History

A brief timeline of the history of  The Pavilion Christian Community

• 1982 – Trinity begins life as a church plant, meeting in a home in Selly Oak
• 1984 – The church, known as Selly Oak Church of Christ  moves to Westhill College Chapel.
• 1984 – Phil Seadon is invited to become part time Senior Paster
• 1987 – Trinity decides to centre in Bournville and moves to Rowheath Pavilion
• 1996 – Bournville Village Trust asks Trinity to operate the Pavilion under a management agreement
• 1997 – Phil Seadon ends his time as a minister at Trinity, to study for an MA and become a prison chaplain
• 1998 – Rick Lewis from Telopia Church of Christ Australia, becomes Full time minister of Trinity
• 2000 – Tony Sands from Campbelltown takes over as minister from Rick Lewis.
• 2001 – Craig Barnes takes over as minister from Tony Sands
• 2003 – Trinity signs a lease for the Pavilion and undertakes to operate it on behalf of the community
• 2004 – Paul Clarke takes over as minister from Craig Barnes
• 2004 – John Lamerton joins the team as youth minister
• 2005 – Leah Thornburn joins the team as an additional youth minister
• 2006 – In January the church changed its name to The Pavilion Christian Community
• 2006 – In November the church was re-launched to the local community in a special service entitled “Making a Noise”, which was attended by the Lord Mayor of Birmingham, local councillors and many of our friends and neighbours from Bournville and beyond
• 2007 – The Pavilion Christian Community takes over the day to day running of Rowheath Pavilion with a team of volunteers
• 2007 – John Lamerton leaves and Leah takes over as Youth Minister
• 2008 – Alysen Merrill joins The Pavilion as associate pastor, supporting Paul. Alysen runs our small groups.
• 2008 – Leah leaves The Pavilion
• 2008 – Canvas, a student focused mission attached to the Pavilion, gets going in new premises in Selly Oak.
• 2008 – A local action group and church work together to build a children’s playground.
• 2009 – Thomas and Jenny take over the youth programs at The Pavilion. Then Autumn 2009 Mark Isgrove is appointed youth minister.
• 2009 – The Pavilion Community Café is launched, staffed mostly by volunteers.
• 2009 – Lynda Robinson is appointed as Community Development Coordinator at the Pavilion.
• 2009 – Midday prayer (well 12.30…) and Community Communion established.
• 2009 – Mark Isgrove joins team as youth leader, taking over the oversight of our youth ministry
• 2010 – Our Church leadership teams are expanded due to growth of the church. The current Eldership is enhanced by the development of a staff team.
• 2010 – Three new Elder are appointed, Brian English, Alan Deakin, Mary Rollin.
• 2012 – Easter Paul and Sarah Clarke conclude their Ministry at the Pavilion

