Throughout the Bible we are encouraged to work together as Christians for the furthering of

God’s Kingdom and for the blessing of our community and one another. Psalm 133:1 talks of

this - ;"How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!"; and also sums up so much of what has been happening with the relationship between PMC and the URC at

Skinner Street in the past year or so. I was licensed back in November last year to work in

the garden there to develop a garden to bless the community around, to create a new

worshipping community and to work with the church there to see what God is doing and

join in together and this has been happening- Praise God!

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We are seeing people gathering together across denominations, age ranges, socio economic

backgrounds to pray, to worship, to grow the garden and to serve the community around

Skinner Street and this is a joy to see. As part of this sense of unity PMC now shares the

office with the URC in Skinner Street so we had the big move from The Spire to the URC at

the end of August. A new chapter thus begins and we are excited to see where God leads us

here. As well as sharing the office we have also been hosting CMS training days for pioneers

as well as gatherings of local pioneers called the Pioneer Collective (see photos below). The

Pioneer Collective is a gathering of local pioneers which happens 3 times a year where we

share food and life and reflect and pray for one another. All of these gatherings are joyful ventures, as we  join up and work together in unity as God’s people.

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 It is fascinating to note that Skinner Street URC has a history of pioneering, from its very

founding when members ventured out taking the Gospel to Newfoundland, to the work of

Phillip Henry Gosse (who invented the aquarium),and the church establishing one of

the earliest and most accessible Sunday Schools in the country, to name but a few of its

pioneering ways! I very much believe that we are just joining in with this pioneering thread

of history and it will be so exciting to see how God leads both PMC and the URC as we look

to the future in pioneering in Poole and beyond.

 

Sally Taylor