Lantern Church in Bedworth is celebrating seeing many new people come to faith and be baptised.
For many centuries Bedworth was primarily a coal mining community. Estates were built for the coal miners and their families surrounding the town. However, these estates were geographically dislocated from the town centre and from Church of England church, All Saints. The Revd Dave Poultney, Team Rector of Bedworth Parish, had a desire to reach the people of these estates, many of whom are from families who had not been to church for generations. Lantern Church was born out of this desire.
The church was named Lantern due to Bedworth’s history of coal mining and as a reference to John 1:5 “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” The Revd Paul Foster was appointed to lead the church. After building a relationship with nearby school, St Michael’s Church of England Academy, Paul and the Lantern team started a Messy Church in the family centre next to the school in January 2023 which became very popular and regularly attracts 80 people a week. A new community was planted in Autumn 2024 at the Pinetree Centre and the team are currently praying about the next plant.
Over the last couple of years, the church has been running more projects with the school including regular family fun days which attract between 1000 – 1500 people. They also run a project with Year Two children called Bible Crew where they journey with the children through the stories of the Bible.
By building relationships with families connected to the school and through Messy Church, Paul and the team have seen many people come to faith and get to know Jesus for the first time. Last month, five people were baptised, with ages ranging from young children to grandparents.
As the church expands, the team at Lantern hope and pray to continue to reach more of the local community in Bedworth.
Find out more about Lantern Church on their Facebook page.