Destination 211

The vision of Destination 211, using a converted double decker bus, is to reach out into communities that have high levels of deprivation with the love of God.

Aims

In sharing the love of God through

words and action, Destination 211 aims to bring transformation to individuals and communities including:

• creating a positive sense of community
• offering a listening none judgemental ear to those struggling with life issues
• enabling families to become debt free through established connections with award winning Christians Against Poverty
• signposting those in need to organisations such as foodbanks
• encouraging families to enjoy structured play together
• offering the bus for organisations to connect with the community including for example, launch of Neighbourhood Watch, police etc
• crime prevention,
• enabling healing, increase in self-awareness and self-esteem of young people through peer pressure and drug awareness courses, self-harm support groups, making films together, taking young people on structured holidays together etc
• Child and young people mentoring project using Transforming Lives for Good (TLG) training: https://www.tlg.org.uk/your-church

How the Bus is Used

Bishop Jonathan launches the Destination 211 Bus Ministry

The bus is presently used once per week for 6 hours, but a second venue for the bus on a different day will be launched in May this year. On top of this D211 have been present at one site offering emotional spiritual and practical support especially to families, teenagers and children. In doing this it is hoped that a fresh expression of church on the bus might evolve.

One-off events have also happened, including Dewsbury Christmas Lights Switch On and a Christmas event in a local park.

The Bus Ministry Team

The bus ministry is led by Revd Neil Walpole and a very committed team which includes a minister and youth minister from Dewsbury Church of the Nazarene, and a Baptist minister. There are also 7 regular and 5 occasional volunteers as well as a team of 5 who make buns/cakes. There is also a prayer team including 4 others who do not have ‘hands on’ involvement.

Funding

The initial cost of the bus and the cost of ‘re-wrapping’ was paid by Dewsbury Team Parish PCC. Running costs have come from grant making bodies and gifts from other churches and individuals. We are in the process of applying to three grant making bodies whose priorities coincide with the type of ministries we offer. A Churches Together team are exploring using the bus once per week. It is the hope and expectation of Destination 211 that funding will be sustainable beyond three years. If you would like to donate time or money to the project, please get in touch via the contact form below.

Future Plans

In the near future we hope to set up a Young people’s drop in from 5.30pm to 7pm. The dream would be to raise sufficient finance to employ a youth worker and encourage teams in and around Dewsbury from different churches to use the bus, with a probable capacity of 5 days per week.

Faith on the Bus

The bus is already becoming a place where people are learning about and growing in faith. As the team share their faith appropriately, the hope is that we will become ‘Church on the Bus’: a place of worship and healing. The bus further hopes to offer local schools a special place for RE lessons provided by the team on the bus.

What happens on a typical day?

• 2pm people from the community start to drop into the bus
• 3.15 carers and children come on the bus: Games, building bricks, drinks, cakes, video or puppet stories, we offer a listening ear to parents and children.
• Young People small group: we share a meal together, find out how the young people’s week has been, chat about faith issues, and play games together.