Ellesmere Port Community Ministry

• Rose Uitterdijk leads the community ministry in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, making connections and building relationships with those who aren’t part of  a ‘regular’ church.

• Here Rose shares how this ministry, enabled by  Home Mission, has developed in the past year...

“One of the things we focus on, and love to do, here in Ellesmere Port is gathering people. Of course, during the various lockdowns we were not able to do that, and at times we worried about what life and ministry post-covid would look like. Would the fragile work and relationships be damaged? What would we find when we were able to gather in person again?

As we have gradually been able to meet in person once more, and as people’s fear of contact has subsided, we find ourselves with a depth and richness that was not there before. Much of our relating is around tables, whether that be one-to-one in coffee shops as we listen deeply to  people’s stories or as a small group of friends walking with someone through devastating loss and grief. It might be at our home, where we have had to buy a new leaf to extend our table!

Tables have become for us the symbol of sharing life. Each Thursday morning, we take a few tables at a local church cafe and week-by-week relationships are growing. We laugh together, we mourn losses together and we learn new skills. One friend decided to learn Dutch so she could surprise Dirk by saying ‘hello.’ She showed me what she had been learning and I didn’t  recognise any words.  It turned out that she had been faithfully learning Danish! 

It is also on a Thursday that we meet and have opportunity to support and give welcome to asylum seekers and refugees. It is truly humbling and heartbreaking to hear their stories and to witness the pain that they feel having had to leave family behind. For those from Iran, some with family who have been arrested in the latest troubles, life is really tough.  In sitting and sharing with people I confess that it is sometimes hard to find the good news. For some of our friends, life is painfully challenging at times. However, one of my favourite Bible verses is from Isaiah 43 ‘I will give you the treasures of darkness and riches hidden in secret places, so that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who calls you by your name’. We are learning to look for the treasure that is found and formed in dark and difficult times, where immense pressure produces beauty.

We celebrated and rejoiced with our Iranian friend, who, after five long years of separation and hard work, was finally  reunited with his wife. Another  friend has not had an easy life at all but we are so pleased that she has found a place of belonging around our various  tables. It brings such joy to see her blossom as estranged relationships with some of her children are beginning to mend. We love to  celebrate  people. Birthdays are always marked and people’s achievements celebrated.  If we adjust our eyes to the  darkness, we can find the treasure.

What is the treasure the Lord is showing you at the moment? Where are you seeing signs of the life of the Spirit at work in your community    

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