Welcome to St A's
From Sunday 2nd May, all being well, our Sunday morning worship service will be both live in the church and on zoom. 1045am at St A's. We look forward to welcoming you back in person :)
On Zoom during coronavirus
Please email office@stasbaptist.org for Zoom link and password.
Sundays at 1045am
Find previous sermons on our Resources page under
sermons/talks or on our Facebook page.
Thursdays at 730pm
Weekly Prayer Meeting from 730pm to about 830pm
Tuesdays at 1030am
Coffee morning from 1030-1130am - a chance just to chat and catch up.
Homegroups are running on Zoom on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings and can be joined just for the lockdown or longer, perhaps transferring to a location closer to your home when we start meeting again. Contact office@stasbaptist.org for details.
The Youth (years 7 to 13) are running activities on most Fridays during school term. Jack, Rosie and Joe can be contacted on youth@stasbaptist.org
Sunday morning programme
We are delighted to welcome Revd Dr Steve Langford as our new minister as of the beginning of January.
It is an exciting time to join St A's - if God is drawing you to our fellowship, please join in whatever way you can. Not only are Sunday meetings inspirational (even if online), but there is a strong sense of God wanting to use the spaces in our church and church centre powerfully and thoroughly for His purposes. Please come and be a part of that.
It Takes a City
We have been involved with
It Takes a City support for the rough sleepers in hotels since Easter 2020, when we opened the church kitchen with a volunteer team to cook on Good Friday and Easter Monday for the 40 rough sleepers accommodated under the government 'Everyone in' scheme, giving the Salvation Army the bank holidays as rest. The kitchen was open for 7 mornings a week from 23rd April until October, when the majority of those remaining in the covid placements were moved into one large accommodation. At the most there were 120 in accommodation being provided meals by the 3 kitchens. We now cook for approximately 30 people Sunday to Wednesday and Wintercomfort cook Thursday to Saturday. A small team also helps with delivery to a few people in dispersed accommodation around the city.
City Council accommodates 140 rough sleepers.
This is in cooperation with many other organisations including It Takes a City, the Salvation Army and Wintercomfort teams, St Andrews Chesterton who have shared our kitchen and suppliers, Cambscuisine who provided chefs for 3 days a week until July, the Community Library Bus drivers, the University Facilities Department van and drivers, the City Council, Street Outreach team, Street Pastors, CGL drug and alcohol service, Evolve security, Caring for Cambridgeshire's Homeless, CCHP, and others. It has been an amazing experience to react together in such a way to the crisis. As well as cooking, we also deliver (now to 3 locations) every day with a teams of volunteers from St A's, St Andrews Chesterton and the Cambridge Korean Church.
A video of the Salvation Army's side of the project, featuring their amazing team and the wonderful Library bus, can be viewed
here.
Much of the food has been donated by
BEFA (providing a full car load most weeks), the Cambridge food
hubs, surplus from the Salvation Army, surplus from shops and individuals. One day we
received a large number of frozen Nandos chickens; another day delicious pies and assorted goods from Frankie and Benny's who were sadly closing down; and approximately 150 mince pies from Barker's Bakery! We could not have continued this far without these donations, but also generous and timely grants from Samaritan's Purse (£2K), Crisis (£5K) and the CCF coronavirus fund (£5K), and donations from the Cambridge Korean Church, another local trust fund, St Andrews Chesterton and donations from within the church congregation.
By the end of April 2021, a year on from when we started cooking, we have provided 34140 meals (counting 3 meals a day). It has cost approximately £28,000. The 3 kitchens have provided about 100,000 meals. More than 200 people have been helped, and a high proportion have been able to move into longer term accommodation. Some people who were entrenched rough sleepers are now in supported or independent accommodation.
This podcast follows an individual in a similar scheme in Manchester but could be the story of many in Cambridge. Please listen to the end. Please pray for each individual to find stability, health and the ability to make good life choices.
If you have concerns about someone sleeping rough, please contact the outreach team via streetlink.org.uk
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