Fit for mission? 

Albany Park Baptist Church in London is offering a ministry of community fitness and is investing in leadership as this outreach develops

Albany Park Baptist Church has invested in Mark Beale to train up to be a level two fitness professional so he is able to come along side to serve and assist in their weekly fitness outreach program.

The program is designed to be a missional inroad into the community, using fitness classes of a professional level as a way of engaging in relationship, of seeking intentionality and also journeying with those in the local community.

The church’s pastor, the Revd Nat Moody, is already a level three fitness professional and believes there is a dual relationship between that of a pastor and that of a fitness coach.

‘The commonality is that both desire to take somebody from where they are,' he said, 'and then along the path of endurance and endeavour and to offer encouragement along the way to journey and persevere with people in overcoming, and celebrating milestones & victories with one another.'

Mark’s desire to join with this has been so well received by the church that as part of upscaling leadership, Albany Park is committed to ministerial development across the whole of its leadership: ‘We seek to invest in all leaders, to leverage their skillset and gifting and simply ask, ‘what is in your hand?’

Mark’s fitness journey has been so encouraging. He is training with YMCA England on the Tottenham Court Road and has given up his weekends in order to go and do that.

Now that Mark has completed the course he is looking forward to sharing his new-found skills with residents and members of Albany Park Church and its surrounding community.

Explaining the benefits for physical training in the church environment, Mark said, 'It’s all part of the overall wellness with God - the physical, mental and spiritual side to life.

'So often in church we just focus on people's spiritual side and neglect that they are created emotionally and physically too. By offering this ministry of community fitness we can start to speak initially into people's physical wellness, then the offshoot of that is we are able to speak into their spiritual and emotional wellness.

'This is allowing us to show God and introduce God to the community which is absolutely brilliant. They can see Christian men and women in a different light. It helps to dismantle preconceptions and perceived notions of what Christianity and the church is like.

'For me that is the push behind it - showing Christ and Christians in a different light and creating a relational inroad to being able to speak into people’s lives.'



Image | Mark Beale with minister, the Revd Nat Moody