23rd November Pip's talk "Growbaby Sunday"

Growbaby Sunday. I'm Pip, I'm one of the team

here and also one of the part of the team at Growbaby.

We wanted to give you a bit of an update of what's going on at

Growbaby, also tell you about it if you're newish and you've not

heard about it before. Growbaby is one of the ways that

we as a church love our city. We're nine years into the

journey and it's grown from a couple in church and collecting

a few bags of children's clothes to give to families who needed

them, to having our base at Moulton St. like you've seen on

the video where lots of families come through the door every

week. Our vision is that no child in

childhood would be without the clothes that they need.

And we know that that's a really big vision, and it's one that we

can't even begin to meet without a God who is bigger than us.

But every year see God's faithfulness and provision of

stuff, of stuff that people need time and time again.

And people in the local community are so generous.

They are outrageously generous. And they give us children's

clothes, baby equipment, and baby essentials that we can then

give away to people who need it. A little while ago, Caroline and

I put our heads together and we spent some time just thinking

and praying about Growbaby and what it looks like at the

moment. And we asked ourselves three

simple questions. So we just want to share with

you some of our thinking around those three questions this

morning. And the first was this.

If we were to use one word to describe Growbaby, what would it

be? And the sense that we had was

this, that it would be home. OK, This is sorry.

This is my my brother's attempt at our home.

Anyway, there we go. Home.

That's what we thought. We thought grow baby is like

home. Yeah.

That's the overwhelming sense we've had this year.

Home for people. And I don't know what you think

about when you hear the word home, but we mean when we talk

about home, we mean it in the very best sense of the word.

We mean it as a place where you belong, a place where you are

known, where you feel seen, where you feel safe, where you

can be soothed, and where you can connect and be connected.

There are so many people who come along to grow Baby.

People who just want to connect with other families or catch up

with friends that they've made. Expectant moms, new moms, young

moms, parents, grandparents, people who are finding it hard

to make ends meet. Families living in hotels and in

temporary accommodation. People who for one reason or

another, have had to uproot and find themselves in a place where

they're on their own. People who maybe are refugees or

who are seeking asylum. All sorts of people gather in

the space that we call Grow Baby.

It is a wonderful, diverse family.

We have a whole host of different languages that's

spoken by people who have come. We are very thankful for Google

Translate and also for all the team.

Lots of the team speak different languages as well.

We're so thankful for everybody doing their bit.

So nowadays our sessions are usually quite busy with anything

from 50 to 90 families through the door each week.

Jesus gives us this picture of what it's like to feel at home

with God. And he says this, if you've got

a Bible, turn to it. You can turn to it in Matthew

Matthew 13 · chapter mention

chapter 13. It'll also appeal on the screen.

We're just going to literally read a couple of verses.

But this is what he says feeling at home in God feels like.

He says the Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed planted in a

field. It's the smallest of all seeds,

but it becomes the largest of garden plants.

It grows into a tree and the birds come and make nests in its

branches. Now, probably back then when

Jesus was talking, that was quite a familiar kind of

analogy. Right now you might just think

of if you're, you know, know your herbs and spices, you might

just think of the little mustard seeds that you get in a herb

pot. So if it's easier, think of

maybe like an acorn and then a huge, massive oak tree.

OK. The picture talks about things

growing from very, very small beginnings and growing for the

good of the world around them. And the sense that we get with

these birds perching, coming and nesting in the tree is that it

represents all kinds of people. God's Kingdom.

This invitation to be at home with God is like that.

It's open to everyone, no matter who you are.

And the invitation is don't just come and you know, perch for a

bit and then fly off. Come, stay, settle, nest, rest

with me. Let me be your home.

That's what Jesus is saying. Let me be your safe place.

I'll be everything you need. That's what he says to each of

us. And at the same time, when we do

life with Jesus, he is with us and we can offer that safe

place, that safe space to other people.

And I think that's something of what happens at Growbaby.

We often use this phrase, and you'll hear it all the time if

you're a part of the team. Growbaby is for everyone,

because it really is. And many of the families we

support, for one reason or another, don't feel safe.

Maybe they feel a bit disoriented or adrift for all

sorts of reasons. And if you've been here for the

last few weeks, you'll know that we've been thinking about what

it is to be family, to be connected to each other as a

people. You know, there's a lot going on

in our world right now. And at Growbaby, we're called to

be this place, to be this safe space, A community where people

can come and can find that they belong, where they can feel some

sense of grounding when they can feel at home.

