Earlier this year we opened up our church building as a venue we called "Space2B". We have an old church building in the centre of town and we felt we wanted it used by and for the community. So we started "Space 2B".
First it is a place where people can meet. We have it open every week day from 12 - 2p.m. with coffee machine going, hot and cold drinks available. Our aim is that there will be people who want to come in and use it as a place to make contact, rest up in the middle of their day, and feel at home. They can bring their lunch and eat it with company. Slowly we are building up a small group who use it like that.
Secondly we want Space 2B to evolve with various workshops and useful ventures attached to it. We are starting workshops next week in the evenings on "Healing Grief", where we will be thinking about loss, whether it be loss of a job or a loved one. We are looking to share in sustainable living workshops also in the near future.
We were approached by a lady who had come to NZ as a displaced person from Zimbabwe. She has been in Dunedin some time and has been involved with new immigrants to the country. She wondered if we could become a resource centre for new immigrants. So today we had a successful launch of Settlement Resource@Space2B. We will be open every Wednesday from 11 a.m. till 3 p.m. with a particular focus for new settlers. They are welcome to come, we will have resources and information available for them. Today many people gathered from various agencies who said that this was a "dream come true", a "much needed resource" and such like. I was astounded by the warmth with which the idea was received. As I met them I became aware that for so many of them, some where in my life I had met them before. They knew me or knew of me. We have a man, Noel Tiano, working part time for the church who has set this up. I think as a church we have gained credibility in our community, which is quite hard in our secular-church-phobic community.
It is a step along the way to forming a "differently shaped - community orientated church community". The potential is amazing. I hope we end up as a Church of Christ Community with lots of little purposeful bits and groups "hanging off us" meeting a variety of needs. For now it was just heart warming to see the church with people from the community relaxing, laughing and affirming the church.
We have a long way to go, but perhaps this is one big step at the start of the journey.
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