Middlesbrough, Holy Trinity, North Ormesby

Lee-Anne Southon

Lee-Anne.Rose@trinitycentre.org

In August 2019, Lee-Anne launched a New Worshipping Community (NWC) at Holy Trinity North Ormesby in Middlesbrough called ‘Moving On’.

The journey to starting a NWC all began through working with the leaders at Holy Trinity, Dominic and Heather Black, to set up ‘Tot’s Praise’. Lee-Anne describes how:

‘at Holy Trinity, we had noticed a number of families with young children, and so we restarted Tot’s praise, which is a mid-morning session for under 5s and their parents or carers with a Bible story, songs and bubble prayers…At the end of Tot’s Praise we would get the toys out for the children and parents would chat over a cuppa, during the chat they would talk about their week and what was going on, I started asking if I could pray about particular things they were talking about and so we would end in prayer’

As she explains, the invitation to be part of Tot’s Praise led to parents opening up about their own lives and wanting prayer for what they were going through. Relationships and trust with the local community were further fostered through a diverse multicultural gathering for families on a Friday morning which drew in over 30 people a week. This was in addition to personally supporting local refugees and setting up holiday activities for local children.

Seeing even more potential for her work to develop, in early 2019 Lee-Anne and the team at North Ormesby began to imagine how Tot’s Praise, Family Fridays and other groups might see deeper discipleship.

At Multiply we are constantly on the lookout to support lay people who have a passion for Jesus and their community. Therefore, hearing about the potential new venture, we met with Lee-Anne and the team, and our chats about what might be possible turned eventually into a plan and application.

Shortly afterwards, Lee-Anne became the second grant-funded Multiply lay leader:

‘We talked about the Multiply programme and with the PCC’s agreement we applied for the funding for me as a part time Multiply lay leader. Tot’s Praise continued and then we began a Start course, an enquirers course for individuals who were new to church and also some families from Tots Praise who had started asking questions, we ran Start straight after Tot’s Praise and at least three quarters of the Tot’s Praise families stayed, engaging in conversation about what a relationship with Jesus looked like.  Following the end of Start we then ran the ‘Moving On’ course as a start for preparation for Baptism and confirmation.  The small group really seemed to help people feel comfortable asking questions and talking about their experiences and feelings, and so we continued meeting after the course finished and we would take a reading from the bible or a theme. The first we did was the Lord’s prayer, looking at what the words meant, looking at the Bible, asking questions, praying and then finishing by listening to a piece of music’

Developing deeper friendship with her contacts and connections over time through small groups, family gatherings enquirer’s courses and activities, led to several individuals getting baptised and others becoming consistent members of the Wednesday morning discipleship group.

Undaunted by lockdown, Lee-Anne has continued to build strong and supportive relationships with the surrounding community and those in need.

As well as supporting services online, she has been doing activity drop-offs and craft bags, all alongside her other employed role in the local Food Bank.

Lee-Anne explains how when lockdown began she and a children’s worker teamed up:

‘we gave out weekly craft bags which parents would pick up safely from the door giving us chance to catch up briefly and see how people were. Tot’s Praise went online, I recorded it weekly and shared it online it was great to have families sending in videos or pictures of children joining in with the actions at home.  For Pentecost we put together Church in a bag too. For our first Church in a bag we gave 12 bags out giving 18 children the opportunity to think about what the Holy Spirit is and have some fun.  The second time we did Church in a bag, two more families asked for one as well.  It has been great to look at other ways to support the community in these times’. 

Overall, for Lee-Anne in her first year with Multiply there have been many challenges as well as joys, but her gifting in leadership and her faith in Jesus has continued to grow. Her trust in him has translated into an exciting emerging mission and ministry. As she puts it:

‘I am blessed to have been pushed out of my comfort zone to try new things and get support from other Multiply leaders.  Throughout it all I am reminded that although things are different at the moment, the love of God is steadfast and unchanging and that’s what gives me comfort’.