Spirit at Work

Revd Canon Tina Upton, Rector of Holy Trinity, Blacon

At Holy Trinity Church in Blacon, we’re a small congregation, but we often punch above our weight during the week.

From Monday to Thursday, the church buzzes with life. Mondays are for our Craft Group. Tuesdays bring Gardening Club and Baby Buddies for infants under six months, alongside Place of Welcome and the Foodbank. Wednesdays host Place of Welcome again. Thursdays are busiest, with the Community Café and Playtot’s Café. Alongside the Foodbank, we have Citizens Advice, local councillors’ surgery, and other support services.

None of this would be possible without partnerships – with local organisations and volunteers from the church and wider community. A few years ago, we began running meals and holiday activities for families when our toddler group paused. During these sessions, we noticed the level of food poverty in the area: parents often went hungry to feed their children. In 2018, we began meeting with local organisations, councillors, and residents in my front room to dream, plan, and pray. Through community consultations, a vision emerged. By 2019, we registered a new charity: Blacon Beacon.

Our founding trustees – a mix including a local councillor, a Baptist minister, and members of the community. We secured start-up funding to build a room in the church hall. In March 2020, just before lockdown, we launched. God’s timing was perfect, as we soon found ourselves helping to feed the whole of Blacon during the pandemic.

Today, Blacon Beacon runs a range of services including a social supermarket, cooking classes for all ages, a Tuesday lunch group for older residents with recipes to take home, a teenagers’ cooking class, and computer support sessions, as well as distributing food for Foodbank. The charity has a turnover of £150,000, six staff, and countless volunteers. Reached through these activities, local residents regularly thank the church for our work. While legally separate from PCC, Blacon Beacon is closely tied to our ministry and mission.

Blacon is complex, and sometimes there are tensions in the community, but our commitment is to Blacon, and we continue regardless.

One of my greatest joys has been seeing people encounter faith through these connections. A disabled lady first came for company at Place of Welcome, later joined the Community Café, asked for prayer, and now attends Sunday services. Baptised as a child, she had not been to church for years, and her faith has recently flourished through these ministries.

Stories like hers inspire us. Weekday ministries are avenues for people to discover God, and I long for this stream of faith to become a flood. None of our work – meals, support, or encounters with God – would happen without collaboration. The Spirit is at work in partnership, friendship, and community.

We are a small church, yes. But by God’s grace, we punch far above our weight.