Ilford Baptist Healthy Living Projects

As a result of a determination to maintain the Christian ethos, and a willingness to go out on a limb with God, Ilford Baptist have a range of thriving community projects as well as a thriving congregation - and lots of stories to tell...

When Louise first came to the Ilford Baptist Welcome Centre she was addicted to heroin and alcohol, homeless, and working as a prostitute. She had lost all of her possessions and was so sleep-deprived that she could barely stand up. Thankfully the team at the Ilford Baptist Welcome Project gave her the support she needed to completely turn her life around. Through one-on-one counselling and support getting into a rehabilitation programme Louise got her life to a place where she was able to attend university and has received glowing reports.

Louise is not unique; many others have been helped by the Ilford High Road Baptist Church Healthy Living Projects. In one year alone the Welcome Project provided over 11,000 nutritious meals, almost 2,000 showers and gave away over 700 sets of clothing. And the Welcome Project is just one of the initiatives being run by the church!

Nine years ago the church set up a charity ‘Healthy Living Projects’ as an umbrella for all the work they were doing in the community. Their first outreach had been to the large number of long-term unemployed people in their area. They used a similar model to PECAN working with people on their CVs, interview skills and job applications. As the churches work grew, they were keen to engage with other groups in the community and to use their resources to reach those in need. Their key concerns were to improve education, overcome social isolation and improve the health and well-being of those in the community and their projects particularly focus on meeting the needs of people who are homeless or socially isolated, as well as children & families and the elderly. 

The Welcome Centre

The Welcome Centre is open every day and offers advice and support as well as practical help and facilities for anyone who is socially isolated. There is a monthly lunch club for elderly members of the community as well as a weekly ‘Young at Heart’ social afternoon which gives people a chance to socialise, take some light exercise and enjoy some games or arts and crafts. For many these events are lifelines, giving them a much needed chance to get out of the house and meet new friends. The charity’s work with children and families sees them running a pre-school for 3-4 year olds, out of school care for primary-aged children and a ‘Pram Club’ for parents with toddlers. Another success has been the English language school which runs three mornings a week and provides an excellent way for the church to get to know asylum seekers in the area as well as provide them with the necessary skills for life in the UK. 

The joy - and benefits - of seeing lives changed

Pastor Barry Cheesman says he loves to see people’s lives changed like those who have come through the language course going on to employment in the community and children who have come through the church children's projects get a good start in life. One of those now serving as a Deacon came to Ilford as an asylum seeker from Albania. He arrived at the Welcome Project with his wife and two small children after the Kosovo war and through their work he became a Christian and is now the Church Treasurer.

Keeping the church integrated

Barry says he has always been keen to keep the social actions projects tied to the church;

“The Healthy Living Projects are part and parcel of church life. Often when churches start social action projects there is a split between the church and the project but we were determined to make sure the work came out of the church community and was owned by the congregation. We want the work to be run by Christians in order to maintain our Christian ethos and a large percentage of our congregation volunteer at our different initiatives. We also make sure the work is profiled in church services and that there is a good flow of information about what is going on so people feel informed and can keep praying and getting involved.”

At the moment the church premises are undergoing huge renovations to update their existing facilities and to provide many more. The Government have contributed £2 million to provide hostel space for homeless people that will help them move on into work or training and into settled accommodation. These new facilities will help Ilford High Road Baptist Church continue to reach their community with the love of Jesus, giving them hope and a future.

Inspired? Want to get more involved in your community? Pastor Barry Cheesman shares his top tips:

• It is essential to do some research to understand your community and its needs.
• Make sure you get the backing of your church and their ownership of whatever you plan
• If you want to resource your project effectively you must make sure your church keeps growing! Evangelism projects are key in bringing in new people and therefore new resources.
• You must be prepared to take risks and sometimes take what could look like silly decisions in expectation of God showing up. For example when we wanted to renovate the Welcome Centre in 2000 we knew it would cost us £78,000 that we didn’t have. We went ahead and then were given £78,000 almost to the penny!
• Be prepared to get everything in place like child protection, health and safety and equality policies.
• If you’re serious about your project succeeding you will need to build relationships with local statutory bodies. That might mean you sometimes have to sit through boring meetings to get known and become trusted but it’s understandable that they will give money to people they know and trust.
• When you start your project, set it up in a way that ties it in to the church. Start right and you’ll continue right. 

Liza Hoeksma, 2010.

You can read more about the church and their community activities at www.ihrbc.org.uk

If you’d like to talk to the team at Ilford High Road Baptist church about their experiences and how you can set up similar projects you can contact them by email at ihrbc@talktalk.net

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Would your church value help from Tearfund to consider how it can become God’s hands and feet in your local community? The Discovery course is a practical process, led by skilled practitioners to help you maximise the strengths and aspirations of your church. Find out more at Discovery.