And for those of us who know Jesus on the team, we hope that

part of what people experience when they walk through the doors

is him, something of Jesus. So Caroline and I, as we were

kind of thinking we Caroline's arty, anyone who doesn't know

that, like, yeah, you need to this is Caroline's work of art

here. But what we did was we we were

thinking about this word home and thinking about what?

What does that mean? And what does that look like at

Grow Baby? We've got a picture of it up on

the screen. So I just want to walk you

through the poster if you like. So any given Wednesday people

come and we we listen to them. We play, you know, the kids

play, we eat, we get through shed loads of biscuits and other

treats that people bring. We chat, we choose and give out

clothes, we laugh sometimes we cry together, we pray.

People share about themselves and they tell their stories,

sometimes in little snippets, sometimes in big chunks, and we

listen. And in the doing of all those

really normal everyday things, time and time again, something

godly happens, something of the Kingdom of God grows.

People feel welcomed, they feel connected, they feel safe, they

feel heard, they feel valued, they feel known, they feel seen,

they feel cared for. And we hope we're a place where

the displaced can feel placed, where the refugee can find

refuge. Where those who feel this sense

of unrest can actually feel a moment of rest.

Where the unsettled can feel settled.

Where people who feel disconnected can feel connected.

Where those who feel homeless can feel somehow homed.

Within that space. Where those who feel unsafe can

feel safe, and those who feel unseen can feel seen.

Where everyone who walks through the door can feel something of

what it is like to belong and that that gives them a glimpse

of what it feels like to be at home with God.

We say, you know, one of the things that we say people are

not a project. Grow Baby is about seeing people

and loving people. It's a place where we get to

show people what Jesus is like. And some of our values, I'm just

going to whiz through some of them because we think they're a

bit Jesusy. So we give value and dignity.

We give out good quality stuff. We do quite a lot of tip runs

for stuff that maybe is not the quiet quality that we want.

So we don't want to give out that stuff.

We want to give out good stuff because it communicates value

and dignity to people. We want to be a place of refuge

and safety. We want to be a place that where

we have no judgement. Anyone can walk in.

There's no criteria for having to be met to be able to use Grow

Baby. We want to be a warm welcome.

We always want to be kind. We always want to be generous,

we always want to be a listening ear, even when it's a crazy busy

session and we know that every contact leaves a trace.

And for those of us who are on the team who know Jesus, we want

that that trace to be Jesus. So that's our word to describe

growbaby. This year it would be home.

Second question was, what if Growbaby were an object?

What would we come up with? And what we come up with is the

humble jam sandwich. OK, let me tell you why.

OK, Because let me tell you about one of our friends who up

until recently was part of the team, and she'd been with us for

a couple of years. She was living in a hotel

locally and that meant she didn't have any access to any

cooking facilities, but she loved to cook so it was really,

really hard for her. She found it difficult to eat

the food that was provided by the hotel, so for months on end

she generally lived on jam sandwiches that she had made.

Last year she came along to grow baby Sunda here and we said

there'd be food afterwards and they'll be, we'll all stay on

and eat together like we're going to do today.

And on that day, she rocked up with some jam sandwiches to

share with everyone. It reminded me of a moment where

Jesus fed thousands of people with the only food that was

around, which was a little boy's packed lunch sandwiches.

Jesus took the very little that someone had and he blessed loads

and loads of people with it. If you want to read that story a

little bit more, you can find it in Matthew chapter 14.

Matthew 14 · chapter mention

If you've not got a Bible and you're like, where's that?

We've got some spare ones out there.

Please do grab one, take that away with you and have a read of

it. But when we were here and had

that Grobby sundae last last year, those jam sandwiches that

were made by this wonderful friend of ours was such a hit

with the kids that were here at church.

Some children who didn't really want to eat some of the other

foods that was here that day loved the jam sandwiches.

And the whole thing really, really moved me.

I didn't know she was going to bring them.

She rocked up with them with a little that she had.

And Jesus does this time and a time again with grow baby.

He takes the sometimes little thing that someone else doesn't

want anymore or doesn't need. And that thing is that's about

to be thrown out or given away. And it comes our way and we're

able to just say thank you for it.

And it's a blessing then to other people.

