IT started in a front room three years ago, when the Revd Paul
Niemiec, as Pioneer Minister, with his wife, Helen, moved on to a
new housing estate on the outskirts of Leighton Buzzard in
St Albans diocese. The two of them opened the
ground floor of their home and, with much prayer, began to reach
out to the local community.
People began to come - soon too many for the single room; and
so, having become a Messy Church, they moved to the Community House
near by. A year ago, a fire and a significant growth in numbers
meant that it was time to move. The local Greenleas School had just
been completed, and was immediately booked for Sunday mornings; and
so the Church of the Good Shepherd was born.
More than 70 people came on the first morning, and even more the
following week. They are mostly young families, though the ages
range from newborn to 80-plus. The Bishop of Bedford, the Rt Revd
Richard Atkinson, came to help a congregation of 94 to celebrate
the church's first birthday with a service of holy communion,
followed by a party (above) with a magnificent birthday
cake.