Learning Community faith group story: St Luke's and St Jude's West Derby

St Luke’s and St Jude’s church in West Derby launched a lunch club to help tackle social isolation and food insecurity, and promote community cohesion, after taking part in Together Liverpool’s Huyton Learning Community.

It is the latest initiative to be connected via Together Liverpool to the national Places of Welcome network, offering regular free hot drinks, warmth and company every Thursday.

A team of five volunteers have served more than 220 meals such as scouse, cottage pie, chicken curry, and an all-day breakfast special, with hot drinks and desserts, since launching at the St Luke’s church building in January.

St Luke’s and St Jude’s was awarded £5,000 from the Merseyside Police-backed 'Live Now' scheme, to strengthen community resilience in Liverpool and Knowsley.

A third of the funding will provide toys and a summer trip for the church-run toddler group, and the rest was allocated to develop a community food project.

Vicar Rev Jonty Foster accessed support from Together Liverpool to as the church is part of the Huyton Deanery Learning Community.

He said the initial social action planning exercise to map local need and provision helped the church make some strategic decisions:

• With a higher than average number of single parents in the area, the church decided to retain two toddler groups. Rev Jonty said: “That was a really significant lightbulb moment.”
• Two other local groups were identified providing local debt advice, and without the capacity to set up their own service, St Luke’s now signposts people to those.
• With two existing food banks in the parish area, this confirmed an eat-in hot meal provision would best help address local needs, rather than offering another food bank.

The church decided to use the Live Now grant to re-launch a lunch club that had closed during the pandemic.

Rev Jonty said: “We’re quite a small church but we try and do a few things well, with a small but committed number of volunteers from the local community. The lunch club project supports people with food poverty, fuel poverty, and social isolation. In the context of the cost of living crisis this is providing a warm space, warm meal, warm people.”

Rev Jonty said the Learning Community helped the St Luke’s team think more strategically.

He said: “The data that was presented gives you the evidence base for what the needs are in the area, and looking at that with the mapping, helps you identify gaps and needs.

“That’s crucial, and then the support moves to what and how you are going to deliver a strategy for implementation, evaluation and sustainability. “It’s really helpful.”

He said: “Having to carve the time out to do this is great. It’s been a really interesting exercise to get together as a deanery team and reflect on what we are doing, and getting a change to bounce ideas off others in the area.”

“It was a helpful safety net within which to begin something, having that confidence we are starting something new but we’re not plucking something out of thin air, it is rooted in data, and a strategic needs assessment to work out what the gaps are and what the services are you need to commission.”

“Together Liverpool has helped us gather the evidence and prove this was something we needed to do and why we are doing it.”

In terms of future sustainability, Rev Jonty said: “We were thinking of going to a suggested donation model when the funding runs out. The 1-1 conversation with James was useful about other places we might try to access more funding, so that’s given us food for thought.”

Offering encouragement for other groups considering taking part in Together Liverpool Learning Community, Rev Jonty said:

“It’s definitely really worthwhile. Look at the nature of the country at the minute.

“The churches are really stepping up and providing for a lot of the needs of the most deprived communities in the country, and it’s great if you can do it as individuals, but it’s even better if we work together, collaborating and being part of something bigger, making a bigger difference.

“It helps dealing with those feelings of isolation that can be so hard for clergy so any opportunity to collaborate is worth looking into and to have the expertise that Together Liverpool can offer can only benefit you more.

“You can do so much more when you are connected and working together. It’s been so worthwhile.”