Rethink what it means to be church, here
Rethink what it means to be church, here
Photo: The Crafty Cafe community and some of their creations
We catch up with ordinand Jez Drury at the end of his first year on the MA programme at CMS Pioneer Mission Training.
by Helen Harwood,
HH: Hi Jez, and thanks for agreeing to be interviewed a second time. Can you tell us a bit about your context and where you are based?
JD: I am based in the Parish of Maybush in Southampton, a large parish of around 28,500 people. We sit very close to Southampton Docks, the second‑largest container terminal in the UK. The parish includes a large post‑war urban estate originally built to rehouse people after the city centre was heavily bombed during the Blitz.
This area continues to experience significant levels of deprivation. Issues associated with poverty are common – including high levels of child poverty, social housing, single‑parent households, and single‑occupancy households. As of 2019, Maybush had the lowest per‑capita church attendance in the diocese.
Since lockdown, our church community has been actively seeking new ways to respond to local need. On Tuesdays, we have Crafty Cafe and run Marketplace every Wednesday to help alleviate food poverty. From this, we now have social prescribers attending to support people in accessing doctors, dentists, and other essential services. We’ve also begun conversations with Mountbatten Hospice around issues of death and dying.
We are intentionally building relationships across the community – with statutory agencies, local organisations, and residents. This has meant stepping outside our buildings, meeting people where they are, and inviting the community into our churches and halls. It has prompted us to rethink what it means to be church, here. Increasingly, we are creating safe, hospitable spaces where people can gather, belong, and encounter God.
You are studying the Pioneer MA with us; can you tell us what led you to join the course?
I’ve always had a heart for mission – especially for those outside the church walls and on the edges of society. That’s where I feel most at home. I often feel like I’m on the inside looking out, noticing the things we could be doing and wanting to make a difference to the people I meet.
For many years I’ve wrestled with how I fit within the church, and how we welcome people who may never walk through the doors on a Sunday. I’m hoping that being here will help me discern what that looks like for me as I move forward.
When you first joined us, your application said: “This is part of my discernment process towards ordained ministry. I need a better understanding of what it means to be a pioneer and what that looks like for me in reality, within the context of people I meet.” Can you tell us how this has panned out so far?
I am almost 12 months into my journey with CMS, and I’m beginning to get a clearer sense of what a pioneer is. In many ways, it still feels like the beginning, so I’m trying to stay open‑minded about what this might look like as I continue. I’m aware that the word pioneer means different things to different people. What I do know is that I’m called to the margins – to those who are institutionalised, however we understand that term. I’m not comfortable with the church simply repeating what it has always done. I don’t believe God calls us to comfortable Christianity; he calls us to make a difference.
Part of living that out is the Crafty Cafe group on a Tuesday. It began with around eight people, and now, less than a year later, we regularly welcome about 20 each week. I’m taking an organic approach to evangelism, and over the past six months I’ve started to see four or five of our regulars coming along to church on a Sunday morning. They come for their own reasons, and our response is simply: you are welcome.
Jez, can you tell us more about leading an intergenerational congregation?
I have recently begun to lead services that genuinely cater to an intergenerational congregation, helping people of all ages easily understand what’s being shared from the front. This is very much a work in progress – I’ve only led two services in this style so far – so it’s still early to know how effective it is. But the initial feedback has been encouraging, and I’m hopeful about how this approach might grow.
In terms of your lectures and assignments, what have you found useful at CMS; what might make an impact in your future ministry?
The bits from college that have been most useful to me are the sessions on culture and how we understand the culture we find ourselves in, and liberation theology and seeing the reality of this in the community I find myself in.
It’s helping me understand the people I meet and how I work more effectively with them.
How can we pray for you, Jez?
A year into this new chapter, please pray that I am able to sustain a good pattern of study alongside my work commitments. Please also pray for my family as we continue to adjust to this rhythm and discern how study, ministry, and daily life fit together. And please pray for the Parish of Maybush as we keep working together to understand and follow what God is asking of us next. My own prayer life continues to grow, and I am finding an early‑morning rhythm of prayer especially life‑giving as I keep trusting God for whatever lies ahead.
