ARK is dedicated to renewing church buildings into sustainable spaces of creativity, community and mission.

Established as a business ministry of King’s Cross Church in 2016, ARK began in a dilapidated Victorian building, transforming it into an affordable workspace for freelancers, social enterprises, and early-stage start-ups, creating community in the heart of King’s Cross.

Led by a small, dedicated team – including Nick, Gav, and Philippa – ARK has since expanded its vision. We work with churches to help them reimagine their underutilized buildings, transforming these spaces into hubs of community engagement throughout the working week, at times when church buildings are often empty.

By blending experience, skill, and faith, we assist church leaders in reimagining their buildings as vibrant community spaces which engage people in their working lives and creative practices, sustained through income generation and designed to serve the life of the church. Our projects, which can be viewed at www.arkbase.org, illustrate the potential for transformation.

Involvement with CMS

Nick is currently enrolled in the London Pioneer School, an incredible programme which equips pioneers to launch and lead ministries across the diocese. This pioneer mission training has been invaluable. It has helped ARK build connections with like-minded pioneers in a learning community and ground our practices in a strong theological understanding of mission.

Our inspiration

We have taken inspiration from the historical friary models of old, where friars extended their mission beyond monastery walls into the surrounding fields, expressing God’s love for people in their everyday work.

The Benedictine monks, for instance, integrated “Ora et Labora” (prayer and work) into their routines, believing in a harmonious integration of both aspects of life.

Their times of worship and studying scripture fueled their faith actions, tending to the fields of their local community. These fields became places for discipleship, innovation, and proclaiming God’s love.

Similarly, we believe ARK can facilitate a modern expression of this model, welcoming individuals who might not otherwise come to a church on a Sunday.

The problem we are solving

Nicky Gumbel once remarked, “an empty church is like the empty palace of a long-forgotten king.” A survey in Islington, London, revealed that church buildings can be empty up to 75% of the time.

Too often our empty buildings communicate a lack of vision and heart for our local area, when they should be gateways for our local community to come and experience the face of the church in a fresh way.

Reaching the next generation – who prioritise authenticity and value genuine actions over brand loyalty – requires churches to extend their mission beyond just Sundays. What we preach on a Sunday, and what we then do on Monday morning, need to be inextricably connected.

How we started

King’s Cross Church (KXC) is an Anglican church commissioned by the Bishop of London in 2010, led by Pete and Bee Hughes. Initially without a permanent building, KXC has in its DNA an entrepreneurial edge, exploring places and spaces to create and foster community from the outset.

When KXC acquired a dilapidated Victorian tenement building, the goal was to create a staff office for KXC and establish a new ministry to meet the needs of the small business community. The building required significant renovation and the church community rose to the challenge, transforming it into a space for midweek small groups, a staff office, live streaming Sunday services during the pandemic, and the home of ARK coworking.

ARK coworking emerged as a missional business community, welcoming in amazing people who were developing ventures addressing social injustice, environmental issues, and demonstrating care for our city and world.

As our members told us their stories, we learned first hand the effect that working in isolation has on people’s mental health, a pervasive issue in London driven by high costs of living that can force individuals to work at home or in coffee shops.

ARK coworking provided a supportive, self-sustaining environment, balancing income from memberships with support for those in need.

A previously empty building became a bustling hub of creativity and community, with the church and business community rubbing shoulders every day.

Our impact

In our first chapter, the church initially invested £200k into the building. ARK coworking subsequently turned over £1.36m between 2016 and 2022. It was sustainable, paying £616k in rent to the church and donating £37k to local charities.

Most importantly, ARK remained an affordable workspace, supporting over 600 people and incubating more than 10 small businesses.

We’ve since partnered with All Saints Church to set up the next iteration of ARK coworking. Att St Saviour’s Church in Finsbury Park we set up ARK studios, a pop-up coffee bar, gallery, and photoshoot space.

To learn more about ARK’s journey or to discuss your vision for a church building, follow us on Instagram, visit arkbase.org and get in touch.

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The post Pioneer case study – ARK base appeared first on Church Mission Society (CMS).

