The vision for Fresh Start emerged from prayerful conversations in the autumn of 2019. It is regularly prayed for in prayer meetings held weekly in two of our circuit churches and has prayer support from the wider Christian community in Shetland through the Shetland Prayer Link newsletter. We circulate news about the District Food for the Way project and the Fresh Start vision to promote prayer for this work.
The vision is to establish a residential setting (4 bedroomed house) in Shetland to accommodate 2-3 people at a time, looking to move on from addiction, supported by workers in making a Fresh Start in an overtly Christian context working in collaboration with other services. Once the Centre is established clients would have the opportunity to stay for up to ten months engaged in a daily programme, including a time of reflection and prayer each morning and activities such as growing fruit and vegetables on site using covered growing tunnels. The setting would be rural, away from the town of Lerwick. Ideally, the setting would include a ‘chapel’ that would enable former clients to join with current residents as a worshipping community.
Three key values of this project are:
justice seeking - working to liberate, restore and bring hope to participants.
whole life discipleship - expressed by the residential staff and nurturing a lived out discipleship among and for the participants.
inclusivity - welcoming participants of any background who are willing to try this approach to making a Fresh Start in life.
You can learn more about this project by watching this video.