St James Reimagines Church for Covid-19
The Covid-19 lockdown has been a chance for St. James Church in Lower Hutt to change how they connect as a parish. Historically, the parish has been focused around Sunday services, holding three services in two different locations. As the announcement of a lockdown became imminent, it was clear that this approach would no longer work. So two couples from the church—Guy and Summer Benton, and Emily and Andy Spence—hatched a plot with the vicar, Peter Benge.
With the vicar’s approval, the Bentons and Spences compiled a list of parish members who they thought could lead small house church groups, to be conducted over the video conferencing platform Zoom. “Some people had never [led a group] before, some had held groups together,” Guy Benton said. “About 75% of the people we called said yes!”
Over the Level Four and Three lockdowns, eighteen St. James house-groups were running. Each group leader had relative flexibility for how to use the space—for worship, prayer, discussion, study, or running a fairly normal liturgical service. “Each group had five to ten people, the choir had their own group, it was more than 100 people [altogether],” Guy said. A Mandarin-speaking group has formed as well.
Some group leaders invited their non-church-attending neighbours along. Others took advantage of the opportunity to get to know people from church in a new way. “The nature of Zoom makes it easier to jump in. It’s not as daunting as having to walk up to someone’s house,” Guy said. The house groups have been an opportunity to build deeper relationships in the church, and make the church space inviting beyond Sunday services—especially for those formerly on the margins. The majority of house groups at St. James have committed to continuing to meet after the lockdown ends.
The Bentons and Spences were committed to supporting the leaders of the groups. With two time slots a week, they offered discipleship resources for the small group leaders. “For the last eight weeks we’ve had this input to the parish that would never have happened otherwise. The reach to the parish is phenomenally stronger... People are going on this discipleship journey that they never thought they could—it’s outrageous,” Guy said. Guy and Summer run a young families' group.
When they asked the others if they were committed to continuing to meet, the response “made me oddly emotional”, Guy said. “[Everyone said] ‘we’ve been so thirsty for something more, yes yes yes yes.’” Ultimately, lockdown has been an opportunity. “The way God is moving in the parish through the house churches is undeniable, this is where God has been taking us... we can discern who we are as a parish, what our core values are... that’s a really exciting possibility.”
By Shanti Mathias
