29th October 2024
The Archbishop of Canterbury Visits Faithworks Barista Project
We were honoured to have The Archbishop of Canterbury visit Faithworks as part of his tour of projects and churches in the Diocese of Winchester.
Justin Welby visited The Barista Project, run in partnership with St Andrew’s Church, Charminster, to find out how our training programme is creating fresh opportunities for those overcoming homelessness, addiction and other life challenges.
The Archbishop took his first training session in the art of coffee making, while chatting with those who have turned their lives around through the project. He also met with local church leaders and Bournemouth MPs Tom Hayes and Sharon Carr-Brown who had come to visit the project.
Justin Welby explained the reason for visiting Faithworks:
“The purpose of today is to work with local churches and Christians of all kinds, sharing and talking about the good news that we are loved by God and how to find that love through Jesus Christ”
“There’s an amazing project which takes people who life has been really hard for, sleeping rough, whatever it happens to be and starts training them as baristas.
Helps them in dealing with issues of debt,… issues of finding a home, and by giving them a skill opens new pathways to them, and that was inspiring.”
Following the visit Alistair Doxat-Purser, our CEO, said:
“The Archbishop was such a diligent Barista trainee – his humility at being the new person in the class, was matched by his care for every individual in the room.
He helped demonstrate how our Life Centres work: offering people practical help, being interested and present with every person in the room, and then saying: “Can I pray with you?”, when people share their challenges.
Thank you to Archbishop Justin Welby for being a hope-bringer.”
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