In 2022 the Ark church purchased St Michael’s church in the heart of Ipswich, a grade II listed church that suffered a devastating fire attack in 2010 and has stood derelict awaiting refurbishment and restoration.   The purchase was made possible after a fundraising campaign, completed in one month, where we raised sufficient funds to purchase the hall beside the church and the burned shell of the church, the hall is where we currently have our Sunday services. 

 

Once the restoration of the church has been completed, we would like to use the restored church to create a Family Learning and Education Centre during the week, inclusive of our art and music school, continuing the work we currently do in supporting families in crisis, vulnerable families and young people.  The restored church building would be used as a church at the weekend which would have significance for the local community who were devasted to see the church in flames in 2010.   The restoration would endeavour to be an environmentally sustainable project and would seek to offer hope to the community, in seeing the church restored, employment during the restoration procedure, and post-employment in our Family Learning and Education Centre, which would include an environmentally friendly coffee shop to assist with ongoing financial sustainability, and community connection. 

 

Ipswich is a culturally diverse town and many of the families that we support come from very diverse backgrounds.  We provide food parcels for families in need and food hampers are given out throughout the year to local schools to donate to families in need.  

 

The Ark church is active in community engagement, in particular supporting vulnerable young people and families predominantly, but not limited to, the Ipswich area.  We host a youth club every Friday evening at the Murrayside Community Centre in Ipswich, endeavouring to offer a safe place for high school children to meet.  In recent years we have been supported by local basketball coaches who volunteer their time with the young people each week, culminating in the formation of a youth basketball team known as the Murrayside Spartans in 2024 [insert web link once complete].  We have recently purchased musical equipment in preparation of the launch of our music school that will offer tuition to young people who would not afford music lessons, as we believe music has a positive effect and can be an effective emotional expression.  We facilitate positive parenting courses and marriage and marriage preparation courses to the families that we work with.  

 

Our High School Management team supports young people throughout the high school years with pastoral care endeavouring to reach the young people at their level of need into their adult years.   We have developed community connections with local support agencies to enable us to sign post and connect with other community support teams when needed.  Our Children’s Church Ministry team supports our primary age children who meet weekly, and will help to form the basis of our Art School in using art creatively for all expressions of life, we provide a healthy lunch for the children who help to serve their peers each week, enabling the young people to  learn early social skills in interaction, serving each other and helping the children as they move through the primary stages before moving into the often more challenging teenage years, into high school.

 

Members of the Ark church team also volunteer with the Bus Shelter  project supporting the homeless and the Town Pastors outreach team assisting vulnerable people in the town during the weekends.