First Person: Reverend Justin Groves

“I never wanted to be a Vicar. I was a Christian through my teens and wanted to be a Missionary.

I reluctantly decided that I needed to do a Theology degree at the London Bible College where I met my wife Lucy in my third year. I asked her to marry me and she said yes but on one condition-that I never become a Vicar. I said that will never happen and we laughed. Just before we got married my father-in-law gave me his blessing on the one condition that I got a job. I fell into youth work though didn’t have a great passion or calling for it at the time. I held two youth worker posts, the first in North London for an Anglican Church and then for the Bishop of Gloucester as his youth advisor. I gradually felt I should put myself forward for ordination and that it was what God wanted for me.

I trained at Ridley Hall in Cambridgeshire for two years and was ordained in 2002.

I arrived at St Paul’s ten years ago, having moved here with my family at the invitation of the-then Bishop Dominic Walker. I had just finished my Curacy in Gloucester and was looking for my next challenge when Bishop Dominic asked me to come to Newport and start a Youth Church.

I am not a traditional vicar I like to think creatively and am happiest when I am pioneering new ideas. When I started the Youth Church I didn’t know anyone in Newport so it started slowly as I got to know people. We called it The Lab because it was an experiment. We didn’t know where it would go or what would happen with it. Initially it was a group of students at the university that we made contact with and a few young adults. They met here on a Sunday night. It didn’t seem very experimental to be doing ‘church’ in a church. I am always interested in the idea of rather than inviting people into church going to where people are to be the church. We spent about a year and a half based in The Pen and Wig pub on Stow Hill in a function room above the bar.

I recruited one of the young adults called James to be a trainee youth worker to work alongside me. Some of the young adults from The Lab had finished at the University but wanted to stay in Newport. I knew I didn’t just want to run an event on Sunday that doesn’t affect people or bring any kind of change or hope to people who are in need so I approached Bishop Dominic and asked him about an idea of starting a community of young adults who could serve the people who needed help and to share the good news of who Jesus is and the difference he can make. The Bishop offered us an old vicarage on the Alway estate six years ago where we now run a missional community of young adults who build relationships with schools and youth clubs and support a predominantly elderly congregation at St Teilo’s Church.

We most recently have formed a new community in Ty-Sign. We have a good friendship with the Methodist churches in Newport so the new Lab community in Ty-Sign is based in an old Methodist Manse making use of their facilities. The Lab is very much what people call an ecumenical inter-church project. It’s overseen and supported by Diocese of Monmouth and the local Methodist Churches in Newport and beyond.

I am the grandfather figure of The Lab and support James and others where I can.

We have had a number of young adults over the last ten years who have gone forward for a similar ministry. When I arrived the church was quite traditional in its worship. We gently tried to explore a much more contemporary style of worship. For a small congregation it is very committed, not just to St Paul’s but to outreach and community-based. My wife Lucy and another lady run the Trussell Trust Foodbank and we act as the main distribution point in Newport.

When I arrived the church had a café but it was quite hard to maintain so we switched our attention to the Food Bank.

We run toddler church once a month as well as Messy church as well as courses and other activities.

The main focus over the last few years has been whether we stay in the Grade II-Listed building.

In 2013 we found out that the church needs structural repairs to the roof. One of the wrought-iron brackets came down a passageway at night time so we have two scaffolding towers holding up the ceiling.

We took the decision within a fortnight to move out for a year amid safety concerns before emergency repairs could be carried out. We spent a year in the shop directly across the road on Commercial Street which was great and I really enjoyed it. It was a much smaller building but was nice having a shop front and easy access. We moved back into the church in October 2014 and started to explore other venues for staying in the city centre.

We had to decide whether we were going to fundraise to pay for the major extensive work on the roof or to find a new home. The cost of the repairs is huge and a little bit unknown so we decided the best option would be to move and are waiting to sign a lease on the old Post Office on Bridge Street which we hope to move into after Easter.

I love this building and want to pay tribute to this mission and ministry here. Over the years this church has played an incredible role in the life of Newport.

Around 20 years or so ago the church was closed. A few years before I arrived a small group of old ladies had the vision and the courage to get it re-opened. Moving the church is incredibly sad for those who are still with us and for the Vicar Sheila Toms, who oversaw the refurbishment.

She poured a lot of herself into re-opening St Paul’s, but I think even though it only re-opened for a short period of time the congregation is now a bit bigger, stronger and more involved in missional type of activities in the city centre. The building is absolutely fantastic and I am gutted to be leaving but the fact remains that building’s do come and go. For us the church is definitely the people and not the building.

We are still very much up and running, holding services, activities and running the Foodbank on Commercial Street.

I will take many fond memories with me of this place and of the church as a whole.

The biggest life-changing experience I have had here is working in the Newport Night Shelter Project which we have run for six years on a Friday night during December and January. Other churches run it on different nights of the week. People are referred to the shelter through agencies and organisations to come here for something to eat and they have a bed and breakfast in the morning. It provides them with a safe place for 24 hours. It’s about building relationships and relationships. It’s not just providing a service it is being alongside them and showing them some respect and giving them a sense of worth and dignity.

I would recommend that anyone training to be a Vicar spend a few nights in a shelter.

The Church is the people and the people of St Paul’s are great and very patient with me. A small group of people do an awful lot here.

We had an official last service in January but we are still very much alive and kicking here until we move into our new premises which is now likely to be after Easter.

It is an exciting time. The church is moving to a great location and an ideal-sized building. In terms of meeting rooms and storage capacity, the new venue is slightly bigger and has some quite exciting possibilities. It is a great opportunity to demonstrate further that not only is the church relevant but the Christian message is relevant to the lives of everybody, particularly with the situation in the city centre as things continue to grow and develop.

Once we have moved we will hold activities and services during the week as well as on a Sunday and open as much as practically possible during the day.

I know moving is the right thing for us and I am excited about the future. As a church it’s all going to be very different, not just the venue but what we do and why we do it. Alongside The Lab we are a bit of an experiment as well.”

Ends