Churches on a Mission
ARISE!
Bless
GREYSTONES
Whether it’s making wellbeing parcels for local schools, or litter-picking on local streets, the congregation at St Gabriel’s church in Greystones are truly blessing their community. We went to get the story behind their most recent programme, appropriately named ‘Bless Greystones’. It was a busy Sunday morning when I arrived at St Gabriel’s. The church regulars are ready and waiting. Families chat excitedly, itching to get started. The organising team have clipboards in hand. The team here are all part of the Bless Greystones initiative, a plan to renew love, hope and faith in the community. Fueled by the love and hope that Jesus gives, the church family are serving Greystones in practical ways, by helping out wherever they can.
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“The whole thing started because we saw how people were being affected by Covid,” church leader Alistair told us. “Even just coming out of lockdown, we knew that people had been hit hard by the isolation. People needed to know that they were not alone, and you can’t just expect people to know they can come to church for that, you’ve got to be prepared to go out to show them that they are loved.” So the motivation is simple and clear, but the name, Alistair informed us, was just as important when it came to sending the right message. “When coming up with a name for this scheme, we chose to use the word ‘Bless’ over other relevant words like ‘love’ or hope’. Those were implicit in our message, but we felt that ‘bless’ was the key word because it tied back to
by George Bingham-Davis
God’s message to Abraham: ‘I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.’ (Genesis, 12:2, NIV)” Abraham was invited to have faith in God and “be a blessing” in a time of strife, and now St Gabriel’s hopes to do the same for Greystones, sharing God’s blessing through their love for their community. Alongside the family - and school staff - care packages they prepared back in January, Bless Greystones have been collaborating with many organisations around Greystones, Alistair tells me. “We’ve been helping to support a number of local groups and practices, like Greystones Medical Centre and Bingham Park Community Group. We’ve
