Release

Release leaders who stay

Release leaders who stay.

Launch and grow congregations, enterprises, schools and projects that local people lead. We design the pathway with you, then step back. The work stays.

“Professionals come and go. Local catalysts stay.”

How we release: 

Network learning pathways

A bespoke route from Find to Release, built around your people and places.

Resource panels & micro-grants

Local leaders pitch their ideas and receive feedback, backing and small grants to start.

Equippers

Train the trainers, coach the coaches, prepare the panellists, so your own people multiply the work.

Stories of release

Lodge Road

Winson Green

In 2019 seven faithful members kept a barn of a chapel open. None lived locally; all were over seventy. In September 2020, thirty-two local people became new members of what is now Lodge Road Community Church. Today 30 to 40 people gather most Sundays, a café serves meals for £2.50, and the building is packed most days. This former near-derelict church has become a place of harvest and resurrecIon.

Watch Shane Claiborne’s visit to Lodge Road

 

 

Clare

Firs & Bromford, Birmingham

School filed Clare under “difficult”. Her neighbours knew better.

Through Change Makers and Pioneering she found words for what she had always done, and now helps lead a community hub and FAB Church on her estate.

“I didn’t think faith was for people like me, but now I see God loves me and wants me to join in his mission here.”

Watch Clare’s story

 

 

Helen Fernandez

Silvertown, East London

Helen came to the Royal Docks for a gap year at eighteen and never left. Change Makers showed her that her neighbourhood wasn’t broken. She now leads West Silvertown Foundation and pastors Royal Docks Community Church.

“This course helped me to see who I am and how all that I am can be of use in my community.”

Watch Helen’s Story

 

 

Owen

Northfield, Birmingham

Formed through the Pioneering pathway, Owen and his family are renewing life where they live through community gardens and groups.

Watch Owen’s story

 

 

Alex

Winson Green & Handsworth

Artist, cancer survivor, once in care. A £5,000 gift, a local builder and months of local labour turned a junk-filled upstairs room into an arts studio. Alex now teaches young people blacksmithing, leads canal bike rides, and helps lead the Fresh Expression.

Watch Alex’s Story

 

 

Where local leaders now lead

Newbigin Community Trust

Newbigin Community Trust, our sister charity in Winson Green, which Anji Barker led and grew to thirty local staff across four sites:

      • Bonny Downs Community Association
      • West Silvertown Foundation
      • PX Frankfurt
      • The Good Neighbourhood Project
      • Cooking with Poo
      • The Greenhouse at Barnes Close
      • Open Doors

Rubbish still piles up on Winson Green’s roads, and a Victorian prison still dominates the skyline.

We tell these stories because the work is real, not finished.

Ready to release leaders into your places?

Start a conversation

“The thing we all had in common is that we care about the local community we live in. We want to make a change where we live.”

– Ash Lewis, Smethwick, Birmingham, UK. (Change Makers) –

"‘The Coup killed my future but Seedbeds Change Incubators rebore me to be alive"

– ‘Jo Ne’, Myanmar (Change Incubators) –

“This programme has been the most freeing experience of my life, enabling me to truly understand who God has called me to be.”

– Donna Hope-Barry, Bolton, UK (Pioneers) –

"St Cuthbert’s Way pilgrimage has been one of the most life changing experiences I have ever had."

– Peter Jones, Winson Green, Birmingham (Pilgrims) –

“I’m so glad I took the leap of faith to enrol on the Masters in Social Justice! The programme has undoubtedly equipped me to do a better job of serving my local community.”

– Jessica Craig, Bonny Downs, East London, UK (Scholars) –

“Our challenge is not to try to generate new opportunities, but to grow our capacities to reach the ones within our grasp.”

– Ash Barker, Seedbeds founder and International Director. (Equippers) –

"In a time when there is lots of deconstruction of things that need to be deconstructed, here is a book about constructing something beautiful and liberating."

– Shane Claiborne, co-founder of Red Letter Christians (Communications) –

“The thing we all had in common is that we care about the local community we live in. We want to make a change where we live.”

– Ash Lewis, Smethwick, Birmingham, UK. (Change Makers) –

"‘The Coup killed my future but Seedbeds Change Incubators rebore me to be alive"

– ‘Jo Ne’, Myanmar (Change Incubators) – 

“This programme has been the most freeing experience of my life, enabling me to truly understand who God has called me to be.”

– Donna Hope-Barry, Bolton, UK (Pioneers) –

"St Cuthbert’s Way pilgrimage has been one of the most life changing experiences I have ever had."

– Peter Jones, Winson Green, Birmingham (Pilgrims) –

“I’m so glad I took the leap of faith to enrol on the Masters in Social Justice! The programme has undoubtedly equipped me to do a better job of serving my local community.”

– Jessica Craig, Bonny Downs, East London, UK (Scholars) –

“Our challenge is not to try to generate new opportunities, but to grow our capacities to reach the ones within our grasp.”

– Ash Barker, Seedbeds founder and International Director. (Equippers) – 

"In a time when there is lots of deconstruction of things that need to be deconstructed, here is a book about constructing something beautiful and liberating."

– Shane Claiborne, co-founder of Red Letter Christians (Communications) –

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