I love music, and there’s nothing I like better than the swell of an intro; whether it’s a classical piece, a rumbling bassline, the opening chords of a favourite worship song or the first clicks of a 2-step anthem, these are beautiful moments which build anticipation and usher us in…

Silence is what it is, but in the richness of God’s creation the end of silence can be anything at all; after months of prayer & groundwork the first fledgling Everyday Difference works are about to take flight and these feel like the first notes and chords of the symphony God is authoring and conducting through our church. There are many other ideas in the process of being worked out and I know that a number of our Everyday people are itching and being positioned by God to get involved. Here’s how you can…

In Southfields, Paul Rook is heading up an after-school club called ‘The Underground’ which he hopes to launch in the new year. The Underground will run from 4-6pm every Tuesday or Wednesday (to be confirmed!) at the Southfields venue and hopes to serve between 30 and 40 young people at a time. Paul is recruiting volunteers as you read this so let him know if you might be interested & available!

In Kingston we’re joining with a number of other local churches in opening our building to homeless people over the Christmas period and will be open for Winter Night Shelter business on Tuesday nights from the 3rd December 2013 until mid-January 2014. We need volunteers to work shifts in the evenings, mornings and / or overnight and we’re also collecting donated supplies for our guests.

In Kingston we’re also helping to host the SleepEasy event which is organised each year by the YMCA SWL who are rapidly becoming firm friends as we work together in this borough. SleepEasy will take place overnight on the 26th January 2014…

Both the Winter Night Shelter and SleepEasy schemes also operate in Wimbledon so if you’re a part of the Everyday Wimbledon family then I’d especially encourage you to come and serve in Kingston this year – who knows, you could be leading one of these events for us in Wimbledon next year!

In the New Year we’ll be running a pilot Cook & Eat course on our Kingston venue in partnership with Public Health and Kingston’s Looked After Children team. This will be a 6 week course part funded by Public health, designed to promote healthy living in young people. Please pray for our small team as we pilot this work and contact us if you’d particularly like to be involved.

We’re also working and praying behind the scenes into visions we have for a number of other possibilities, including:

– work with asylum seekers and refugees in all three boroughs

– a cafe based social enterprise in Kingston which will serve children and their families, as well as older people and people for whom English is a second language

– a night time cafe and ‘safe space’ ministry in Kingston which will support the work of police, security firms, health services and street pastors in the town centre

– a year-round team to support and develop the work of the Wimbledon Foodbank based at Elim Pentecostal church

– a centralised church Skills Bank which could serve our members and even our local communities by making better use of our collective gifts & time…

And there are still more ideas bubbling away or being brought into discussion which look at the circumstances of young people, current or ex-offenders, people with disabilities and schools; you might have some thoughts or ideas yourself – share them with us if you do!

So, while we’ve just completed successful Operation Christmas child shoebox appeals in our Kingston and Southfields venues, and our annual collection for the Wimbledon Foodbank is underway, there is still a huge amount for us to do as a church together… Silence is a gift and the relatively quiet foundation & groundwork for Everyday Difference this year has been an important part of it’s development, but it’s time to make some noise and, by God’s grace, make a real difference in our communities… If you are a part of Everyday Church then this is a call – come and be part of the music!

You can find out more, sign up to volunteer or just get in touch by contacting us here…