OXFORD’S ‘DREAMING’ COMMUNITY 18 18
Thriving relationships: [left to right] Adam, Josh, Mark and Jem
Lives are being transformed on the edge of Oxford. Clive Price went with Gareth Davies, Head of Church Development for CARE, to meet a team seeing foundational change on a local housing estate
B
arton lies just outside Oxford - which poet Matthew Arnold described as the ‘sweet city with her dreaming spires’. But this housing estate became notorious as an urban outpost of disadvantaged families, weighed down by poverty and joblessness. Now that’s changing.
Jem Todd, a team leader with mission agency Innovista – which trains young leaders across both Europe and Eurasia – came to Barton four years ago as they started their first local mission in the UK there. ‘We came up with this model of “Thrive” teams,’ he said, ‘where we move to the estate, partner with a church and set up community projects.’ Now he lives there with his eight-month-old twins.
‘I understood those street kids,’ he recalled. ‘Even though we had a different background and opportunities, we still had a lot in common. That was a catalyst for wanting to come here.’
Thriving team So Jem became part of the change. And he spearheads a team of full-time youth workers, interns and 15 volunteers also contributing to Barton’s transformation. Team members started moving in from 2010 to the area.
‘What Thrive has brought to the venture has been foundational.’ wife and
Jem had spent part of his own childhood in the Philippines with his parents who worked among poverty-stricken street kids. That experience had inspired him about mission.
Adam Overton, 24, had grown up in a Christian home. Then his parents split. Dropping out of school in his mid teens, he suffered from depression.
Playing the piano became a way of expressing himself. Adam studied music at Oxford Brookes while volunteering with Thrive. He now lives on the estate and works among the youth fulltime. ‘I can relate to these guys,’ he said. Robin Peake grew up in a middle class farming family in Northern Ireland. He
Inspiring mission: Innovista team leader Jem Todd thought of people on housing estates as ‘scroungers and skivers’. But his attitude changed on moving to Barton in 2011. Robin’s prejudice was challenged as he saw natural leaders among the young people there who just lacked the opportunities to develop. ‘I saw a strong sense of community,’ said Robin, 27.