A place at the table: coaching connections in Dublin

For the last 8 years, Kathy has been involved with a project called Storehouse in Dublin Vineyard church. The aim of the project is to show God’s love to the community. Storehouse does this by providing essentials to vulnerable families throughout the year: moving-in packs for people entering homeless shelters and women’s refuges, back-to-school packs, and food hampers.

They provide many of these services to the community in Tallaght, a suburb of Dublin. With almost 100,000 people and only a few churches, Tallaght faces high levels of poverty yet not many people sharing the hope of Jesus.

Open the doors wider

With such need and so many opportunities in the community, Kathy dreamed of finding ways to open the church doors wider, and welcome people into a new setting. Kathy had seen some other community organisations running craft groups for vulnerable women. She wondered how her church could get involved:

“I was really struck by how people visibly relaxed when they sat down to do crafts and how it gave them space to think and talk. Learning together helps us slow down the pace of life and to point people towards a lasting hope in God.

We dreamed of opening a community space where we could work with other community groups to create that space for people in the local area. But it seemed out of reach.”

Ideas unlocked through coaching

In 2019, Kathy and some other Storehouse volunteers attended a workshop run by Innovista’s Ann Marie called Church: Connecting with Community. It was there that Kathy met Kate.

Ann Marie asked the workshop attendees to describe what they would do in their community if time and money were no obstacle. Kathy and Kate realised that their dreams were the same- to create a space for the community where there was room for everybody at the table.

Innovista’s workshop helped Kathy and Kate to articulate their vision, and think deeply about the context and the challenges.

In 2020, the pandemic brought the usual rhythm of church life to a halt. However, it also gave Kathy the change to attend some one-to-one coaching sessions with Ann Marie. Even though Kathy had her dream, it was hard to see how it could move forward. She said:

“Ann Marie helped me talk through where I was at and how I was leading. She helped me past a place where I was stuck.”

These coaching sessions were pivotal in helping move forward. Kathy realised that she couldn’t keep spinning plates alone. She had to build a team to help, and only then would she be able to stop spinning the plates and ‘lay the table’. As a result, plans were made, a team was built up, and strategies developed.

The planning continued over the next three years and culminated in a search for property. Kathy’s team found a cottage in the heart of Tallaght, the community they want to serve.

Building a bigger table

As a result,  The Well opened its doors in October 2023. Kate has been facilitating baking workshops, Kathy the craft, and they’re also providing a venue for English language classes. The centre is open for the community throughout the week, and they have new people coming each week, as well as their regulars.

As the sense of community grows, so does the team’s dream for the space. They’ll take Innovista’s training into the future, as they continue to have open doors and build a bigger table for their community to sit at.

Curious about how coaching could help you? Book a free coaching session here, or see how we can help your team with a workshop here.