to be creative in our community engagement. Our present Minister, Roger Sutton, has an eye for the opportunity and a willingness just to ask.”

Into the mayor’s office, via Uganda!

The Hub is the culmination of something that started a few years ago when the church organised for a Ugandan choir to come over and perform in the town. As a consequence Roger was invited to visit the choir’s home town, Ginga, in Uganda. At the end of his stay the Ugandan Mayor sent his greetings to the Mayor of Altrincham and an invitation to pay a visit.

When Roger returned he was able to extend this invitation to the Mayor of Altrincham, who responded positively. This link turned into a civic visit and subsequently a formal ‘twinning’ developed between Ginga and Altrincham.

The conversations with the Mayor’s office also gave Roger the opportunity to ask what, from the council’s perspective, the biggest eyesore in the town was. This was identified as the interchange - a place where the bus, Metrolink and railway meet.

The church set about tidying and beautifying the area. They installed planters and maintained them. They instigated a campaign to have a roof put on platform one and Friends of Altrincham Interchange was born. “This changed the attitude of many in the town towards the church,” says Susan.

Being a bit cheeky

At about this time one of our church members noticed a Day Care Centre for the Elderly had closed. She suggested that Roger that wrote a cheeky letter to the Council asking if the church could use the building for 2 years while its own building was refurbished. The aim was to develop the former Day Care Centre as a community centre.

Roger’s letter met with a positive response. The church now has a short term lease on the building for two years. In many respects this has been a step of faith for the church with no guarantee that they will get the long lease at the end of the time. The church also had to renovate the building to make it useable as ‘The Hub’.

“We felt very fortunate that the church had within its membership all the skills necessary to do this work and to do it to a high standard,” says Susan. “We thought that it would take time to build up the clientele, but from the word go people were keen to use what we were offering. They already felt some ownership of it because it was a community building.”

This has led the church to realise that there is a distinct difference between a church that is used for the community and a community building that is used by the church.

At present the church is running at least 23 different ministries out of The Hub. They have 3 paid staff, several volunteers, and are developing a Gap Year programme. “Until recently we have not really had anything to offer young people on Gap Years,” explains Susan,.”but now we can get them involved in the Centre particularly with the children and youth programmes.”

For further info

Susan would be very pleased to talk to any church who is thinking about serving the community along similar lines. You can contact her via The Hub website.

Last Updated 03 December 2010