It's like it feeds people and he multiplies the works of our

hands. So this simple jam sandwich

means quite a lot to us here at Growbaby.

Third thing, if Growbaby were a flower, you might think these

are really random questions, but there you go.

If if Growbaby were a flower, what kind of flower would it be?

OK, you got to bear with me here.

This is sweet pea. That's not the flower I wanted.

I couldn't find honeysuckle. So and I have tried this already

just to make sure we don't set off any alarms, but I'm just

going to have a little spray. OK?

So hopefully that will waft your way.

If Grobe were a flower, we said it would be honeysuckle.

And again, you might wonder why, but if you Google a honeysuckle,

for those of you who are not gardeners, it says it has this

special for its intoxicating fragrance.

OK, now, if you're part of the team, that might make you laugh

because sometimes in our leaky building when the rain has come,

you get a different kind of aroma.

And so it's like a bit of the damp kind of smell.

So, you know, in a couple of weeks ago, we invested in some

new plug in, you know, air fresheners just to, you know,

have the nice smell. Anyway, honeysuckle smells

lovely. And in the Bible, it talks about

the scent of Jesus being something that people notice.

Paul, this person who wrote part of the letters in the Bible.

You can find it in Two Corinthians 2.

It's referred to like knowing Jesus is referred to as a

fragrance, like the fragrance of life.

So it's like the senses, if you know Jesus, he sticks with you

wherever you go. And that smell, that fragrance

goes with you wherever you go. And people might come and oh,

that smells nice. Some others might go, oh, I

don't like that smell, but other people will go.

I really like that smell. So honeysuckle is this

beautifully smelling plant. Has anyone got honeysuckle in

their in their garden? Oh, nice.

Oh, excellent. OK, brilliant.

Next time you smell it, think of grow baby.

OK, But something else that he says about honeysuckle is this

it's it's a it's a vigorous climbing plant.

I sound like AI was in the horticulturist.

Is that the right word? Is it OK?

Oh, well, there we go. It's a vigorous climbing plant.

It spreads out. It is far reaching.

And in a sense, we see that a little bit grow, baby, like the

the sheer numbers of people that come through the door and the

variety of people that come through the door.

The definition goes on. It's often sorry, the

description. It's often found in hedges and

woods. And it's known for its ability

to transform unsightly structures into picturesque

displays. Some might say our current

building is something of an unsightly structure in places.

Yeah. But also sometimes people's life

experiences are not pretty, but these can be transformed in the

presence of Jesus and all the very normal things that we do at

Grow Baby. Back to the description of

honeysuckle, beyond this beauty and scent, it says honeysuckle

provides food. And again with that little bit

of kind of a bit of a leap, week after week our rails are

refilled with clothes for people in time for the following week.

Often the rails are are kind of emptied throughout a session and

then the follow up in the course of the following week we'll fill

them. Again.

We see provision time and time again and we're really, really

thankful for that. The description goes on.

It provides habitat which means home.

So again, harks back to that, that overall sense that we've

had habitat for various wildlife, including birds and

other living things, which harks back to that whole mustard tree

tree growth, birds living and resting in the trees.

I don't know if any of you have ever kind of, well, you've

obviously been awake early, but that idea of when you you hear

that kind of dawn chorus or if you've been somewhere where the

sound of birdsong is just like unbelievable.

It's totally spectacular. It speaks of like life and

community and celebration. And that's the kind of sense

that we have at Growbaby. So Growbaby, this year, the

three things that we felt are that it's home, jam sandwiches

and honeysuckle. So next time you get home and

you walk through your front door, think of us and pray for

us at Graybaby. Next time you tuck into a

sandwich, think of us and pray for us at Growbaby.

And next time you catch the smell of a nice fragrance, think

of us and pray for us at Growbaby that we will continue

to be this space that is home for people.

We're going to listen to a little clip now of one of our

wonderful team who is here this morning.

And I promise you, she didn't know what I was going to say

before she said what she said. So let's have a little look now,

so. If I talk about like from the

beginning, the crowbaby I was, I don't know what they are

actually doing. So I remember when somebody

recommended me and my first one, she was a two years old and we,

we due to the limited resources, I can't take them far anywhere.

So somebody recommended me to go come here and have a chit chat.

There are people are very nice. And when I entered into this

girl baby, I met a very :) and I remember the first smile.

And from the first day they welcome us.

