Churches in the news

Two of our churches hit the headlines in their local newspapers over Christmas and the New Year, for all the right reasons. Lowestoft Community Church and Wellspring Family Church have been recognised for their work in serving people in crisis in their communities.

Under a picture of Dave Pearson's smiling face, the Dereham Times reported that the foodbank run by Wellspring Family Church had "received over five tonnes of food since September thanks to the generosity of people in the community."

The food went toward feeding more than 130 people in the first two weeks of December, of which half were children.

Project Manager Dave Pearson said he had been "amazed" by the response.

"The build up to Christmas is always a busy time for us both in donations coming in and parcels going out," he said.

"Without the generosity of local people we would not be able to help in this way and our volunteers work really hard to keep things turning over."

Meanwhile in Lowestoft, Ben Parish and his team have stepped up to provide management and governance for the foodbank service in East Suffolk after the existing structure was unable to continue. The Lowestoft Journal quoted Ben as saying:

We, as a church, had a meeting and concluded we would be prepared to take on the management and governance of [the foodbank].

We are already working within the churches network and that will continue. Over the last six to eight weeks we’ve been pulling together a project plan, with meetings held with volunteers who were part of the previous foodbank. Moving forward, as we work with the Trussell Trust, Lowestoft Rising and other organisations, we’ll be taking on the management and governance of the foodbank.

Both churches are working in partnership with other churches and networks in their regions to ensure those most in need have access to emergency food parcels both over Christmas and throughout the year.

We know that many churches and individuals across our family are involved in foodbanks and similar projects serving our communities and sharing our blessings with them. Whether you get your photo in the paper or any earthly recognition at all, we know it doesn't go unnoticed. Thank you.