Enterprise can be a kingdom blessing for those on the edge, says CMS first year MA student Jerry Marshall. Jerry is founder of Transformational Enterprise Network (TEN) and here he reflects on a recent visit to Burundi and the potential for business to tackle poverty and extend the kingdom of God.

The 82 church leaders I was training in Burundi in December 2023 were ambivalent about enterprise. On one hand, so much local business is tainted by the love of money and corruption. On the other, in the second poorest nation on earth, many leaders and church members need to create an income stream to survive.

Winston Churchill said: “Some see enterprise as a tiger to be shot; some a cow to be milked; not enough see it as a healthy horse, pulling a wagon.”

I’m firmly in the horse camp. My vocation as an entrepreneur has led me to see enterprise as the only long-term solution to poverty. Wealth – from an old English word meaning well-being – is the wagon it pulls. Business is also the front line of the kingdom: the widespread love of money means that people notice when kingdom values are put ahead of profit.

Norwegian inspiration

The message I believe God gave me before my Burundi trip was the story of Hans Neilson Hauge. Two hundred years ago, this kingdom entrepreneur was the catalyst who began the process of transforming Norway from the poorest country in Europe to the richest per capita.

How? First by preaching the gospel across the country, resulting in the poorest groups becoming literate so they could read the Bible.

Second, by starting and helping others start businesses. It threatened the status quo and so he was locked up for more than a decade. But by changing mindsets and raising aspirations, the change was unstoppable.

The same is possible in Burundi and beyond.

God’s business?

The church leaders spent a morning on the theological basis for enterprise, drawing on a paper, “Is Rural Enterprise any of God’s Business?” then working through the African version of TEN’s business start-up workbook (both are free downloads at www.tencommunity.net/pages/resources). The workbook takes participants through a process of selecting the right business for them and checking out its potential, funding needs and viability.

They were completely engaged in the process. “How do we compete against businesses that pay no tax at the border?” asked one. I replied that the purpose of the workbook was to check out the business potential in advance; if unfair competition made it impossible, he would have to chose another idea. “I started six business that all failed”, said another, “but now I understand how to evaluate opportunities.”

In small groups during the training they reflected on “What is?” (the current situation); “What could be?” (the dream) and “What will be?” (action). Their action plans included training and coaching others, skills surveys and sermon series.

Talent and passion

I was in Burundi at the invitation of a 36-year-old kingdom entrepreneur, Ezechiel Hatungimana, founder of “U-Invest”, a TEN partner and “triple bottom line” or “impact” business (where the financial bottom line serves broader purposes). He is organiser of a high-profile annual conference that brings together investors and entrepreneurs, attracting banks, politicians and NGO staff.

U-Invest also trains aspiring entrepreneurs and business advisors using TENmaterial, offers coaching and mentoring, and actively identifies opportunities and starts businesses in which local investors can buy shares.

Four enterprises have been created to date: a fish farm; a driver training business to create provide jobs and reduce accidents; a health insurance business; and a renewable energy publication. A charitable arm called Yada, run jointly with Ezechiel’s British wife Nicola, supports two mainly Batwa communities including basic business start-up training. I was invited to speak at the conference and train trainers, advisors and church leaders.

Loaves and fishes

Ezechiel has the talent and passion to emulate Hans Neilson Hauge and transform Burundi through enterprise. He is not alone. In Kenya, Kennedy Ojunju has been the catalyst behind the creation of 255,000 small businesses, mobilising 3,500 volunteer trainers, with almost no external financial support, using the simple 5000Plus training materials. Other TEN partners in Uganda are creating enterprises that have caught the attention of communities and local politicians.

Much of this is about changing mindsets. Both the 5000Plus and the TEN business start-up material begin with the story of the feeding of the 5,000. Jesus took the pitifully inadequate food offered to the disciples, blessed it and multiplied it. When his people see what they and God can do together, take a risk and offer the little they have to him, a great crowd can be blessed.

What are your loaves and fishes?

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The post Tiger, cow or horse? Enterprise at the edges appeared first on Church Mission Society (CMS).

Clean for Good is a social business (which Church Mission Society invests in) that enables cleaners to thrive not just survive. Tim Thorlby was part of the founding team and is currently its managing director. Here he shares lessons learned.

