A vibrant family church in Barnwell

In the 1962 St Mary’s Fen Ditton sent a group of Christians to start a new church on the new developing area of Barnwell. The building today was originally built only as a church hall, with the church building hoping to be built on the grass to the north of the hall. It would take several decades before the new parish of Holy Cross came into existence but this did not stop locals beginning to gather to worship regularly here. Although financial constraints meant the building project of the main church never came into being, the building was used regularly for worship services and local community activities.

After many years of discussion, a new legal parish called Holy Cross was created from part of St Mary Fen Ditton’s Parish. The first Vicar of Holy Cross was Alan Hargrave, having started ordained ministry at both St Andrew the Great and Holy Trinity in the city centre, followed by a short period of time where he was also curate-in-charge in Fen Ditton. It was around the time of the legal formation of the new parish that Holy Cross Vicarage was completed next to the church building.

In 2004 Holy Cross joined with Meadowlands Methodist Church to form a Local Ecumenical Partnership with the joint church renamed Christ the Redeemer. This continued for 15 years and the name Christ the Redeemer became synonymous with the vibrant life of the church in the community.

In 2011, two couples moved from St Barnabas to form missional communities in Barnwell with a focus particularly on connecting with people who didn’t go to church.

Fast forward ten years, a team of people from St Barnabas to committed to moving to Barnwell and join Christ the Redeemer. At the start of this next chapter in the life of the church, Christ the Redeemer was awarded national Innovation Funding for the next three years as a part of a project which seeks to use sport as a means to share the good news of Jesus Christ with young people in Barnwell.