And till date, it's been almost two years and I always feel very

happy, satisfied and feel like like home.

This organization gives me a lot.

I have a very sentimental emotions and feelings attached

to this and I wonder, I don't know throughout my life or even

my kids, they never forget what love she gives.

They get from here and everybody here is like a family.

So if I talk about like from. I think I've turned it on.

I think I've turned it on. Thank you.

Thank you. So I'm going to do some stats,

but very broad stroke stats, so don't worry.

So like Pip said, we have between 50 and 90 families come

every week and there are nearly 3000 people in our Facebook

community, which is a very active community and those are

active participants within the within the community.

Last year we gave away lots of buggies, prams, double buggies,

rare as hen's teeth, cots, high chairs, baby bouncers, all

manner of baby essentials and equipment.

Clothes wise we gave out hundreds of bundles and where a

bundle might be for multiple children, we worked closely with

local food banks, children's centres and lots of other

agencies and organisations to support families.

The local community are so generous and the stats are

important, but more important than the stats are the stories

behind those stats. They're about numbers, but

stories are about people, and we want to tell you a few stories

this morning in the hope that it captures something of the work

that we're doing. So we had a lady come in who

donated us 2 bags of brand new clothes hadn't been worn and

still had their tags on. So we asked people, you know,

how do you hear about us when they come in?

How do you hear about us? And she said you pretty much

kitted out my friend's daughter with everything she needed for

her new baby. There's people will say, well,

we don't need this anymore. The other week we were giving a

given a flushing pink toilet to help children with their toilet

training. So it looked like a glorified

potty. It was a glorified potty.

It was a mini toilet and as you flushed it, it made a little

flushing noise. It was very exciting and we

needed some potties that week so we took it in.

But we weren't really sure if anyone wanted a flashing pink

potty. But that same day somebody saw

it and said my daughter's going to love this.

We were able to give one of our mums a toddler bed.

She was so thankful and she cried out.

You save our families, you save our children, you save our

souls. One mum literally started

singing and dancing and shouting thank you when we I'm not going

to do that but. We were able to give her a

beautiful double buggy for her newborn twins.

A young boy who loves dinosaurs came in a few weeks ago.

That morning a number of dinosaur themed clothes had come

in and fitted him perfectly and we don't take toys, we don't

take toys. But that day somehow one had got

tucked in at the bottom of a bag of clothes that had been donated

and it was an all singing, light up moving, roaring dinosaur toy.

There was so much joy in the room and the little boy took it

home with him. We were able to give a pregnant

mum everything she needed for her baby including a buggy, cot

etcetera. She's brought us doughnuts and

biscuits as a thank you and wrote a lovely message to us

saying how much it had meant to her and her family and how much

it had helped them. We were also able to pray for

that mum, whose partner had just become made redundant and was

out of work and through the course of her pregnancy.

He's now in work and she's in a much better position.

But she wouldn't. She didn't know how she would

have got to where she was without us and the support we

were able to offer her. So one of our moms recently says

that she knows that I would always give her a hug if she

needs one. She always comes in late at the

end of the session but if she sees me she'll always get a hug.

A family who came in regularly asked next time that they could

bring some balloons and cakes etcetera because it was their

son's birthday so we pretty much had a party together.

There's a mum who picks up the Hoover and does the hoovering at

the end of the session saying thank you so much for everything

you do for us. It's the least I can do.

And we've got a mum who says we've got a wedding to go to in

a few weeks time. Have you got a nice dress or

something my little girl might be able to wear?

We don't have anything in the right size for her at the time.

But one of the team over here is she has a daughter who's of a

similar age. So she says come back next week,

bring some beautiful dresses. And then she borrowed the

beautiful dresses for the wedding.

And a mum who says I suffer from anxiety, I really don't get out

much to meet people. It was hard for me to come in

but I'm so glad I did. And we've got a mum who's due to

have her baby in a in a week's time and she has nothing arrived

You to give birth in a week's time.

She has nothing. And we were able to give her

lots of what she needed. And Can you imagine you're

having? I can't.

Obviously you can't. You know, you're having a baby

next week and you've got nothing of everything you need.

My child wanted anything. There's lots of things children

want. There's no way I could afford 1.

And here it is, exactly in the right size.

That was dressing up clothing wasn't it?

A child who greets a friend that they meet at Grow Baby every

week and they hug, they give each other is so big.

