By Andrew Bolton
Leicester, England
Members of the Little Blue Church in Leicester, England, believed in metamorphosis long before Community of Christ President Steve Veazey began using the word in 2019.
The congregation, with deep roots in the early Reorganisation, was started by a newly baptized young adult 138 years ago. It continues to adapt faithfully in sharing the dream of Zion inspired by Jesus the Christ. Changes are providing expanded outreach, deeper focus on community, and growth in ministry opportunities.
The congregation began in 1885, when a 21-year-old knifesmith, William Ecclestone, began preaching in Leicester’s open-air market. It was a crowded scene, with stall-holders shouting about their produce and hundreds of people shopping. It is not a polite place, even today, so it took great courage to preach there.
Members of the Little Blue Church in Leicester, England, believed in metamorphosis long before Community of Christ President Steve Veazey began using the word in 2019.
Ecclestone had become a member two years earlier in Stafford and had moved to Leicester for work, not knowing anybody. He preached for three years before the first baptisms happened. The young Reorganisation had begun in Britain 22 years earlier, when Charles Derry returned to his homeland as the first missionary in 1863. Leicester was a vigorously growing, newly industralising town with poverty—and work. Today, two hours north of London by car, it is the largest settlement in the English East Midlands.
In 1891 a congregation officially was organized, and baptisms continued. The congregation owes much to the Norton family. John and Sarah Norton joined the church in 1892. On one occasion, John was preaching in the open air, and a mob came to beat them up. John Norton called on his young son to “sing Edmund, sing!” Edmund’s beautiful voice rang out in a hymn. The mob stopped, stilled, and eventually dispersed without violence. Singing is part of the Leicester Congregation’s nonviolent, peacemaking tradition.
John and Sarah Norton had eleven children, and some took significant leadership roles through the years in the Leicester Congregation and elsewhere. Arthur was pastor 1931–1965, and his son, Norman, was pastor 1966–1987. Norman was a manager of a Co-op grocery shop. His wife, Olive, suffered mental illness, but was very faithful. Their daughter, Sheila, married the “boy next door,” Terry, whose four brothers also joined the church and gave the congregation new energy. Sheila herself was pastor 1998–2016. So, three generations of Nortons faithfully led the small congregation about seventy-three years of its 138-year history.
From 1891 to 1977 the congregants met in homes and rented rooms across the city. From the 1960s they met in a scout hut. Then they found a building for sale—member Fred Crane spotted it on his way to work. On this particular day, the driver of the work bus took a different route. This change of way happened only on this one day. The congregation bought the boarded-up building for £3,500 ($4,300 USD).
The Little Blue Church
The building was a hut made of wood and corrugated iron sheeting. It was a daughter congregation of St Peter’s, Belgrave, Leicester, a Church of England parish church. It was a prefabricated building, low cost and affordable in working-class areas.
It was erected in 1894 on the edge of the poor lands—divided into garden allotments for the poor to grow vegetables and potatoes to feed themselves.
A year later entrepreneurs started building the Great Central Railway half a mile away. Queen Victoria still was on the throne of Britain and Empire. The chapel building originally was intended as a temporary church structure but has lasted nearly 130 years—the Victorians built well.
We are the only tin tabernacle still in use in our amazingly diverse city, which has seen more than 500 buildings of worship from chapels and churches to synagogues, Muslim mosques, Sikh gurdwaras, and Hindu temples.
The chapel building originally was intended as a temporary church structure but has lasted nearly 130 years—the Victorians built well.
How did the black building become blue? Pastor Norman Norton liked the colour and argued it was the cheapest paint available. It was certainly more attractive than the original black, and neighbours started calling it the “Little Blue Church.” Although some older members wanted it to be identified by the long official name, “Little Blue Church” stuck.
Renovating the Little Blue Church
The church building needed repairs, and we suspected things were not good under the tin sheets. Fred Crane and I explored and found the wood had rotted at the base. Was this the situation in many parts of the building? A congregational meeting gave the go-ahead to do a major renovation. We employed a retired architect, Jeff Jones, and employed a builder, Geoff Norris, from round the corner. Both served us excellently.
Now we have an extension with a classroom and, for the first time, an indoor-accessible toilet with no spiders. We have a new kitchen. The chapel has been painted. The walls have been re-clad with bright-blue, powder-coated corrugated steel sheeting. It won’t need repainting.
For the first time we have new double-glazed windows and four inches of insulation in the walls. The building is much warmer and has a smaller carbon footprint.
The Little Blue Church has gone green at a very good time as gas prices climb. Congregational members always have tried to be conscious of the environment. We started recycling years before it was trendy. Today two families have electric cars, and another has a hybrid vehicle. Two families grow their own food. So our mission includes green peace, although we still have far to go.
