Over the last 18 summers, being a part of the Lee Abbey Youth Camp in Devon has been a great blessing to our whole family. However, last year I had a clear sense that it should be my last one, partly because of a growing idea to be involved in something more local.
A vision developed of a ‘community week’ where we open up our church, Streatham Baptist, and welcome everyone in. And I was so encouraged that our Senior Pastor, Bruce Nadin, the church leadership and our church members really got behind the idea. Also, a massive factor was my wife agreeing to bring her great skills to help organise it all.
Serving the community
Our church is blessed with a brilliant building which was redeveloped 30 years specifically to help us serve the local community better.
In the last week, by running our Big Summer Community Week, we have honoured the vision and commitment of our former members who sacrificially gave to create the building we now have.
Over the last week, our church building has been alive with enthusiasm, fun and a beautifully warm welcome. It has been a week of life, love and a deep joy that I will never forget.
Activities
The hub of the week was a Community Cafe where volunteers served coffees, teas and lovely cakes made by the congregation and guests paid by donation if they could. We had a WHO Team (Welcome, Hospitality & Outreach) who went out onto the streets to invite people in and welcomed them when they arrived.
One man who is currently unemployed told us that he was praying for something to do Tuesday morning and went out for a walk and immediately met one of our volunteers who gave him a flier. A few minutes later he was in our cafe, had signed up for the Local Historic Guided Walk and then went and recorded a song in our pop-up recording studio. He said ‘Wow, I thought God was working quick today!’
Games and workshops
We had a lively Kid’s Club which ran every morning for primary aged children and a Youth Space where teenagers could play games and do arts and crafts. We also ran a host of Workshops for people of all ages – on gardening, healthy eating, a ‘sort your life out’ capsule wardrobe session, poetry, pilates, chair massage and biscuit making. We had a Pop Up Choir and a Bake Off was very competitive with 24 keen contestants.
We also had a Prayer Space where people could receive confidential prayer and a daily session where people could hear the Bible Read Aloud. In the afternoon, we ran Football on the Common nearby and Intergenerational Games in the cafe. You can see the full list of activities here: Big Summer Community Week 2026 | Streatham Baptist.
A table for all
The centrepiece of each day was a Big Table Lunch where we welcomed anyone to come and eat together on a ‘pay what you are able’ basis. We have an amazing catering team who sourced food at such great value and during the week the numbers built up and by Friday we were packed out. Seeing the glorious diversity of our community eating together was a beautiful picture of God’s welcome.
This short video gives you a flavour of the week:
There are so many reflections from the week but these are my top 3:
Our community has amazing assets. We live in a time when its easy (both in and out of church) to focus on scarcity and what we don’t have – yet what we saw this week was a rich abundance of God’s blessings. We had over 100 volunteers sign up to give their time and they were incredibly dedicated and generous. The donations received meant we covered almost our costs of around £2300.
And the best thing was that the week generated so much positivity and goodwill. We ended the week with a Streatham’s Got Talent show where people danced and sang alongside others who did not even know each other a few days before. It shows the power of community.
Young people want to give. One of the best things was seeing our younger members not just come along, but serve and lead. Some had only signed up for one day but ended up coming for 3 days because they loved helping with the kids or serving in the cafe so much.
Too often we think we need to entertain young people but I think a better approach is to give them more responsibility and expect more of them. Two teenage girls completely ran the Bake Off themselves – planning, leading and delivering an all-age 90 minute session. They were skilled, enthusiastic and empowered and did a great job.
Community requires conviction. As I have written before, everyone loves the idea of community – but it does not emerge simply by itself and it requires commitment. People do not gather around a vacuum or commit to vague idealism or utopian dreams. The deeper question is: What factors lead to community growing?
The commitment required generally comes about as a result of a sense of conviction which motivates people to be part of what is happening. Our volunteer team were amazing but we should not celebrate community and ignore the conviction on which it is built. Too often we like the fruits of community action without acknowledging the roots of faith from which they grow. As a church, everything we did this week was rooted in our conviction about the welcoming grace of Jesus – and wanting to reflect this to our community in both words and actions.
Nervous and anxious
This time last week on Sunday evening, I must confess that I was nervous and anxious about what the week ahead would bring. It felt like there were many risks and I wondered whether anyone would turn up and what I had got myself into.
But, in the countless acts of welcome and generosity, I have been reminded again and again this week of the beautiful things that can happen when people and communities seek to reflect God’s grace, truth and love. Faith overcame fear and its a week which embodied my favourite Bible verse from 1 John 3:18:
‘Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue, but with actions and in truth’
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A former member sent me a pack of papers related to the redevelopment work 30 years ago at Streatham Baptist Church (or ‘Lewin’ as it was often called) and this included was a single sheet with a list of aspirations of the kind of church God was calling them to be:
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