St John's, Fishponds: Family Club & Listening First
St John the Divine opened a space on Lodge Causeway and let the community tell them what it needed to be.
It started not with a plan, but with a question.
What did the families around Lodge Causeway actually need? Rev Matt Stone at St John the Divine in Fishponds didn't presume to know. So the church opened the doors of its community hall every Wednesday afternoon, put out some crafts and snacks, and waited to see who came.
They called it Family Club. The community called it theirs.
"Family Club started as an idea to try and bring local people together from this area, from the school, from the church," says Matt. "I see people feeling really comfortable here in this third space - and it's a delight to be able to serve this community in this way."
What happened next surprised even those running it.
"Some weeks we have to turn people away because we're too full."
But what St John's has built with Family Club isn't simply a response to need. It's something harder to name and, arguably, more durable.
"I think it's about place-making, but with the people that we're trying to be in community with," says Matt. "It's emerging and evolving. I don't know what Family Club will be - but I'm noticing people just feeling really comfortable in this space."
That posture - listening before building, following rather than leading - shapes everything about how Family Club operates. There are no fixed outcomes, no predetermined programme. Just crafts, gardening in the community garden, snacks, and people getting to know each other week after week. Partnership with The Quran Academy has made it a genuinely cross-community space, drawing in families of different backgrounds and faiths into something that feels, simply, like shared life.
"It's been a journey of discovery - we're kind of working on intuition, and this seems to be the thing that was wanted."
That phrase - the thing that was wanted - matters. Not the thing that was designed, or delivered, or funded. The thing the community was quietly waiting for.
The direction of travel will continue to be set by the people who show up.
"We're just going to keep going on this journey of listening and growing - and it seems to be working so far."
For more information, visit stjohnsfishponds.com or visit Family Club at St John’s on Facebook.
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