Good news in unexpected places
By Caro Field
Candidate for Ministry at Centre for Theology and Ministry
God’s capacity to surprise never ceases to amaze me. Even when engaging in activities of Christian service, where the general idea is that I am doing things for the benefit of others, God keeps showing me how the people I am ‘helping’ are not always as ‘helpless’ as I might have thought, and they are not the only ones who benefit from my engagement with them.
A case in point is The Olive Way, an initiative of my local congregation in Brunswick, to provide friendship and hospitality to the people in the local area. It was a great concern that our congregation has a huge church building, located in Sydney Rd, in the main shopping precinct of Brunswick, and that this building was for the most part, locked up and dark during the week. Through The Olive Way, we open the church complex three mornings a week, providing a place for people to come and have a cuppa and something to eat, and chat, read the paper or engage in other activities. The worship space is also open, and some people come in off the street and use the space for quiet reflection or prayer.
The Olive Way has expanded dramatically during its 9 months, so that from quiet beginnings, we now have around 15-20 visitors dropping in each day, many of them regulars, who enjoy the sense of community that has built around the place. It’s been a delight for me to watch some of our regular visitors literally blossoming as they open up and share more of themselves; as community builds and people begin to own the space and community.
I have been particularly excited to watch the journey of one man, who first visited us very early in the piece, and has become a regular. I remember his first visit, when he didn’t make eye contact with anyone, and the degree of difficulty of drawing conversation out of him was akin to pulling teeth without anaesthetic. A turning point came one day, when he was in conversation with one of our volunteers, and said, “you’re always asking me how I’m going, but how are YOU going?” It was a great moment. This gent now has no trouble making eye contact with anyone at the Olive Way, and is one of our stalwarts, who is quite comfortable and sociable. The other day he recruited a group of us to help him work on a cross word in the paper, and a great deal of hilarity ensued as, in total cluelessness, we invented words to try to fit the puzzle.
This man, and a number of other Olive Way visitors have sought to further their faith journey within the Brunswick Uniting congregation. Whilst it has never been a goal for The Olive Way to generate ‘bums on seats’ in church, it’s been great to see the way these folk have felt at home in our congregation and appreciated the welcome and friendship they have received.
From our initial step of faith, new life has come to our congregation in the form of people entering our premises: people seeking friendship, a sense of belonging, a listening ear, and an opportunity to talk about faith matters. Our whole congregation gives thanks for what God is doing through The Olive Way, and I am grateful for the opportunity to be involved; I feel like I am receiving just as much, if not more than I am giving.