Community Store

Laura is part of St John’s Church Bransholme, where she lives with her husband and two children. Laura completed Stepping Up in December 2021, a journey she started whilst the church was without a vicar. During the vacancy, St John’s continued to run a foodbank, which supported local people throughout the covid pandemic.

The vision at St John’s was to offer more than a food parcel, and so Laura has been working as the Community Minister with a team of volunteers to develop the Community Store.

Each Tuesday morning the church opens the Community Store for local people to receive a bag of groceries for £3. For those who can’t afford it, a ‘Blessing Board’ has tickets where someone has pre-paid for the grocery bag. The Blessing Board can be used three times in 3 months to help people who are really struggling to get back on their feet.

Laura is passionate that everyone is made to feel welcome. There is a great community feel to the morning, with drinks and snacks for people to enjoy as they stay and chat around tables, with an area for small children to play whilst parents talk. The Community Store is growing with 50-60 people attending each week.

Laura said: “The Community Store has exceeded my expectations, it is such a positive change to the way we do things.  We now have many more people, especially families coming along.”

Laura uses the church year to create different opportunities for people to find out more about the Christian faith, with a theme of God’s love on Valentines’ day, hot cross buns and big questions for Lent and special celebrations for Easter and Christmas.  Faith is shared in a down to earth way, problems are shared and prayer is offered.

The Community Store is central to the mission of St John’s. This place of welcome in the church each week provides the opportunity to share God’s love in action and prayer, with an invitation to Thursday prayers around the cross or church on Sunday. It is wonderful to see both the Community Store and the church growing, sharing God’s love each week amongst the people of Bransholme.