Rooted in Christ | Growing Community
God loves Leeds. He knew and loved Leeds before it had a name!
God loves our part of Leeds – Holbeck and Beeston Hill.
That’s why we do so much to reach out:
St Luke’s on Beeston Hill is a mile south of Leeds city centre at the heart of an estate that is home to around 1800 households. The residents here are wonderful! We are privileged to have families who has lived here for generations as well as new communities from many different backgrounds. As a church, we love the estate and are and are at the heart of our community.
Sadly, below the surface, our community has significant challenges. There are high levels of social deprivation, with many socio-economic indicators of poverty and decline. Life can be hard but we think our estate deserves better, and believe that long-term positive community change is possible. We decided to do some research to see what the areas of need are, and how we might respond to them.
Between 2014-2017 we did several community consultations to find out what local people really thought the most important challenges were. The questions asked helped us build a strategic picture of the needs of the area. Throughout the course of our research, through visiting and street surveys we were able to contact over 35% of the local community.
What do local people think?
The six most prevalent problems facing the area were identified by respondents as:
1) Drugs (52%)
2) Unemployment (46%)
3) Crime (42%)
4) Lack of opportunity (38%)
5) Lack of education (28%)
6) Prostitution (6%).
Other problems raised include quad bikes, antisocial behaviour, violence against women, litter and dog fouling, drunkenness, anti-social behaviour, inter-racial tension. Additionally, throughout our interviews, we heard time and time again, that there is not enough to do in the community, for both children/young people and adults and the elderly, and that loneliness and isolation are very significant problems.
As a church we want to love and serve and work with those around us – over the next few years we have a great opportunity to do so!
The extension in now finished at the west end of church. This has create more space and community rooms, which we want to fill with new projects throughout the week. These vibrant community projects will range from youth programmes to work with the elderly.
Your Community Hub
We love our community and so we can continue to serve and increase our capacity to respond to these needs we are in the process of building a community hub. Our existing church building and facilities have been refurbished and extended to provide increased space and resources. The are fully accessible, have a well equipped kitchen, new meeting rooms to run projects, an IT suite and office space.
We are able to host many more community events, drop-ins and advice services, provide activities including dance and arts opportunities for children and young people and events for the elderly. We will work to empower local people with various learning volunteering and upskilling opportunities – bringing communities together.
Building commenced in July 2019 and was finished in March 2020. This is enabling to to bring significant positive impact and growth.
We recognise that the hub would not have been possible without the backing of numerous supporters. We are extremely grateful for generous financial support received from The Community Fund, LCES, All Churches Trust, Bernard Sunley, National Churches Trust, and Cloth Workers, as well as many local people and other anonymous donors – Sincerest thanks for enabling us to reach, serve and change the lives of the amazing people surrounding us.
Our Wonderful Sponsors
If you feel that the new St Luke’s space would be great for you/your community group to meet and grow, let us know! Please contact the building manger by email – buildingmanager@stlukesholbeck.org.uk
We partner with lots of different organisations and individuals to bring transformation and hope across Holbeck, Beeston and Hunslet Moor. For more information on some of the partnerships we have a read about our community and the way we serve our community.
You can explore some of the organisations we partner with using the left-hand toolbar.
We believe God loves Holbeck and Beeston Hill!
And we are committed to showing our community that God loves them. You might call this our mission.
We do this mission work in a variety of ways:
These five marks of mission shape the way we engage with our community.
