FAITH IN THE COMMUNITY: We're excited about launching new church on housing development

By Jamie Harding, lay planter, Boorley Green

We're launching a brand new church to serve thousands of people who have moved onto a new housing development.

Boorley Community Church will hold its first service on Sunday, September 27 for those who have moved into one of 2,200 new homes north of Botley. Families have been steadily moving into these homes over the past few years, but so far they’ve had to travel elsewhere to go to church.

Our services will take place in Boorley Green Community Centre. The first Sunday will include an all-age service from 10am, which will include pastries, a time of worship, and activities for children and young people.

That evening, there will be a worship night from 7.30pm-9pm in the community centre, which will be led by a team from Waypoint Church in Locks Heath.

My wife Jeena and I are so excited about this, as we’ve been looking forward to this for years. We moved into Boorley Green in 2019, and have been going to another church. But we felt there should be a church here, as so many people have already started living here.

We’re already involved with the local community – Jeena leads a parent and toddler group, and I lead a youth group. We hope the new church will gather together all the Christians who already live on the estate but don’t attend church - and also attract others to hear the good news about Jesus.

We have already held a worship night that attracted 80 or so people, and we have run an Alpha Course for those who have expressed an interest in faith.

The Alpha Course happened in the Gather coffee shop, which is also in the Boorley Green Community Centre. We are so grateful to the people running the coffee shop, as they will also be supplying our congregation with coffee and pastries each week.

The community is already taking shape, with two schools in the area, as well as the activities run by the community centre. It’s great to see people starting to connect with each other in various ways.

Our vision is to create a thriving worshipping community that serves our local community with all sorts of activities for those of different ages. We’ve been praying for the people who live here for many years, as we may well knock on people’s doors to help spread the word that we are here.

And we’re grateful for all the support, from the Diocese of Portsmouth and from those in All Saints Church, Botley, as this is happening in their parish.

BOORLEY COMMUNITY CHURCH, 121 Wallace Avenue, Boorley Green, north of Botley, SO32 2RQ