This blog has been guest written by Dub Everitt, Outreach Pastor of Welcome Church.
I am delighted to let you know that Welcome Church was recently awarded a grant of over £260,000, as part of a £900,000+ funding partnership, helping us take our vision for supporting and transforming lives across Woking to a whole new level.
From a Community Grocery to Something MUCH Bigger
In April 2026, we opened the Woking Community Grocery, and in just six months we’ve grown to over 1,350 member households, representing nearly 4,000 people across our community.
It’s been an extraordinary journey, but our vision has always been about so much more than providing affordable food.
Food is simply the front door. The real transformation comes from what happens next.
Across all of our Welcome Works ministries, our heart is to offer people a hand up, not a handout — loving people practically, helping them find genuine community, and ultimately introducing them to Jesus.
And now we’ve been given an incredible opportunity to take this vision even further.
Over £900,000 has been awarded to a Woking based consortium led by Welcome Church
We’re delighted to announce that Welcome Church will lead a consortium of some of Woking’s most significant charities, funded through the government’s new Crisis and Resilience Fund, administered by Surrey County Council.
The fund’s vision is to help people move beyond immediate crisis towards greater stability, independence and resilience — something that fits perfectly with the heart of Welcome Works. (Welcome Works is an umbrella term we use for all our social action and justice ministries).
When the fund was launched, several significant Woking charities approached us and asked if we would head up a consortium that they could be part of, which has led to us drawing together some incredible organisations, including Citizens Advice Woking, Barnardo’s, Home-Start, York Road Project and Woking Foodbank, alongside Woking Borough Council and CAP as non-funded partners, combining expertise and resources to provide joined-up support for people across Woking.
Together, our consortium has now been awarded over £900,000 across the next two years, including more than £260,000 for Welcome Church.
This is an extraordinary opportunity, and we’re hugely grateful for the trust placed in us and the investment being made in our town.
Our Vision: A Key Support Hub for the Whole of Woking
At the centre of this exciting partnership is our Welcome Church Community Hub. Our vision is for the Hub to become a central place in Woking where people can come, be welcomed, build relationships and access the practical support they need.
Rather than people having to navigate multiple organisations and services across multiple destinations on their own, we want to bring expert support together around them — helping individuals and families take meaningful steps towards a more hopeful and secure future. So, people can receive expert support from several of our consortium partners – all within one space: The Welcome Church Community Hub.
With our Community Grocery continuing to grow, the opportunities to make a lasting difference are enormous.
Investing in the Future of Welcome Works
As part of this funding, we’re strengthening the leadership, staffing and infrastructure needed to support the growth of Welcome Works.
Helen Heather is expanding her role as Welcome Works Development Lead to three and a half days a week. Helen will help lead and coordinate the vision across all of Welcome Works, bringing our different ministries together, strengthening partnerships and helping more people take their next steps. She’ll also lead the consortium, working closely with our partner organisations.
We’re also appointing a new Stock & Operations Manager to strengthen the day-to-day operations of Woking Community Grocery.
And we’re delighted to be recruiting a new Welcome Works Administrator, working 15 hours a week, to support administration, coordination and reporting across our growing ministries.
If you love organisation, love people and love making things work brilliantly, we’d love you to consider applying!
[Click here to find out more about the Welcome Works Administrator role and apply]
It’s About People, Not Just Funding
As exciting as the funding is, ultimately this isn’t about the money – it’s about people. It’s about families finding hope. People moving out of crisis. Individuals discovering genuine community. Lives being transformed.
And, as a church, it’s about continuing to demonstrate the love of Jesus in practical and meaningful ways, creating opportunities for thousands more people across Woking to experience his love for themselves.
We’re enormously thankful for everything God has already done through Welcome Works, our amazing volunteers, our staff team and our community partners. God has already opened some extraordinary doors for us. And we genuinely believe we’re only just getting started!
