As well as a place of worship, COM Church in Dunstable is somewhere for locals to gather
for events, such as watching World Cup games on a big screen
Sowing hope into the fabric of community!
For Julian and Sarah Richards, being at the centre of local life is key to sharing the gospel. They told Chris Rolfe their story
If you attended a Sunday service at COM Church you would never guess the building had been a boxing venue just hours before. Or a dementia cinema. Or a club.
But so strong are the church’s community connections that the building is knitted into everyday life in Dunstable.
“Our thinking is that the world won’t be reached from behind a pulpit and that our worship is demonstrated by meeting people where they’re at,” say senior pastors Julian and Sarah Richards.
Julian and Sarah are well placed to connect with their tight-knit community. They grew up in the church – which Julian’s parents started 38 years ago from their living room – before taking over leadership in 2016.
COM Church is based in a 1930s former 1,000-seater cinema on the high street and from this central position plays host to the aforementioned array of events.
These include a dementia cinema, which the church runs with a local charity. “Because our building used to be a cinema a lot of people came here when they were younger. We show old films for people with dementia who maybe have memories of the place,” says Sarah.
“We run autism and soft play cinemas too. With these it doesn’t matter if people start walking around or talking. They have the whole place to themselves and it’s safe.”
Julian didn’t hesitate to make an unusual move when he discovered another group of people needing a safe space.
“I was driving home at around 4 a.m. one Sunday and saw girls half-dressed pouring out onto the main road from a rave in a field,” he says.
“ We contacted the organisers and asked if they knew what was going on and that these girls were at risk of not getting home safely. We couldn’t stand by and watch this happen and I asked if we could work with them and the police to run the rave in a safer way. We told them, ‘If we have to give you the church building to do that, so be it.’ So they used our building as a controlled environment.
Charity coffee mornings are successful
“A lot of people wouldn’t understand this, but our town knows we’re prepared to keep our community safe.”
The church hosts many other activities too, including school uniform and clothing banks, weddings, funerals and parties. Julian and Sarah are glad to be seeing years of relationship-building starting to show fruit.
“One of the groups we host is the local boxing community who hold professional fights here. A few weeks ago there was an entire row of guys from the ring in church on Sunday,” says Julian.
“ The guy who fitted the floors in church is now sat on the front row with his family too, and recently dedicated his life to following Jesus.
“The gospel message is much better received through relationship than it would ever be if we stayed as our own entity on the edge of town.” As the government has moved hundreds of asylum seekers into hotels in Dunstable, other community connections have developed too.
COM Church works closely with other churches to provide support for these families, and while others focus on practical help, COM Church has majored on spiritual outreach.
“We’ve shared the gospel in hotels and also offer transport to people who want to come to our meetings,” says Julian.
Sarah adds: “It’s about making sure that every time anyone comes through our doors they get a good spiritual meal.”
To this end, it helps that COM Church is hugely international, with more than 40 nations represented and a congregation in Spain who can connect with Spanish- speaking asylum seekers.
The Easter service was translated into 30 languages and Julian and Sarah are currently investigating translation technology to serve families joining the church.
“Reaching out to asylum seekers has been amazing. Weekly we are seeing the fruit of the harvest and the miracle of salvation!” Sarah says.
While COM Church is hugely community-focused, Julian and Sarah also love to recognise giftings and ministries within their congregation and release people into these.
“A former Baptist minister came to our church and we could see he had all the gifts of a missionary,” says Julian. “We helped release him into that and now he heads up our team sending fire engines and ambulances to Kenya and Uganda.”
Sarah adds: “Our associate pastor and youth leader have both been ordained after completing their ministerial training and we’ve encouraged other ministers and worship leaders too.”
The church is in an exciting season, concludes Julian.
“ Some of our leaders are saying they’re sensing a fresh move of the Holy Spirit. That’s true for our church, but I’m actually convinced it’s true for Elim and the wider body of Christ.”
Partnering with Elim
When Julian’s parents founded Dunstable Community Church – as COM Church was originally called – they decided to join Elim’s ECI.
Having seen the support ECI – now Elim Network – offered, Julian and Sarah were keen to maintain this relationship when they took over.
“The support has been invaluable. Elim has been there for us the whole time and we’ve never been alone,” says Julian.
This was important as they transitioned into leadership after his dad passed away.
“Elim recognised the anointing on our lives to lead the church. A leadership transition like this that has traditionally been difficult to manage was made wonderful by the support of Elim’s National Leadership Team.”
Elim Network has supported them in the good and bad times, he says.
“ There are difficult times in church life, but we’ve got people to share the victories, joys and celebrations with. It’s a testimony to the Elim Network that the church is still standing today!”
Why ‘COM’ Church?
“A lot of people ask us why we’re called COM Church,” says Julian.
“When my parents started out, they called it Dunstable Community Church, but when we took over in 2016 we reviewed that because there’s so much more to us than just our community work.
“ So many great words begin with the letters ‘com’: we were going online and doing much more ‘.com’ things; we’re very much about the Great Commission, communion with God, companionship, communication and so on.
“We say to our church, ‘Somebody is going to ask you what our name means or what it stands for – pick your favourite word to explain!
“All these wonderful ‘com’ words are there for people to take their conversations to the next level with people.”
This article first appeared in Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.
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