Listen

In the City of London, every morning, thousands of well-dressed people hurry to work: financiers, lawyers and others who work in the City’s glass and steel skyscrapers.

At the same time, thousands of other workers are going in the opposite direction, back home or on to their next job. There is an unheralded army of hidden workers who keep the City of London running – the cleaners, security guards and couriers, among others – whose work is essential, but often overlooked. Their invisibility has worked against them as their jobs have been outsourced and budgets downsized. Out of sight, out of mind. Many of them now rank among the lowest paid and worst treated workers in the UK. This is not just a problem in London; some five million workers earn less than a Living Wage in the UK today.

In 2014, a small church in the City of London conducted a listening exercise among low paid workers in its parish, asking them what they wanted. A very simple but powerful question.

They didn’t want more church services, or any kind of charity. They just wanted fair pay and respect at work. Justice, not charity.

Respond

The church was St Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe, whose vicar at the time was Guy Treweek, newly ordained after a financial career in the City. He was particularly moved by the challenges the area’s cleaners were facing. He was open to the idea that “good news” for the cleaners of London might actually mean creating an ethical cleaning company which would deliver the fair pay and dignity that they were asking for. His colleague Miriam Goodacre, the parish’s new Commission for Social Responsibility officer, enthusiastically took on the challenge and helped to turn a crazy idea into a real project.

Church Mission Society is entwined in this story too. St Andrew’s is the church where CMS held its first meetings in the late 18th century, around the kitchen table. The idea for an ethical cleaning company took shape in that same kitchen. Having completed CMS’s Make Good missional entrepreneurship course in 2014, Miriam was able to craft the idea into something deliverable.

The project also benefited from technical support in creating a detailed business plan (by the Centre for Theology & Community), a few grants to help pay for the development process, and of course, identifying investors to fund the new business. The founding team raised capital investment of nearly £90,000.

Deliver

On Valentine’s Day in 2017, our start-up manager, Catherine, began getting Clean for Good off the ground.

Clean for Good is a business with a social purpose. Cleaning offices and workspaces across London, the business aims to deliver an excellent professional cleaning service, but also to deliver a fair deal for our cleaners. The broader vision is that by setting a new standard for how cleaners are treated – and sharing this – we can impact the cleaning sector more broadly. We want to see every cleaner paid fairly and treated with respect.

Clean for Good is a business, not a charity. Our cleaners are not looking for sympathy, just fair pay and respect in return for delivering a good service.

We are now in our third year and have grown steadily to an annual turnover exceeding £0.5m. We have won contracts from businesses, charities and public sector organisations. We currently employ over 40 cleaners. We are aiming to achieve a small surplus this year. We recently helped to launch the 2019 Living Wage Week, alongside the Mayor of London.

Are we really different?

When Clean for Good was launched, we made three promises – to cleaners, to customers and to the planet. Are we delivering?

Firstly, our promise to cleaners. We are a Living Wage Employer, always paying the London Living Wage (£10.55 per hour) or more. Nearly 90 per cent of our recruits get a pay rise when they join us. We also offer decent terms and conditions above statutory minimums – sick pay, pensions, holidays – and actively train and manage our team. Clean for Good has built a reputation for treating its cleaners fairly.

Secondly, we deliver a good, professional, reliable cleaning service to our customers. In our last customer survey (September 2019) we achieved excellent satisfaction ratings for our service.

The third promise we made is to future generations. We have chosen to set high environmental standards as a company so as to tread lightly on our planet. We minimise the use of chemicals, but when chemicals are needed, we use independently eco-certified products. We minimise our carbon use.

We launched this business to be the best cleaning company in London – good news for cleaners, customers and the City.

Learn

Some lessons we have learned: There are no heroes, only teams – Clean for Good has always been a collective endeavour.

Many of our workplaces need a renewed focus on what dignity at work looks like. The cleaning industry is one example. The Church and its members need to be fully involved in the marketplace. Sometimes the answer to a social problem is not charity, but justice.

Find out more

For more information and to get a free quote for cleaning your London offices, go to cleanforgood.co.uk

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The post How to… establish an ethical business appeared first on Church Mission Society (CMS).