Month: September 2026

Could you help someone get back into work through our Welcome Church Job Club?

/ Steve Petch / Leave a comment

Imagine coming alongside someone who has been out of work for months—building their confidence, helping them improve their applications and interview skills, and then finally hearing the words: “I got the job!”

That’s what our Welcome Church Job Club is all about!

Could you play a part in making that happen for someone in our community?

What have we been up to?

Over the last five years, we have run 14 Job Club courses with 165 people taking part—many connecting with Welcome Church for the very first time. Attendees receive practical teaching, encouragement, and one-to-one coaching to help them take their next steps toward employment.

And the results have been fantastic:

Around 50% of participants have gone on to find work.

But Job Club is about much more than just employment. People grow in confidence, feel valued, and discover a community of people they can belong to. Many have made lasting friendships, and some have gone on to connect more widely with the Welcome Church family too.

Could you join the team?

We are looking for enthusiastic people to join our Job Club team. You do not need to be a recruitment expert. If you have experience in the workplace, enjoy encouraging others, and can help someone take their next step, you have exactly what we need.

The course material is already provided, so we are simply looking for people who can help bring it to life by drawing on their own workplace experiences.

We run three courses each year. Each course is made up of eight weekly, 90-minute sessions (usually held on a Saturday or Monday morning, or early afternoon). Sessions combine short videos and practical teaching with discussions, team-building exercises, and role-play. We aim to mix useful professional guidance with plenty of encouragement—and plenty of fun!

There are two key ways you can get involved:

Become a Job Coach: Help present the course material and coach jobseekers. Coaches complete a short online training course provided by Christians Against Poverty (CAP).

Become a Befriender: Come alongside jobseekers, join in with discussions and activities, offer encouragement, and help people feel deeply welcomed and supported.

Whether you’re helping someone improve an application, prepare for an interview, rebuild their confidence or celebrate the moment they find work, you could play a part in making a genuine difference in someone’s life.

Other ways to get involved

Job Club is just one of the ways we’re helping people through Welcome Works. We also run Money Coaching, Life Skills Workshops, Kintsugi Hope groups, Cooking Courses, Debt Support, and more. There are fantastic opportunities to get involved across all of these areas.

So, if Job Club isn’t quite the right fit for you, but you would still love to use your time, skills, and experience to make a practical difference, we would love to hear from you.

Interested in finding out more?

Please contact Dub here, or speak directly to Neil Willis, our Job Club Manager

Stay connected by subscribing to this blog to get it straight to your inbox each week.

Get Caught Up On A Global Adventure: From Woking to Rio (and Beyond!)

/ Steve Petch / Leave a comment

As a church, we’re part of something so much bigger than ourselves. We aren’t just a local church in isolation, we’re part of the global Commission family! Together, we have churches and ministry connections spanning the globe—from India, Nepal, Spain, and Portugal, to Mongolia, the Philippines, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Italy, Serbia, Nigeria, Ghana, Canada, New Zealand, the USA, Brazil and more.

God is moving on a global scale, and this week, we have two incredible opportunities to connect with His heart for the nations. Here’s what’s coming up:

1. This Sunday (Sept 13th): Hear a Radical Story of Rescue with Luke Simone

This Sunday, we are thrilled to welcome our very own Luke Simone, who is ministering on the front lines in a Brazilian favela (slum). Some may remember I had the joy of visiting him there in 2024. We are Luke’s home church, and it’s going to be a joy to have him back with us.

Luke sent us a sneak peek of what he’ll be sharing:

“My name is Luke and I live in Rio de Janeiro, a blisteringly hot sub-tropical city in Brazil. It’s a place of breathtaking beauty and shocking violence. But how did the shy kid from Woking end up living in one of the poorest and most chaotic places on the planet?

“I grew up in a Christian home and gave my life to God as a teenager, but after a decade working as a finance lawyer in London and New York, everything started to unravel. Until the day that I heard a familiar, quiet voice. One that I hadn’t heard in a very long time.

“I left New York and now lead a growing community of believers in a slum in the centre of Rio.