The Full Story Trinity church originated as new church meeting in a home.  It was intended for people in the Selly Oak area who were either searching for faith or who were looking for a new expression of church.  After a time that home group outgrew the home it was meeting in and met for a time in the Westhill College chapel, just off the Bristol Road.  Eventually it seemed right to give some thought to the subject of a long term home.  By this time, most of those who were attending lived in the Bournville area and so a search took place for suitable places to worship in Bournville. After some months of research, three possible sites were located: St Francis School was willing to rent space to the young church, Woodlands Park Hall was also available for hire and we had a conversation with the management of the Pavilion.  So which of these possibilities would we choose ?  It was not an easy matter !  The church members visited each of these locations and we quickly realised that Woodlands Park Hall was too small.  Most of us really loved St Francis School with its light airy space.  However, a smaller number felt some kind of affinity with the Pavilion.  At this point we thought we had better pray about what to do ! After praying together we thought we should check out the Pavilion option more carefully, only to discover that the hall was not really available to rent on a Sunday morning – so apparently the school option had won the day.  Well, not quite ! Some members felt strongly we needed to pray for longer about the non-options in front of us and then have another conversation with the Pavilion management.  After one week we visited the Pavilion again, found that they were glad we had contacted them because they had changed their mind and had been trying to contact us to tell us of their change of heart.  Some people had a conviction that at some time, the Pavilion would somehow be given to the church.  It did not look very likely at that time. In December 1987 Trinity church began meeting in the Pavilion and in some ways that was the first beginnings of Trinity church as we presently know it.  But more was to unfold.  At that time, Trinity was, to some extent, a barely wanted user group.  However, we realised that the Pavilion needed encouragement and help and we offered our voluntary help in a number of areas.  After a time we began to be aware that the financial position of the Pavilion was somewhat precarious and when the Trust running the centre was wound up because of huge losses we wondered what would happen to both the centre and to Trinity. Once Rowheath Pavilion Trust (RPT) had been wound up, the lease returned to Bournville Village Trust (BVT).  Trinity had already been in conversation with BVT about a long term location and BVT asked the church whether it would be willing to take on the lease at the Pavilion.  This was rather unexpected and Trinity really wondered if they were in the community centre business.  Moreover, the question was asked, if RCT was unable to make the Pavilion work, why should a church do any better ?  Back to prayer ! Following much prayer, the church felt that we should offer to run the Pavilion for a time under a management agreement on behalf of BVT, and if that worked well then to look at a longer term lease.  So, in the summer of 1996, not quite ten years since first using the premises, Trinity took the bigger step of actually managing the facility. In the meantime, a great deal had been taking place within Trinity Church.  Before going to the Pavilion, the church had been led by two part time ministers.  Just before the move to the Pavilion, one of the part time ministers took a job with a Christian charity and Phil Seadon became the full time minister at Trinity. Phil Seadon helped to establish the church at the Pavilion from 1987 until 1997.  After ten years of work as minister, and for part of the time as centre manager at Rowheath, Phil decided to resign and return to full time study at Birmingham University.  For the first time in its life, Trinity needed to search for a new minister. An unexpected development resulted in the arrival of a minister from the other side of the planet !  Rick Lewis arrived from Australia and began a two year ministry in January 1998.  Within a few months of his arrival, a full time Pavilion manager was appointed and the church began to recover its strength and vitality.  Rick had originally committed himself for only one year and so the church really benefited from his longer than planned stay. The church had hoped to replace Rick with a full time British minister but once again Trinity felt led to appoint another minister from Australia on a one year contract.  Tony Sands arrived in the early part of the year 2000 and stayed for the rest of that year, continuing the work that Rick had started.  It did not prove easy to find a minister to follow on from Tony but eventually Trinity located a minister – guess what – another Aussie, but this time an Aussie who had been living in Britain for a few years already. Craig Barnes, originally from Sydney, began his ministry with Trinity in the early part of 2001 and stayed for three years before returning to Australia at the end of 2003. During this period, Trinity had been operating the Pavilion under a management agreement and it gradually became clear that it was possible to arrive at a break even position.  Negotiations continued with BVT to take on the lease and in the summer of 2003, some seven years after first taking on management responsibility, a long term lease was signed. Before Craig left for Australia, the church had been in conversation with one of its members who was feeling increasingly drawn towards full time Christian ministry.  Paul Clarke, together with his wife Sarah and their family, had joined Trinity during the time of Rick Lewis’s ministry and had grown significantly in faith and leadership gifting while at Trinity.  It was felt right to appoint Paul as our first home grown minister, initially in a training role under the direction of Martin Robinson, who was still part of the leadership team at Trinity. Paul began his time as the minister of Trinity in January 2004 and his training period concluded in July 2005, when he was ordained.  Before working as a minister, Paul had been a marketing executive with Cadbury’s where he had met his wife Sarah who had worked as a marketing manager.  Paul has brought considerable leadership ability to the task at Trinity, some of which was learnt in the business world. A first priority under Paul’s leadership has been to develop a youth ministry, and through partnerships with Kings Norton Boys School and then Kings Norton Girls School we were able to appoint John Lamerton and Leah Thornburn as youth ministers. John and Leah have moved on now, but very recently (Autumn 2009) Mark Isgrove joined us as youth minister. Mark has a day job at Kings Norton Boys School, but also is committing time to developing a youth programme at the Pavilion with a team of volunteers. Paul has also extended links with the community at large, working as a chaplain for with West Midlands police at Bournville Lane Police Station. The Pavilion Christian Community has a longstanding relationship with Globalscope, an international mission to students with its roots in the US. A Globalscope team joined us in 2007, and Canvas was born, a rapidly growing community of students based in Selly Oak. In January 2006, after a six month period of reflection and debate, the church changed its name to The Pavilion Christian Community, in order to better reflect our mission, aspiration and location. This has been an important change, and through it we have begun to learn that God’s call for us is to grow community in and around Rowheath Pavilion, seven days a week. Brian Pearson had a central role in making this work initially, but many people from the Pavilion Christian Community have rolled up their sleeves and got involved, and indeed, when needed, an arm up a u-bend…. Others have a vision for community too. The Pavilion park while a great place to be lacked a focal point, as we surveyed our community the need for a children’s playground was identified. Our minister Paul gathered a group of mothers from the wider Borunville community and formed a group who under the chairmanship Bev Lowe worked to raise funds and plan a new playground . We worked together to dig the foundations, and eventually in Autumn 2008 we were able to cut the ribbon and let the children in to their new playground. We are just (at least until Winter set in) experimenting with the storyteller’s corner, and hope to make storytelling part of the Pavilion experience. Jesus loved to share a table with his friends, well with anyone really. Hospitality, a place to share a brew, and time to listen… we really wanted to see a café at the Pavilion. The Pavilion Community Café was launched in 2009. Lynda Robinson was Community Development Coordinator at the Pavilion by this time, wanting all the time to strengthen Rowheath Pavilion as a place of welcome. The café is going well, managed by Hannah and staffed by volunteers and members of the Striding Out programme. There’s a weekend expression of café now too, a different feel offering hot comfort food to our hungry sports and park users. We wanted to make sure that Jesus was at the centre of all that was growing around us, and so late in 2009 we also established a pattern of midday prayer each day in “the Gathering Place” (well 12.30 actually), and also Community Communion 11am on Wednesdays. Both of these services are Celtic in tone, using prayers from the Northumbria Community. Both are community events, open to all.

In December 2011, Paul Clarke announced he would be concluding his ministry at the Pavilion after Easter 2012. The church is now prayerfully seeking Gods will for how it should move forward.