It’s such an exciting time for our community projects across Sutton and beyond.
Lighthouse is helping more and more families from across the borough access the clothing and equipment they need. Warm Welcome is bringing those people seeking fellowship and friendship together in an inclusive, welcoming space every Monday. Wendy House is welcoming young families into a space where kids can develop and have fun and parents can meet and make friends. And our connection to Sutton Community Works and Food Bank has been growing and growing.
This amazing work has meant the need for a dedicated Community Pastor to lead our community vision and work closely with our incredible volunteers has become clear.
We are so excited to announce the appointment of our first Community Pastor Claire Dowdeswell!
To celebrate we spoke to Claire about what drew her to this new role and what she’s so excited about in our church and local community.
We are deeply grateful to those who have already contributed to the Community Pastor Fund, however we are still a bit short of our fundraising goal. Although we have some reserves to support this role, we aim for it to be sustainable and long-term, given the importance of our local community.
If you haven’t yet donated to the Community Pastor Fund and would like to, you can do so on our fund giving page here.
If you would like to contribute regularly to the church to support and expand our ministries and projects, or if you wish to increase your regular giving, you can do so on our giving page.
We are incredibly grateful for your generous support, both financially and through the time many of you dedicate to serving at Sutton Vineyard. Thank you for your continued commitment and generosity.
Meet Claire, our new Community Pastor
Can you introduce yourself to us?
Hi, my name is Claire and, with my family, I've been attending Sutton Vineyard since 2012. I'm married to Jon and have 3 children Amelie, Isla and Jesse.
Tell us something fun that most people wouldn't know about you!
I love helping people move house! Bizarre I know, but I just LOVE it!
What led you to applying to the role of Community Pastor?
I've felt God nudging me in this direction since last September, a sense that I needed to do less of my current job and more in the community but I wasn't sure what that would look like.
I've co-led Lighthouse for a number of years and I have been really excited in the lead up to us starting Grace Advocacy at Sutton Vineyard, so I was excited to maybe do more of these things.
Over the last few months I've had people sharing pictures and prophetic words for me who had no idea what I had felt God was saying - these were so affirming and helped me to trust that I had heard God right and I just needed to be patient. I had no idea that all this would culminate in this new job, but when it was advertised I knew I had to trust and just apply. I'm so excited that God has been speaking over these last few months and where it's led to!
Why are you passionate about the community?
I LOVE serving our community and I'm really passionate that the Church can have a huge impact. I love how just a smile or a kind word can change the course of someone's day, and we see this so regularly in our community ministries. So many people in our local area are struggling in so many different ways, and as a Church just by being kind, generous and showing God's love we can make such a difference.
I want to see people's lives changed by introducing them to a loving God.
What are you most looking forward to about starting your new role?
I'm excited that as a Church we will have have so much more time dedicated to our community ministries and I'm excited to see where God leads us next. I believe by starting Grace Advocacy we are going to see people's circumstances significantly changed and I can't wait to see the impact that will have.
I'm excited to be able to spend my working hours having an impact for the Kingdom, what a privilege!
What can people be praying about for you?
I'd really appreciate prayers for peace as I adjust to a new this new role! It feels like a really big but exciting change. And prayers of protection for our family would be great, thank you!