“We are seeing God genuinely rewrite people’s stories here. Statistically, if you’re born where I live, you’ll be poorer than most, die earlier than most and be forgotten by most. Families are fractured by violence, addiction and the ever-present fear of eviction by the drug faction that control the community, but we’ve seen over the last decade young people rescued out of horribly abusive situations and slowly be restored by Jesus to new purpose and mission. We’ve seen God intervene in hopeless situations where the enemy has seemingly had a “right to roam” for years. We’re seeing new disciples beginning to disciple others.

“Come hear my story this Sunday!“

2. Thursday 17th September: Commission Global Day of Prayer

Mark your calendars!

On Thursday 17th September, our wider Commission family is gathering online via Zoom for a global prayer event. For one hour, believers from dozens of nations will connect to hear firsthand updates of what God is doing across the world and to stand together in prayer for the future. It’s a beautiful opportunity to pray alongside brothers and sisters you might otherwise never meet.

Because we span multiple time zones, the event runs at different points of the day. For us in the UK, these interactive Zoom sessions will take place at:

  • 2pm – 3pm and
  • 8pm – 9pm

Who is this for?

Everyone! This isn’t just for church staff or leaders – it’s for anyone who wants to be part of the global adventure God has us on.

Note: You do need to register in advance to receive the Zoom access link. Click HERE to sign up

A note from the Commission Team:

“We’re aware that many people in Commission churches don’t speak English as their heart language so we will be using the translation and transcription facilities in Zoom to enable those who find English hard to get real-time text translation during the meeting. please don’t let not being a fluent English speaker put you off”

God is writing an amazing story here at Welcome Church too. Stay connected by subscribing to this blog to get it straight to your inbox each week.

A New Church Year Begins: Stepping Forward Together

/ Steve Petch / Leave a comment

The summer holidays have drawn to a close, notebooks are being packed into school bags, and those recent heatwaves are fading into memory. A new church year is officially upon us. It always fascinates me how much our rhythm as a church mirrors the academic calendar rather than the January calendar year. It genuinely feels like a fresh start – a clean slate.

Finding My Rhythm Again

I originally started this blog to speak directly to you, our church family, and to keep everyone connected. However, this past year brought some unexpected storms. Walking through a sudden bereavement and then navigating a cancer diagnosis meant that posting became much more sporadic than I ever intended.

Yet, even in the quietest, hardest seasons, God is faithful. Thank you for your immense grace, prayers, and patience with me. As we step into this new term, I’m eager to get back to sharing regular updates with you all. There is so much life ahead of us.

Here is a look at what’s happening as we launch into this new season together:

Honouring Darren and Lois

Last Sunday was an incredibly moving moment as we said our final goodbyes to Darren and Lois. Darren has served faithfully as our Director of Operations for over eight years, and Lois has poured so much love into our community through her pastoral care.

We are going to miss them both dearly, but it was a privilege to send them off with our collective blessing. As I mentioned recently, this transition does leave us with a temporary operational gap. Thank you in advance for your patience and kindness with the team if things take just a little longer than usual to get sorted!

Expanding Our Leadership: Welcoming Stephen into Eldership

This coming Sunday, 6th September, marks a significant milestone for our church family. We will be officially appointing Stephen Dawson to our Eldership Team.

Stephen and Emma have been a wonderful part of our church family for a year now. Many of you know Stephen through his staff role leading Pastoral Care, and he has recently stepped up further into the role of Executive Pastor.

We are thrilled to see our Eldership Team expand. To mark the occasion, John Groves—a deeply loved leader within our Commission Network of Churches and a true friend to us as a church—will be joining us to lead this moment through.

We will be conducting the appointment across both of our morning services (9.30am and 11.30am). Please come ready to pray, to celebrate, and to shower Stephen, Emma, and their children with our love and appreciation.

Grounding Ourselves in Prayer

We believe that nothing of lasting value happens without prayer. That is why we are kicking off this new term with a dedicated Week of Prayer, starting this Sunday evening.

Put this lot in your diary

Please take note of the dates and times, and intentionally carve out space in your diary to join us for as much as you can – even if you can only make one meeting. Apart from Tuesday morning, which will be hosted online (please ask if you need the access link), all other prayer gatherings will be held in person at the church building.

Let’s commit this year to the Lord together. I can’t wait to see what He has in store for us all.

Stay up to date with what’s happening at Welcome Church by subscribing to this blog to get it straight to your inbox each week.