Rev Britt Webb & Rachel Wilkinson
A year ago we started a Wellbeing Community at St Leonards, Arbourthorne & Norfolk Park. Our hope was to encourage those on the fringe of our community to start to engage in conversations around faith, and to build deeper supportive relationships. After trying out a more traditional bible study model, it was clear we needed to pivot what we had planned. What we ended up with was a small group space which centred around conversations around wellbeing, and offered the Christian faith as something which could support a healthy wellbeing. We aim to let everyone be heard, feel valued and have ownership within the group.
How a Session Runs
We often ask the group in advance if there is a topic they would find particularly helpful. When we meet, we begin with a simple meal, moving onto a focused discussion where we explore the topic we are looking at. We engage with that topic tangibly through a creative activity and then introduce the Christian faith by reading a Bible verse. As we have begun by discussing people’s experience, it is easier for people to find connections between their lives and the Bible. People are then given an opportunity to respond, usually through music.
We finish our time by writing a prayer to God related to the topic we looked at. We write this prayer together, using language authentic to our community. We then distribute this prayer in our café space and foyer, for the wider community to use. Our hope is that people will be up for giving prayer a go when they see a prayer written about a relevant topic and in a familiar language.
One Year On
Over the past year of meeting, we have seen a good number of those on our fringe come along to Wellbeing Community. Some come regularly, others drop in and out. The group is never large, but they have grown in being able to share honestly and are beginning to see the Christian faith as something which could help them. One of the group had never read a Bible before attending, but they offered to run a session a couple of weeks ago, choosing a topic, activity, song and bible verse we could look at.
We’ve also collated the prayers we’ve written together into a booklet of Wellbeing Prayers. Each page has a prayer and a bible verse about a wellbeing topic and some space for people to write or draw something in response.
Resources
We began by using some great resources by an organisation called Unlock. Their resources start by talking about people’s experience, and seeks to build connections between people’s lives and the Christian faith and story. We then began to write our own resources. We have both felt like this could be a group that could be easily replicable in other contexts. We now have a year’s worth of sessions we have formed, and would love to make them available to anyone who would like to use them. These resources can be found in the Google Drive link below.
Please email us at britt@saintleonards.co.uk with any feedback you have on the resources, or if you have any questions! We’d love to hear from you 😊
Revd. Britt Webb, Assistant Curate | St Leonard’s S2