An interview with Josh from Soul Food Little Church

On Sunday at Little Into Big, James interviewed Josh from Soul Food Little Church. Soul Food are a Little Church called to the vulnerably-housed and lonely of Bristol. They serve a healthy meal and offer a food pantry and clothing rail every Wednesday at B&A Gloucester Road for anyone who needs it. But it’s more than just a meal, their aim is to meet the physical needs of individuals on the margins of society, leading them to Christ, who can meet their needs eternally. 

James asked Josh to tell us about his story joining Soul Food Little Church…

How did you come to be part of Soul Food?

I had recently returned from Kenya, where I had been working in the area of social and environmental justice. I knew I was missing community and a sense of spiritual justice from my personal life and work. I ended up at B&A, who kindly let me use the co-working space in the balcony of the Gloucester Road church hall to do my reflection.

On Wednesdays I’d hear Hazel setting up for Soul Food, so I offered to help. I made the tables look pretty, whilst she lugged the tables… or maybe it was the other way around.

Anyway, it became clear that a Little Church active in social justice was just the type of reflection that I needed, and so I became one of the family.

What is one thing that God taught you in your time of being part of Soul Food?

We’ve probably all seen a version of the painting where Jesus is knocking at the long-unopened church door, which by now is covered in ivy. Two interpretations generally jump out at the viewer. Some will feel the call for the Church to exit out of its four walls, into the world. For others, that a spiritually starving Church needs to let Jesus back in. Both are true. There is a third interpretation that runs in parallel to both of these though. The door has no handle on Jesus’s side, meaning that the Church is the one who will have to take the step of faith, which requires trust. Trust is crucial.

My biggest revelation is that trust takes time to build, and even when it’s there, the steps of faith that it supports come in waves. None for a while, then two all in one go. 

This has been true with our journey into a deeper faith as Soul Food, and in the lives of the guests and team that show up each week.

Naturally I want to point to how many meals we serve, or how many guests engage with the spiritual reflections we do as a demonstration of how much Soul Food is saying “Yes” to Jesus’ invitation to be filled with His Spirit and to follow Him out into the world. I’ve come to realise that a far more sound metric is the trust guests and team have in Jesus, seen in how deeply embedded their identity is in Him.

Where have you seen God at work in the lives of the people you are serving?

Slow building of trust - whether team, or guests, as we have mutually served one another, been the recipients of others’ service, and joined together in service, we’ve grown in trust, a commodity that has been a massive missing piece in many of our lives. For some, this is obvious. Many have experienced toxic relationships and abuse. We all live in a world torn apart by divisiveness. Soul Food has tried to be a place of safety.

The expectation is that no matter how people turn up to Soul Food, everyone has the capacity to give, receive and follow together. There’s a consistency to it.

In doing so, whether we know it, or not, we’re modelling the relationship our Father has with us, and creating an environment to grow that relationship together. I know there are a number of team and guests who would recognise that in their own experience of Soul Food.

What’s one thing you would love to see God do in the next year?

Through exploration of God’s word, practice of spiritual disciplines, and application of both to cultural reflection, I want to see our trust grow in Jesus. As Soul Food moves out into the streets, prison cells, hospital wards and work places of Bristol by all 50 guests and team, for His Spirit to move into each one of us. This is a vision of Soul Food as more than just a Little Church active in social action, but a mature, little, Church.

If you know anyone who needs a meal and someone to talk to, Soul Food happens every Wednesday at 5pm at B&A Gloucester Road. Everyone is welcome.

If you’re looking for a Little Church and would like to find out more about Soul Food click here.