Sunday Services
For some time, we had been feeling that our Sunday morning venue at Saint Cecilia’s School, Wandsworth had reached its physical capacity and was no longer enabling us to do all the things we believe that God is calling us to. In November 2016, we were approached by Ark Putney Academy (formerly Elliott School), asking us – now that the £30million refurbishment works have been completed – whether we would like to use the school once again as our main Sunday gathering venue. Having met at the location for over 20 years, we were struck by both the timing and opportunity this presented. On Easter Sunday 2017 we celebrated our first Sunday morning at the Ark and look forward to re-establishing a long and fruitful relationship, not only with the school community but with the local community we have been serving for so many years.
In September 2017, as the longest established Vineyard church in both the UK and indeed Europe, SW London Vineyard celebrated its 30th Anniversary. Over the past 30 years the church has planted 16 churches in towns and cities right across the UK and in early 2018 our first ‘great granddaughter’ church, Falmouth Vineyard, was planted. These churches represent a wonderful legacy of kingdom impact and a tangible demonstration of the kingdom of God being extended everywhere and in every way.
The 30th Anniversary was celebrated with a Commissioning Service for the Kennington Vineyard and was marked by a Gift Day to support both international mission and church planting. A total of £22,462.38 was given in response to the Gift Day with £10,404.13 given to Kennington Vineyard, £6,654.13 given to VCUKI for church planting and £5,404.13 given to International Mission. This very generous response once again reflects the incredible generosity of the members of this church and their on-going commitment to seeing the kingdom of God extended everywhere in every way.
During the course of 2017, a number of Family Services were held, guest speakers invited, a range of subjects covered and church calendar events observed. Over the summer we hosted our, now regular, Six Weeks of Summer and, again, enjoyed the benefit of slightly shorter services giving the congregation time and space to get to know one another better and partake in a few fun games and activities.
Newcomers
The Lord has continued to bless us with a high number of newcomers and during 2017 we received over 100 Connect Cards from those new to the church. Of these, at the time of writing, 34% are now integrated into the life of the church.
In October, we ran another highly successful Newcomers’ Weekend away at The Oast Houses, as experience has taught us that the investment of quality time spent with newcomers early in their time at the church helps them settle in more quickly and build stronger relationships with others.
It has been wonderful to see so many new people becoming quickly involved in the life of the church through joining mid-week Small Groups, giving their resources and contributing to church life through service teams.
Newcomers’ Lunches at The Yard continued in 2017 and have proved to be a great way to get to know those who are new to the church, as well as members of the local community, in an informal and relaxed environment. Again, these lunches are always very well attended by both newcomers and visitors to the Yard.
Youth
On Sundays throughout 2017 we continued to run weekly gatherings for our 11-18 year olds. We continued to run weekly ‘Word, Worship and Workshops’, with the Youth serving as part of the extended Vineyard Kids team once a month. It has been encouraging to see the young people stepping out to use their musical gifting to worship the Lord through the Worship workshops which have been led by James Wake and some of the adult worship band. Since taking on oversight of the Youth Matt & Lydia Cotton have done an outstanding job developing a great team of Youth Leaders to take us forward with this age group.
VKids
Our ministry to children underwent a face-lift and name change following our move to the Ark, but every Sunday morning VKids continues to serve children from a variety of backgrounds. VKids still follows the very popular action-packed Sunday morning programme which includes a wider choice of age-appropriate fun activities (including free play, sport, craft and Lego), consistently-led worship and ministry, and clear teaching across all age groups. Over the course of 2017, using the Jesus Storybook Bible curriculum, VKids looked at Luke, the Old Testament, ‘Kids of the Kingdom’ and focussed on ‘Everyone Gets to Play’. The outstanding team of leaders and helpers who faithfully serve, week-in, week-out have also continued to provide a consistent dedicated area for children with additional needs. VKids has continued to provide an engaging morning programme for children from 12 months old and have enjoyed continuing to bless families in this way.
The Parent & Baby Room continued to provide space on a Sunday morning for parents/carers to go with infants too young to settle into VKids. The room is fully equipped with a live audio link to the main service and provides parents with a relaxed environment where they can meet other parents at a similar life stage.
Over this last year both the children and over 50-strong team of volunteer leaders and teams have developed their passion for this generation and it has been a privilege to see many of our children grow in their faith.
Following our on-going review of our Safeguarding Policy, all children’s volunteer recruitment and training follow CCPAS’s latest guidelines. This includes interviews, safeguarding training and completing DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) checks as appropriate for all children’s leaders.