But why invest $166,000 (£135,000) and still have some loans?
Our Missional Purpose
Meeting in rooms and homes kept the congregation alive, but it did not grow. With a geographical base we have become a community hub, bringing us into relationship with neighbours and giving us opportunities to expand our ministry and invitation.
As a small congregation we have done two basic things well: meet every Sunday for worship and run a weekly youth programme (forty-five years) for neighbourhood children.
I recently asked a young adult, who has been coming since the age of five, why they attend. “Youth was the only time in the week I really felt safe.” We could not run the youth programme without a building that anchors us in the neighbourhood.
Neighbourhood youth work results in baptisms and new members. Now we have a “Carers and Toddlers Group” that meets several times weekly and a coffee morning. Also, a Punjabi-speaking Christian congregation meets Sunday afternoons. The building also is used as an election polling station—we are pleased to support democracy!
We are on a busy road; thousands pass every day. We can intentionally advertise to passers-by.
I recently asked a young adult, who has been coming since the age of five, why they attend. “Youth was the only time in the week I really felt safe.” We could not run the youth programme without a building that anchors us in the neighbourhood.
Herald readers will be familiar with Outreach International’s community organising methodology and its Participatory Human Development Process. I have seen it work well in the Philippines and India, enabling the poor to improve their lives.
In Britain, Citizens UK also has a community organising method adapted to British cultural and social conditions. It gives a voice to people who normally are not heard. The congregation joined the Citizens UK group in Leicester with other religious groups (including Muslim, Jewish, and Christian), charities/not for profits, and schools to identify issues and work together to solve them.
We are joined by big partners like the Anglican Diocese and the University of Leicester. Although they contribute much more money, they have the same voting power as little Community of Christ.
We currently are working on school traffic issues on two neighbouring streets. Community efforts—listening, prioritizing, and organising—take our peace and justice mission to a new level. And when we needed to meet as residents, we met in the Little Blue Church. City council staff, elected officials, the local head teacher, the police, and so on came to listen and talk with residents.
Zion comes one street, one neighbourhood at a time, and the congregational building roots us in the community. One of our families has intentionally moved into the neighbourhood. The principle of “gathering” is still important for effective interaction with congregational neighbours.
Another effort, the Leicester Schools Peace Project, is creating a peace curriculum for children from five to sixteen years old for all Leicester schools. It began with three teachers in the congregation. The congregation and British Isles Mission Centre backed us with moral support and initial funding.
The project has grown amazingly, and many doors have opened. We are partnered with the university, the Leicester Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education, schools, and peace groups, including the Quakers.
Our mission is informed by Community of Christ’s Mission Initiatives, the Enduring Principles, and Basic Beliefs. All our projects bring us into relationship and give us the opportunity to invite.
Leicester has a population of about 370,000 and is a diverse city with seventy-plus languages and fourteen-plus religions, some in substantial numbers (Muslims 18 percent, Hindus 15 percent). It is the only city in Europe with a nonwhite majority. Tensions exist, but the city with its different ethnicities also peacefully flourishes. As a city of many immigrants Leicester is warmly hospitable to refugees.
The Schools Peace Project is one way, long term, for Community of Christ to contribute to peace in the city. The Interfaith Forum—Belief in Dialogue, which began in 2018, is another way. It started as an in-person event, but during the COVID-19 pandemic, it moved onto Zoom, doubled in numbers, and became international. We have done twelve dialogues, and topics have included climate change, war and peace, religion and politics, and human rights.
Our mission is informed by Community of Christ’s Mission Initiatives, the Enduring Principles, and Basic Beliefs. All our projects bring us into relationship and give us the opportunity to invite. Some of our best conversations with neighbours begin when we are working in scruffy clothes on the church gardens. Somehow, like the Son of a carpenter, we then are unintimidating and approachable.
Grand Reopening
In November we celebrated the grand reopening of the renovated building. Introduced by long-serving Pastor Janette Shardlow, the ribbon was cut by local Councilor Vijay Rijait, who has worked well with the congregation.
On that Sunday we sang Community of Christ Sings 76, “Lord, You Have Brought Us,” by Dennis Aldridge, using his original words. The hymn originally was written for the dedication of our campgrounds, Dunfield House, on the English/Welsh border in 1979. It also was the first hymn sung in the Temple in Independence, Missouri, USA.
The Temple is dedicated to the pursuit of peace, reconciliation, and healing of the spirit. That also is the purpose of the Leicester Congregation and its newly renovated Little Blue Church building, now good for another 100 years.