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Reaching new homes with Orchard Grove Church
A new church planted on a growing housing development in Somerset has seen numbers more than double in just a few weeks.
By Catherine EllerbyDecember 2024
Members of All Saints, Trull, in the Diocese of Bath and Wells, had been praying for years about what mission to the large new housing development in the parish would look like. It became clear that a new church was the way to reach this new community of Orchard Grove.
Arriving as curates, Jon and Imogen Ball (pictured above seated with their two children, surrounded by the Orchard Grove Church Team) sensed through a number of circumstances that God was at work and calling them to be involved. Jon joined CCX’s Plant Course in January 2023 with a small volunteer team.
‘We found the focus on prayer and teaching on planting so helpful,’ says Jon, ‘alongside practicalities like finances and communications. It gave us the space we needed to think through our plans before we took the next steps.’
In September 2023, a weekly prayer gathering started for anyone who felt called to serve at the new church. A year later, in September 2024, a team of 15 adults and two children launched Orchard Grove Church, meeting in the new primary school, the only community space of the new development. By November 2024, the church had grown to 30 adults and seven children attending regularly.
Jon describes Orchard Grove Church as ‘an informal contemporary expression of Anglicanism’ with a children’s group, worship, teaching, communion and response time, with refreshments served afterwards.
‘What’s special,’ he says, ‘is to have a new church in the context of a new development with people coming along. Some are brand new to faith, some are trying it out, others giving church another go, and some looking for Christian community having moved into the area.’
The Orchard Grove development is still growing. There are currently 350 homes, but eventually there will be 2,000. As another way of connecting, the team is running a pop up cafe – with a coffee bike trailer – to serve people locally while community spaces and shops are still being built.
As Advent approaches, Jon and the team are forming plans for an important season of outreach. ‘Last year before the church existed, we did carol singing and 80 people came along. This year, with 100 more homes already built, we’re going to do the same, alongside a Christmas Eve celebration in the school.
‘My overall prayer is for us to see God’s kingdom here, for this new church to grow in depth, faith and love and in number over time. I’d love for it to be both at the heart of the development and become part of the fabric of the community.’
If you’re inspired by the planting of the Orchard Grove Church, why not find out more about the CCX Plant Course.
