Gather Community Garden ‘Open Garden’ on August 28

You are invited to join us at our Gather Community Garden (GCG) Open Garden  taking place between 10.00am and 2.00pm on Saturday 28th August. GCG is a 7 plot partnership with local charity Growing Futures. It is open 6 mornings a week and is also used at other times. As well as growing fruit and vegetables the plot also has a 2 beehives, 21 chickens, 2 toilets, and indoor and outdoor cafe areas. Additionally there is a quiet garden based around the theme of Psalm 23 and a prayer room used for personal and group reflection.

The project will host an art exhibit in September and will be the venue for a Men’s Garden Shed project – also launching in September.

The community garden project is part of the work the Gather Collective chaplaincy team. It reflects our desire to help create community connections for people and be a presence within our communities. It is also underpinned by our belief in creation care and healthy food access.

For users of what3words here is our exact location.                   You can also find a map below – we are on the footpath between Churchdale Road and Hammonds Drive. (Bookers and Wickes)

Gather Collective Live Services Return

The Gather Collective returned to live services in the final week of July. Our meeting venue at the Love All Tennis Studio is a spacious room and we can do some social distancing between families and groups. We can also provide masks and we have hand sanitiser.

Our services start at 10.15am and include a live worship team, participatory prayer and Bible teaching. Following the service we have coffee/tea at the Love All Cafe. A free voucher for the hot drinks is provided to all attending the meeting.

We are exploring what a focus on Jesus, mission, prayer, creation care, justice and community looks like. For more information on our venue please go here

Church Gatherings

You’re so welcome to join us 10am any Sunday at the Bridgemere Community Centre,  100 Bridgemere Road Eastbourne BN22 8TY or at 11.30am for coffee or tea at our Gather Café (also at Bridgemere Community Centre)

There’s a parking area beside the Bridgemere Centre or local buses on the No 5 route run passed the centre.

Small Groups

Meet every Tuesday or Wednesday at 7.30pm in various homes or via Zoom.  Contact us for more details.

If you would like to know more about The Gather Collective email [email protected] or text 07838388128 or follow us on Facebook , Instagram or Twitter

Gather Defib Helps Save Life

The Gather Community Garden, a project of the Gather Collective, was able to donate a Defibrillator for use among the 500+ allotment users at the Churchdale site (and other people from the locality.) Funded by a generous donation, the machine appeared to have been taken recently and the casing damaged.

It has since emerged that it was used to treat a patient and went with the patient to the Hospital. Due to an admin issue the emergency services were unable to access the unlock code from their database. An allotment holder, who lives locally, had advised that there was a machine there and to access it to treat a friend who had become ill. The only option left was to force the door.

Gather spokesperson Ruth Kenward comments: ‘Our upset over the broken door was transformed the moment we heard what had actually happened. This is just the kind of patient scenario we had in mind when creating this resource for local people.’

The Gather Community Garden is spread over 7 plots at the Churchdale site and includes vegetable and fruits as well as a quiet garden. Bee keeping and chickens rearing are among the other activities at the site which has been working with a tiny team for the last 12 months. We are now back at to our full programme – find out more about a tour by calling 07838 388128

The Prayers of Jesus – The Prayers of Peace

My peace I leave with you was on Jesus lips 3 times in John 20. This is just one of the many times peace and prayer are connected in the life and ministry of Jesus. Peace is rooted in the word Shalom which has multiple layers of meaning including welfare, wholeness and calm and abundance. In this core teaching for us a congregation Dave Roberts notes that the gospel is rooted in the notion of the gospel of peace. Our forgiveness, flowing from Jesus death and resurrection, is the start of our embrace of the Kingdom of God and a belief in the restoration of all things. What do Jesus prayers of peace tell us about mission, prayer, justice and the relational nurture that God desires?

Holy Week – Day 8

Sunday (Matthew 28v1-20)

The Lord is risen! He is risen indeed!

Do you get the impression that Mary Magdalene was awake all night, ready for the first glimmer of evidence that dawn had arrived? Like an athlete in the starting blocks, she was off, probably gathering the other women on the way. They came expecting to embalm a corpse, they found a very alive Jesus, more alive than he had been up till now, because now he was in his heavenly state.  He appears to the disciples in the upper room, to Thomas, to two on the walk to Emmaus, who did not recognise him till he stops with them to eat and blesses the bread. Maybe, as he raised the bread, his sleeve fell back, revealing his scars? Whatever it was, they ran all the way back to Jerusalem in their excitement, all was joy, confusion and bewilderment.

There will be times in our lives when God seems especially near and real, perhaps at special celebrations, at communion. We need to remember these moments, maybe note them in a journal, because there will also be times when God seems distant, difficulties may obscure our spiritual senses.

Whatever today brings or feels like, from the moment Jesus came out of the tomb, the cosmos changed forever. The way to God is open to everyone, sin is dealt with once and for all because:

Jesus is Alive: Selah!