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Weekly Prayer Focus: Pathfinder Church, Northstowe

Week 29

Northstowe is a major new development on a former RAF airbase just to the north west of Cambridge with 1,500 homes already build out of the planned 10,000. The new church is a pioneering mission project and a joint ecumenical partnership between the Church of England, Baptists, and URC with support from Quakers, Methodists, and Churches Together in Cambridgeshire. The work is led by Anglican Pioneer Minister Revd Dr Beth Cope who is passionate about seeing God’s kingdom flourish in Northstowe.

After six years “praying, exploring, and sharing”, three interconnected missional and worshiping communities have formed with those new to faith and from across the Christian traditions. Together, they seek to bless Northstowe through the week:

Pathfinder Church focus on a partnership with The Pathfinder CofE Primary School. Revd Stephen Dove offers chaplaincy to the school two days a week. The Sunday Afternoon Gatherings involve inter-generational worship, interaction, prayer, community, and exploration.
Little Explorers offers “time for you, your child, and God” in a Thursday Morning fresh expression of church, building community over breakfast, as well as worshipping and exploring the Bible together through story, song, and play.
A third expression celebrates how silence and poetic liturgy act as a powerful way to be with others in community and to encounter God together. “Compline” (Night Prayer) happens on alternate Thursday evenings, alongside seasonal communion meals.

A key opportunity (and challenge!) on the horizon is how to respond well to the opportunity to bid for land to build a community centre and place of worship – providing a hub-site to help connect the existing ministries and open up new possibilities.

Please pray:

For how to balance all the fragile work taking place with the opportunity to bid for land to build a church centre.
For working towards funding and building a community centre that can become a house of prayer and hospitality.
For all those arriving and settling in Northstowe and for the growth of a sense of belonging and community.
For Beth, Stephen, the ministry team, and the growth of the Christian family in Northstowe as different traditions work together.