Story and Vision | Our Team | Safeguarding
Serving this beautiful Cornish community and sharing Jesus here and beyond.
Serving this beautiful Cornish community and sharing Jesus here and beyond.
Story and Vision
Breathe Communities began in 2015 when Murray and Karen Golder moved down to Penzance from Derby sensing that God wanted them to do something that was a deliberately different way to seek him and encounter him.
This was partly born out of necessity as they have a child with special needs who finds traditional church a very hard way to get close to God.
Murray and Karen worked with different groups in different places, organised different events and met with various groups and individuals until in mid-2017 when they were approached about a using shop unit in the Wharfside Centre in the centre of Penzance.
For the next 4 years Breathe Community worked out of the Wharfside but were left without a shop towards the end of 2021. Since then, Murray and Karen have been working alongside City Life Church in Truro and are pioneering in another area of the South West.
Breathe Communities was set up so that other communities in the South West can work in partnership with them, which is where Breath Communities: Porthleven joins in the fun.
Breathe Communities is a CIO and a registered charity with the charity no: 1181656.
Our Team
BCP (Breathe Communities: Porthleven) is in its very early stages of forming its community. It started with Cath, and we are hoping to add to the team and draw in others as the community grows and develops.
Cath grew up in Hertfordshire and only really found faith in her late teens. Having attended church from birth until the age of 13, she didn’t realise that it was about a relationship with God rather than simply attending church. When she did and she made that connection with God, everything changed.In 1994 Cath studied at bible college and was awarded a BA hons degree in Applied Theology, specialising in Cross Cultural Mission.
She then joined the staff and Leadership Team of Sutton Coldfield Baptist Church, in the Midlands.
After 23 years of serving at there, Cath felt the call to move to Porthleven to look to serve the community and share Jesus with them.
For her first 2 years, Cath has been integrating into the community, praying, prayer walking and getting a sense of what is going on in the community, what the needs are and what God wants to do.
She is currently a Councillor for Porthleven Town Council, the Secretary of The Porthleven Food Festival Committee, part of the Porthleven Public Hall Committee, heads up and is part of the Festival Angels Team who serve at the Porthleven Food Festival, a qualified cricket umpire who has been standing throughout the summer and is part of the Porthleven Town Band Community Brass Brand.
She loves Porthleven and can often be seen walking her two dogs around the village.
Safeguarding
At Breathe Communities Porthleven, we are committed to creating safe, welcoming and inclusive spaces where everyone is valued, respected and protected.
Our ministry often looks a little different from traditional church. It takes place in cafés, homes, community venues, public spaces and online, and through activities, partnerships and relationships across the community. This relational approach is at the heart of pioneer ministry, but informality does not lessen our responsibility for safeguarding.
Our safeguarding framework complements the Baptist Union of Great Britain Model Safeguarding Policy for Churches and helps us apply good safeguarding practice specifically within a pioneer and missional context.
We recognise that relationships, friendship, pastoral care and ministry can sometimes overlap, particularly when living and serving within the same community. We therefore seek to maintain appropriate boundaries, openness and accountability in everything we do.
Our safeguarding arrangements include:
- a clear Safeguarding Statement and Code of Behaviour
- procedures for lone working
- risk assessments for pioneer ministry and community activities
- guidance for online meetings, gatherings and services
- procedures for recording and responding to safeguarding concerns and incidents
- appropriate public liability insurance.
Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility, and we want people involved with Breathe Communities Porthleven to feel safe, listened to and confident that any concerns will be taken seriously and responded to appropriately.
If you have a safeguarding concern, would like to know more about our safeguarding arrangements, or would like a copy of our safeguarding information, please contact us.
