A Week of Transformation

My DTS (Discipleship Training School) team and I spent our final week of our outreach working in an area of Bolton called Daubhill with a ministry called PFJ (Passion For Jesus). We spent this week on a plot of land, which used to be a community Garden, but has not been touched for a number of years, meaning it was massively overgrown and full of rubbish. It took us three days to clear the weeds and rubbish, trimming all the hedges, cutting the grass, tiding up the rose garden and replanting the old flowerbed, to transform it into an area for playing and enjoying. The other encouraging thing is that the church which is next to the plot of land were wanting to take on the responsibility of maintaining the land, they just needed a bit of help to get it going.

It was really nice for the team to be able to do something practical, something in which you can see visible results happen in the time we had available. Especially as this was the final week of our time as a team, so to achieve something together was really valuable.

The local community were also really enthusiastic about it, they would come and talk with us as we worked, making sure we were kept well hydrated and fed. One woman who has lived in the are all here life (nearly 80 years) said she has watched the area go downhill over the last 10-15 years, and it is just amazing to see something positive happening. It is also such a blessing that such a diverse team, from so many places would be willing to come and do something like we did.

We also spent the evenings in a couple of the local parks with a slack line, uni-cycle, and other items of sporting equipment. This was a really great chance to meet more people from the community and just have a bit of fun.

For me the week was not just about making a nice green space for the community to enjoy, it was also about being able to help bring a bit of joy and hope to an area of the city that has slowly been neglected. These people as much as anyone else deserves something to brighten up there summer!