January 2019 will mark a year of running Peaced Together at Willowfield Parish Community Association. It’s been a year full of tears and realisation, but also a year of joy and new friendships.
We have run six courses each one bigger than the last! 43 people have completed the course with us.
The most wonderful thing to have come out of the course is the number of local women who are now meeting regularly as friends. Many of them have previously struggled with isolation, loneliness and mental health issues. They’ve bonded through mutual understanding of the struggles of their past and the hope that they now have in their future.
They’ve discovered a sense of sisterhood in their shared pain and have loved being able to help one another overcome their past. Some of these women have been part of our church for years but have never truly felt like they belonged as a result of the shame they were allowing themselves to hold on to. But we’ve seen one group in particular who have developed strong friendships and now come to church together and support each other through difficulties. One member of this group was hospitalised for a time during the summer and those who had befriended her through the course regularly visited and supported her.
The women were very sad when the ten weeks of Peaced Together were complete. Many of them wanted to continue. Our response to this was to set up several groups and programmes that we could encourage the women to take part in. One of these was a women’s craft group run by volunteers from the church, which sees 20 women attend regularly. We also created a craft-based life group, with plans to launch another just after Christmas. These groups have helped some of the women integrate into our church by giving them the opportunity to get to know people outside of their Peaced Together group.
Some of the women who have attended the course this year have really encouraged one another in their faith and a group have arranged to go together to New Wine’s summer conference next July. Some of those who have signed up for Peaced Together are not yet Christians, but they’re so excited to know they’re on a journey
to get to know God on a personal level.
Here’s what some of the women said about Peaced Together:
“I have found the Peaced Together process restorative and humbling, I have shared things I never-in-a-million-years thought I would share and realised the shame I’ve carried for decades isn’t my shame to carry. That shame belongs elsewhere. Now I’ve said it in the right circumstances, I can share what I’ve learnt with others. I’ve also been humbled by other people’s stories – people who are still standing after going through so much. True, they’ve been damaged, but absolutely not beyond repair. I’m humbled that they are learning to lean on God and are continuing not only to recover, but to grow and flourish. The class is a brilliant idea, led by fun, sympathetic people who have ways of making you talk. There is a verse I love in Galatians 5, ‘Faith expressed through love’. That’s what Allison, Diane and Kim offer. I also found I had a few artistic skills I definitely didn’t know I had!”
“After walking past the church for three weeks, thank goodness I had the courage to walk in. Peaced Together actually saved my life. To have people care and discover I wasn’t alone after four years of social isolation was a wonderful experience for me. I learned how to grow all through the heartache, pain and anger. Allison, Diane and Kim are such a beautiful bunch of ladies – their kindness, compassion and understanding of all of us – they taught us all God’s grace.”