Rev Dr Beth Cope a new housing pioneer minister from Northstowe writes…
There’s something powerful about sharing food, conversation, and prayer. About going on a journey, with space to ponder and reflect together. This October, a group of ministers from various denominations ventured to the Netherlands for a cross-cultural encounter. Our experiences lived up to the tag-line of one of the churches we visited, “we believe in the power of encounter, encounters with each other and perhaps even with God”
Our first stop was De Binnenwaai (Kirk op IJburg), located on a new island near Amsterdam. The name (chosen by a local child to reflect their experience of encounters with the new church) embodies freedom, welcome, and openness—as if being ‘blown inside by the wind’. 15 years on, the community thrives through connections among people from diverse backgrounds. We visited a vibrant community garden where residents—including students, singles, and refugees—share produce at communal meals: a fruitful place for the church to engage with the neighbourhood. Many of the apartment blocks have commercial units on the ground floor. That’s where we saw a pop-up library. And, in a unit on the next street corner, Pastor Marjolein Hekman welcomed us to the large dining table permanently set up in the front of De Binnenwaai’s building.
Over a delicious meal, we reflected on the unique gifts both of early pioneers and the ministers who then take on the vital role of nurturing a growing worship community. We discussed the importance of sustainable projects and the challenges of funding.
The following day, we travelled to HECHT Leidschenveen Ypenburg, where the team transformed a modern business space into a cosy haven with vintage decor. They focused not on ‘starting a church’ but on fostering genuine encounters with the community, partnering with those seeking to join in with what God is doing. Their initiatives promote social justice (often attracting external grant funding) and create spaces for connection: they emphasize that these projects are valuable in their own right. As people also come to encounter God, they are exploring new ways of gathering for worship as church. Ultimately, it’s the deep worship experiences that help them to be open to further, meaningful, encounters with others.
So what did we notice? Our contexts may look different, but some things remain the same: pioneering in new housing areas is both joyful and hard work, requiring risk-taking, adaptation, partnership, and a commitment to authentically listening to others and to God. You can’t script it. You have to live it: intentionally seeking encounters with God and those around you.
Rev Beth Cope is an Anglican Pioneer Minister in the new town of Northstowe on the edge of Cambridge. She moved to Northstowe in 2018 when there were only 150 houses. Now 1500 of the planned 10,000 homes have been occupied. She is involved in many community partnerships, and leads the Northstowe Church Network (www.northstowe.church), a local ecumenical partnership of the United Reformed Church, Baptist Union and Church of England, working closely with other Churches Together churches.
If you are interested in the work of the New Housing Areas Group or your denomination would like to be involved please contact Rev Dr Ben Aldous.
Photos credit: Rev Dr Beth Cope. Main photo is The group in IJburg together with the local team. Left to right Linda, Marjolein, then the NHA group : Ruth, Ali, Beth (me, Church of England) and Penny Marsh (Baptist)