A unique alliance between a church and its community that has been ongoing for more than 120 years has established a thriving partnership fit for the future.
In 2020, the Uniting Church in Garden Lane, a local ecumenical partnership between the Methodist and United Reformed Churches in Mersey Synod, set about evaluating its current role as a place of worship.
Neil Kendall, Chair of the Plum Project, explains: “We already had activities like dance, drama, photography, non-traditional worship and music taking place in the building, but wanted to take steps ensure a future for community engagement – not just to ensure we could survive after the pandemic, but to also develop the diversity of the building’s users and to encourage those people and groups to share their culture and experiences.”
And so, the Plum Project was born.
The project’s steering group carried out a community survey to find out what local people wanted and secured funds to ensure the church building was sustainable and fit for purpose as a modern space designed to serve a wide variety of uses.
More than 200 people responded with 120 offering suggestions, which created a network of ‘Plum Friends’ and formed a basis of communication for future engagement.
The survey proved to be a crucial starting point and source of reference through which the steering group learned that there was whole-hearted support for an open door in the community and a majority sought the church to remain a part of things. There was also considerable encouragement to further develop creative arts activities and to explore how health and wellbeing could be woven within church as a place of listening and caring. Hospitality was a thread running through the feedback with an urge to model environmental sustainability whenever possible.
The Revd Ceri Gardner, Minister for the Uniting Church in Garden Lane alongside Caldy Valley Church and Hoole URC, explains that the survey showed that the church and the community “shared a vision to make the garden quarter a better place to live” and that both were also passionate about making it a welcoming space, a healthy holistic community, and a place of safety and sanctuary.
“Here is a church and community growing in relationship, moving and responding together as they listen to the voices of their neighbours,” added Ceri.
Having established a network of “friends” when the project has needed funds, individuals have consistently contributed along with several successful bids for local authority community funds.
The project’s next move was to develop what the church already had to offer and how the community could get involved. Over the next three years, the church has involved its neighbourhood and the variety of skills from local people to plan and deliver festivals and gatherings, offer support to marginalised communities.
Neil explains: “This included reworking our usual events like Harvest to include a community food-related workshop, bringing in healing events to mark memories of loss in November, and at Christmas developing a ‘travelling nativity’ on a pastoral journey around the neighbourhood.
“We also strengthened our partnerships with local organisations. For Refugee Week, we started working with the local primary school to include a creative workshop which produces artistic materials for the celebration. All this involved community members from start to finish.”
Links with refugees continued during school holidays where members of the project noticed the need for support, especially for the parents of pre-school children. Help was also provided by way of acquiring re-conditioned bikes and providing somewhere to meet. Theatre and singing professionals offered places at summer workshops for both primary and secondary school-aged children, whilst a ‘Sing and Sign’ specialist offered sessions with Tots.
Friends of the project also offered their knitting and crafts skills, support for children’s activities, sandwich making and games in the park.
Along with a blossoming relationship with a local primary school where the children of many Ukrainian and other refugee families attend, the project is also hoping to develop a café “by the community for the community”.
“We have a common goal of making the Garden Quarter a brighter, more meaningful and united place to live in and also to open up opportunities for informal worship and talking about our faith,” added Neil.