Emma Miles is a Multiply leader supported by the Growth Fund and based at West Hill in the Parish of Bessingby and Christ Church, Bridlington. She has been building her team and leading a new worshipping community for just over a year, working from a foundation of outreach and mission on West Hill estate. We caught up with her in September, to hear how it is all developing:
“I began working with Multiply in September 2019. I was working in West Hill with the church and I already had felt a call to the estate, partly based on the fact that I grew up there. I had felt pulled to West Hill. From being a child, I’ve known the church building on the estate as central to the life of the community.
“Starting with only a couple of us, we grew a team that became involved in supporting young families and young people that lived on the estate. They didn’t need to learn how to be community but there was a desire in me to help them to know a life of Jesus.
“We knew we needed to know peoples’ names and to bless that community and bring them together. Over time we became excited about church not being all about a Sunday but also about midweek fresh expressions of church.
“Our mission is to first introduce people to this amazing saviour in Jesus and also equip them in their work. What excited me about Multiply was that we could be supported to do this and grow a community based on everyday living for Jesus.”
What has it looked like so far?
“It has looked like bringing the community together for lots of different activities, involving lots of 20s-40s and lots of young mums, dads and families. It has looked like being present and being there for people, opening the church doors and leading activities, becoming a community which is central to the estate.
“I’ve had a team of people to do this alongside me. We partnered with agencies outside of the church and we were present even when other teams were doing boxing or music projects for the estate. We are the Christian presence for the community. We did ‘After School’ clubs with parents too, nutritional meals cooked for people, picnics for the estate, and barbecues too.
“We also partnered with the council in the area to lead sports and play. Generally everything we did was around food. We also did nativities and performances, inviting the whole estate. We have done mini youth festivals and Christmas parties. Messy church as well. Important in this was spending time in rehearsals with families’.
“There were a few of us already on the team at the beginning and over the course of the year we started picking up people who were interested in serving in the community. Some were inspired by seeing the change in the lives of others involved in our work.
