New worshipping community is setting down roots in village allotment

A new worshipping community at the allotment in Little Coxwell is setting down roots in the village.

‘The Shed’ group began meeting six months ago when the church was given one of the allotment spaces to use to meet. Their ‘shed’ is, in fact, a three-sided mobile field shelter that will sit at the back of the allotment space to allow the group to meet in all weathers.

A grant from the diocese’s Development Fund will enable this to be installed just in time for the colder months. Bishop Gavin went along to their recent harvest service to dedicate the space.

Monthly services are centred around a stewardship and creation care theme, with different activities planned for all ages, as well as a Bible reading linked to that.

People from across the community come along and it’s very much an intergenerational service. Indeed, the first gathering included a four-year-old and a 94-year-old.

The Revd Maria Jukes, vicar at Great Faringdon with Little Coxwell, said: “With Faringdon expanding in Little Coxwell’s direction, the communities are growing geographically closer and our hope is that The Shed will be a space where relationships between our two churches and communities can also grow.

“Little Coxwell is a rural community, and rooting a worshipping community in a space that relates to the land and farming that goes on in the area all around us feels natural and part of the identity of the community.

“We have people who come along to The Shed who would never come to church.”

Over the last few months, the group have been preparing the ground, quite literally, for the future. They have installed raised beds, levelled the ground, and created a manageable growing area.

Revd Maria continued: “I think one of the joys of gardening is that you can make mistakes and it’s OK. You can have a go at the level that you’re at, and if something doesn’t go right you learn and try again.

“We’ve had some successes and failures. I don’t know where all the onions have gone that we planted. But we had so many potatoes, the children loved it, it was like digging up treasure!”

Bishop Gavin led the harvest service at St Mary’s before leading the congregation down to the allotment where he planted a Victoria plum tree as a symbol of the flourishing Christ is calling us to.

He said: “Revd Maria and the church here are like the farmer in the parable of the sower. They have nurtured the seed in their community and grown a wonderful new group of worshippers who are learning about creation care and living that out in their Shed.

“May the roots they have set down bear fruit in years to come – just as I pray and trust that the Victoria plum tree I’ve planted this afternoon will also grow and bear much fruit.”