CAPTION: Karly Jackson-Wells was one of 14 people to be given a St Boniface Award this year in a service at Exeter Cathedral

Serving with joy through Pop-Up Church, Church Door Welcome and Delta Youth Cafe

Posted: 11th June, 2024

Here are three stories of people who received a St Boniface medal in 2024 and the places in Devon where they are serving with joy.

Norma Fry, Pop-Up Church

Norma Fry is a member of St Matt’s church in Plymouth and part of an ecumenical team that started Pop-Up Church in the red light district of Plymouth. It meets twice weekly in the forecourt of a garage. “It’s street girls and homeless people, a vulnerable community basically,” she said.

Norma has been involved in Christian street outreach for the past 13 years. She said the idea for Pop-Up Church was divine inspiration. “One day I was walking past a hostel near the Theatre Royal and and there were lots of homeless people sitting on the steps. I thought ‘I’ve prayed for all of you people.’ Then God showed me a cross dropping down on the street and then [I just had the idea] ‘pop-up church’.”

Norma said that there around 35 people attending Pop-Up Church regularly.

“These people are not going into buildings, so we’ve created a church that doesn’t have pews, hasn’t got a roof, it’s got no windows or walls. People can just walk in. I’ve made a cross out of twigs and fairy lights that we just put up – and then the church turns up,”

“We pray for people in a prayer circle and they pray for each other. God’s work is so evident in the red light district, without a doubt.

“We have been walking alongside that community for 13 years, we know them, we know their parents. We have been there for a long time and we have their trust.

Norma said that it’s important to follow God’s prompt if you think you are being called to start up something new: “I think you just need to step out and find out. If God is calling you then you just have to do it.

“My biggest fear was always that if God was calling me and I was too scared to do it then he would just use someone else, and I didn’t want it to be somebody else, I wanted it to be me.”

 

John Patten,  Churchwarden, St John’s Church, Paignton 

John Patten is a churchwarden at St John’s parish church in the centre of Paignton. As well as fulfilling the normal duties of a churchwarden, he says he feels a particular calling to welcome the many vulnerable people who come into the church and churchyard because of its location at the heart of a seaside resort with pockets of high deprivation. This includes people living with drug or alcohol addiction and homelessness.

He said  “I help those who come into the church who are lost. I try to make them feel welcome, they are not lost, they are going to be with us. If they come back, we save them. If they don’t we still try to give them that opportunity.

“We recently had an alcoholic person in the church. He cried all the way through the service and when it came to Lord’s prayer he knew it. Helping him through it was very humbling.”

“I draw my strength from God. Christ never turned-away anyone. If I can just help one person by helping them come ‘back to life’ as we know it – then that’s very rewarding,” he said.

 

Karly Jackson-Wells, Delta Youth Cafe, Ilfracombe. 

Karly Jackson-Wells manages Delta Youth Cafe, which opened in Ilfracombe three years ago and runs five days a week after school during term time. The youth worker says she saw a need for somewhere for young people in the town to gather.

She said “Ilfracombe is one of the most deprived towns in Devon and we felt like our young people needed and deserved something for them too.

“Over my years of doing youth work across the South West I’ve seen the needs of our young people change dramatically. Particularly post covid there’s a need for young people to be able to have community together, to have support and to feel valued.

“I had the idea of having a youth cafe in an old pub in the town but I thought it was just a dream. I found out later that it was owned by some Christians. I got a phone call when I was putting my children to bed – the owners said ‘we want to do this and we want to give it to you rent free.’ My children remember it because I was so excited!

“It blew my mind that actually God had been in it, he’d given me that youth cafe idea and was going to make it happen and bring that dream into reality.”

Delta has made a difference in the town since it opened, with agencies like the police reporting a noticeable change.

Karly said “In Delta young people really feel like they belong, they feel valued. We can invest in them and they can grow in relationship with one another. We really see God at work.”