They both fall over. We have families move away but

some are able to come back and visit a month later and and

still are reflecting on how much we've done for them.

We have a mum who said again and again I'm so lucky today when

she found the things she needed, and a family who moved back into

the area recently after having a really tough time elsewhere.

They came back to Grow Baby and mum says I belong here.

A local MP visited a few weeks back.

She said she visited lots of places but what she noticed at

Grow Baby was that there was a lot of joy in the place.

She wrote to us after and said it's clear that Grow Baby is a

place where people meet and make friends and families who come on

team and then when they move area or are rehoused somewhere,

they say again and again how much they're going to miss Grow

Baby because it feels like a family.

And there are countless stories like this of people saying just

this is just what I needed. I've been looking for something

like this. Thank you so much for what

you're doing. So that's a few of the stories.

How can am I carrying on? OK, How can I get involved?

So give any collecting clothes baby items, spread the word, ask

for specific things we need. So there are little hubs around

the Chelmsford area that are gathering bits.

So Jenny will come home and find a packet of nappies on her front

doorstep. We live in Malden and people are

gathering things. So people know about Grow baby

in Malden. Piles of clothes, bags of

clothes. We often go through Hatfield

Peverel and pick up lots of other bags of clothes.

So spread the words amongst your connections and bring things to

us. So giving and collecting

clothes. Come and be part of the team.

If you can't get to us when we do our sessions you might be

able to help with other things. Come and chat to us.

We've always got a long To Do List.

Pray. We would love to get together a

group of people who would commit to pray.

Praying for Grow Baby regularly and so in terms of prayer, the

things we need prayer for people, for parents, families

and team that we've we are still a place of home for people and

that people find peace when they're with us.

Provision. So next year Grow Baby will be

10. So we we need prayer for

continuing favour and generosity within the local community and

for specific needs to be met. So ongoing and new partnerships

with other local organizations, we need favour on funding

applications, grant applications that go in at the building and

venue. The current 1 is a great

location but it is tired and lacks a few crucial things and

we would love at some point to have somewhere that is a great

location. But it's also a bright welcoming

space that is warm, has hot water heating and parking which

are the things we lack at the moment.

So from the film that of Pip talking about Grove, it looks

beautiful, bright, glossy, lovely.

It's actually an old tired building that leaks in the rain.

We also need prayer for presence and power.

That people who would who come to grow baby would experience

God's peace, his healing and his joy, that it would feel like

home to all who come. So yes, please pray.

Grand. Stay there.

Stay there. OK, So we just, yeah, we we kind

of want to say thank you for all those things.

It's one, it's such a privilege to be a part of Growbaby every

time you talk about Growbaby with a neighbor or a colleague

and every time you give us a bag of clothes.

Every time. Where's Johnson?

Every time you knit bubble hats and scarves, which you did for

yesterday's session and literally straight away, some

families like they're amazing and they took them.

Every time that you your doorstep is full of nappies and

other things. Every time you help the tip

trip. Every time you drop off plastic

bags to us or give a shout out on your street.

You're part of grow baby. Every time you Hoover up biscuit

crumbs, every time you change the nappy bin, every time you

clean buggies, all those kind of things.

Every time you you ask friends for this particular amount of

clothes that we need this this age range.

We, we want to thank all of you because you're all a part of

this. Thank you for helping to make

this happen. Whether you're on a team on a

Tuesday or a Wednesday or a Saturday, or whether you can't

make those days, but you're still kind of helping behind the

scenes. Thank you for helping to make

that happen. There are some of our team are

here this morning, but this is look at them all.

Don't they look amazing? Whole host of people who helped

make it happen. We are so thankful for every

single one of them. Thank you for giving your time

and your energy and your resources and your expertise.

Every single week I feel quite emotional.

Big thank yous because it really doesn't happen without everyone

doing it together. If you, if you do stuff to do

with grow baby, like specifically if you're part of

the team on a Tuesday or Wednesday or Saturday, would you

just stand up so that we can just say a big thank you to you?

That's a bit scary, isn't it? Sorry I didn't give you a pre

warning of that. You can hit me later.

OK. Do we just give them a big thank

you? Yeah, yeah.

Big thank yous to you, all your friends, your family and your

team. So big thank yous.

And we would just love to pray. Now, why don't you just stand

up? We'll pray and then we'll

finish.