We just want to love people as God loves us

Distributing food, adopting streets and blessing businesses, New Springs City Church is passionate about sharing God’s love.

“Our vision as a church is to love God, love people and make disciples, and it plays out through food and local outreach,” says Nathan Weaver.

The pastor of New Springs City Church in Sunderland is guiding Direction through the energetic mix of activities he has been organising during and since lockdown, and says opportunities pop up daily to support the local community.

“We’re encouraging the church to adopt local streets, bless businesses, support schools and love the people around us,” he says.

Much of the church’s outreach revolves around food. During lockdown, a deal with a local businessman led to 40 hot meals a week being given to families in need for six months, for example, while the church supplied 13,000 meals at the start of the pandemic for families to cook at home.

For the past couple of years, the church has also distributed Christmas hampers to provide families with much needed meals.

“We worked with Child Services and groups around Sunderland and asked schools who was struggling.

“Through that, we gave 30 hampers with Christmas food that would feed a family for about two weeks.

“We also did a big Christmas giveaway where people could come to the church and choose from thousands of pounds worth of clothes, school uniforms and toys that local people and firms donated.”

At the start of lockdown, believing it would last just a month or so, Nathan had plans to extend the church’s drop-in café. But God nudged him in a different direction, he says.

“We were helping a lot of people with food and I felt the Lord speak to me about expanding this, so instead of growing the café we decided to set up a community shop.

“When I told the council what we were planning they said they’d love to give us some fridges and freezers, to pay for FareShare to bring food to us and to supply us with fresh fruit.”

The shop opens on Thursdays for the community and Sundays for church members and is used by up to 70 families a week.

“We didn’t want it to be like a food-bank where you have to be on benefits to use it. It’s open to anyone and if people are willing to come through the door and ask, we will help them,” Nathan says.

Beyond the food-based outreach, New Springs members are also encouraged to help their community by caring for streets, businesses and schools.

“I’ve been challenging people for a few years now to adopt their street – go down it, pick up rubbish, take cake to people and just try to be friends. Hopefully that will lead to meaningful con-versations,” says Nathan.

“I also encourage the church to bless local businesses. I’m saying let’s buy in our area, let’s pray over businesses.”

The idea bore fruit during the pandemic, he says. New Springs was able to source donations through FareShare to give to six takeaways and mobile businesses.

“We gave them things like onions and tomato ketchup which helped them save £50 or £60 a week, and they were very grateful.”

The church has also chosen schools to pray for and bless and treated 320 teachers in three schools to gifts at Christmas, including chocolate, Christian magazines and notes to thank them for everything they are doing.

Since lockdown ended, community outreach based in the church itself has begun to flourish again, with a mother and toddler group and kids’ club back in action and growing.

“We now have 50 kids with their parents or grandparents coming to mums and toddlers.

“From that, we have people coming to Messy Church. We restarted that a few months ago and had 47 families at the first one. We’re pleasantly surprised at what God has been doing.

“We relaunched our kids club a few months ago too, and after six weeks we had close to 30 kids aged five to 11 who don’t normally come to church.”

Nathan is now looking to the future and for ways to expand this outreach.

“There’s opportunities all around us,” he says. “I believe that if we open our eyes, God gives us the opportunity to take them.

“One idea is to launch a King’s Academy, where kids can learn musical instruments and creative arts while being introduced to faith.

“Maybe someone will learn the guitar, get to know Jesus and begin a journey that goes way beyond what we’re doing. Maybe we’ll see people saved who will become future worship leaders.”

Other new ideas include expanding the church’s kids’ work and focusing on youth work, while a lady in the congregation has also started organising communion and hymns for people in sheltered accommodation.

“I feel my job as pastor is to help everyone who’s connected with us in our church – young or old – to become everything they can be in God.

“In everything we’re doing, we just want to love people as God loves us.”            “I’ve learned how to do film production and editing, spread-sheets and social media. It’s been challenging, but great fun too.”

New Springs...

Post-lockdown, Nathan says he has seen God move in New Springs City Church.

“I was praying for ten new families to join us, and on our first Sunday back seven African families came, then three others the week after.

“We’ve seen people saved and have had some great testimonies.”

One lady connected with the church online who had established a lucrative business for herself as a highend escort. After hearing about Jesus and the difference he could make in her life, she came to faith, closed the business and started attending church.

God is also moving through monthly healing and deliverance services.

“A woman who wasn’t a Christian came who was doubled up and on a crutch. After prayer she ran up and down the aisle and carried the crutch out over her head.

“A daughter and dad with back problems were prayed for and said they felt something hot in their backs, then they went away pain-free.

“These services have become an integral part of our monthly calendar now.

“God is doing something new so we’re setting out our stall there.”

 

This article first appeared in the August 2022 edition of Direction Magazine. For further details please click here. 

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