Manny & Sinead Garcia, alongside their other responsibilities continue to do an excellent job leading this important area of ministry. They have created an innovative, welcoming and supportive environment for the children who come along on Sundays and have trained and developed an outstanding team of VKids leaders and helpers. We ae very grateful to all those involved with VKids for the high level of commitment this area of ministry requires and the passion with which the teams serve.
and local mission…
The Yard
Our premises on the Ashburton Estate in Putney, continued to provide a home for several ongoing ministries reaching out to those who live in the local area, led by staff members, lay leaders and a large number of volunteers.
Our Foodbank continued throughout 2017, with 417 vouchers received (327: 2016, 283: 2015) and 863 people (569 adults & 294 children) being fed (739: 2016, 672: 2015). This amounted to 6,980kg of food being given away.
It is always moving to see the desperate need of those who come in and a privilege to be able to pray for many and to invite them to church and to Job Club. We have again continued working alongside the Wandsworth Fuel Bank scheme which provides relief, advice and support to families with children living in Wandsworth who are struggling to pay their fuel bills.
Our Job Club ministry has gone from strength to strength, with guests attending 621 separate appointments either with coaches or to use the laptops. We continue to provide support with CVs, online forms and interview practice as well as with general confidence building and other forms of support. One of the key developments with Job Club over the year has been the introduction of ‘Learning My Way’, a one-to-one computer skills coaching programme to support those with minimal computer expertise and / or minimal literacy skills. With the right skills those who are currently excluded from the increasing on-line process of job applications and searching will be better equipped to help themselves find suitable work.
One great element of Job Club is the number of volunteers from the local community who have become involved covering a range of different roles. We are extremely grateful to them all for their on-going commitment and support. The Job Centre continues to refer guests to the Job Club and in the new year we will be looking at ways we can continue to roll out an effective service to those most in need.
We have been extremely grateful for the support provided by the dedicated Foodbank CAB Advisor, who attended regularly to assist Foodbank guests at the Yard with a range of complex issues including applications for asylum and refugee status, local MP liaison and benefit application support.
Our free Counselling Service has gone from strength to strength under the oversight and of qualified Supervisor Anna Parker, ad supported by her trainee counsellors, and has proved to be an invaluable sign-posting opportunity for those coming to us through Foodbank, Job Club and beyond.
Over the course of the year we have continued to support the work of Acts 435, an initiative committed to bring immediate help to people in financial need. The charity operates through a website platform by matching up those who want to give to those in need. Over the course of the year 24 applications were made resulting in £2,282.99 given.
We also continued with our Little Fish community playgroup and have enjoyed getting to know more families in the local community and gradually seeing them coming along to other events such as Alpha or Sunday church services.
In the autumn term, we rolled out English Language Classes and have been delighted both by the response and the feedback we have received. These conversation classes provide a much-needed opportunity for those in the local community to develop their language skills, whilst at the same time providing relationship building opportunities.
Mike Lister, in addition to his many other responsibilities, has done an outstanding job supporting and developing many of the initiatives being run through the Yard. We remain very grateful to him and the team for the ways in which we have seen these important ministries, which are having a direct impact in the lives of those most in need, begin to expand.
We love the opportunity all these ministries bring to build relationship with those in our local community and, wherever possible, invite them along to church and point them towards Jesus.
Following the tragic fire at Grenfell Tower a number of church members immediately sprang into action and attended the site helping sort the incredible quantities of donations given. We partnered with a local church and assisted through the following days as they received and processed clothes, food, furniture and many other gifts from the general public. In the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire we hosted a community lunch at the Yard, inviting all those from the surrounding area to come together to build relationship and deepen the sense of community across the estate.
In June, we hosted an extended community lunch, ‘Hamburgers and Healing’ and along with free drinks and burgers offered prayer for any who were sick or in need. The event was well-attended and we were delighted that the Rt. Hon. Justine Greening MP was able to join us, once again demonstrating her support for the work we are doing in her constituency. A number of local community outreach events, including Sunday Lunches, were run throughout the year, again, in an attempt to both serve the local community and to foster good relations and deepen the community spirit around the Ashburton Estate.
Local Communities
One of the blessings of being a regional church is that our members come from a wide geographical area and many are very involved in being the church in their local communities in a number of creative and diverse ways.
A number of parents are actively involved in their children’s schools and many are helping develop prayer spaces and rooms in their local schools which are proving to be a great success.
We were delighted to support local charity Hestia, which last year supported more than 9,000 people, including victims of modern slavery, women and children who have experienced domestic abuse, young care leavers and older people. In December members of the church donated Christmas presents to be given to over 150 families in need.
Many of these local mission initiatives are being run by lay leaders in the church as part of their commitment to being Jesus hands and feet in the places where they live and work. We are extremely grateful to each one for the wonderfully creative ways that they are seeking to extend the kingdom of God, everywhere and in every way. Over the course of 2018 we look forward to hearing about new and exciting ministries being started in local communities across the whole SW London region.