Fifty Acts 49. When Spot went to Dover.

I remember when all this was fields.  In fact, I remember when my driving instructor was telling me to get the car up towards 60 on a the fun bit of country road.  Now the road has been tamed, and it's a 30 limit and there's shops where there once was fields.  They really have paved paradise and put up a parking lot.

So the church is a brand new building situated in the middle of a new(ish) town.  The church reflects the demographics of the area, so there's a lot of young families, and even though this was a family service following the holiday club, its attendance was pretty typical.  Someone told me of the problems they have on Sunday mornings actually fitting all the children into the Sunday School space, so much so that they use a community centre down the road.

And another thing.  The summer holiday club was run in association with another denomination up the road.  I've heard tales of holicday clubs that will not invite other congregations for fear that the children end up going to the other church.  Isn't there only one church?

This was a fun place to be.People stopped and talked.  People had a brew afterwards.  The praise band was off to one side and not intrusive, and they even had a drummer.  The noticeboards and information table showed a church that had a world view yet were firmly part of their community.

My only concern for a church like this is the evolution of the community.  Right now it is a vibrant young place, but the same was once said about two nearby towns.  The were settled on mass by young families, and pretty soon the schools were full to overflowing, and the church had a massive youth group.  But as the community ages, it is unlikely there will be another mass influx of young families to the area.  At least one of the schools in the area is under threat of closure, while the other has removed all the additional temporary classrooms.  Can a church continue to reach out to new arrivals to the community as the original group of young families gets older?

So in all, a nice place, and perhaps a place I might find myself returning to.

One more to go...