Chillington

The largest church in the Westcountry has been set up in the small, South Hams village of Chillington.

With around 200 visitors a day, Christian Bible Church attracts one of the largest congregations in the country.

The church seeks to bring people together and gives them food for thought, sermons, and prayers to reflect and comment upon. The difference is, this church is found on the internet.

The website, www.christianbiblechurch.co.uk, is the innovative idea of Niall Walshe, who has more than 20 years experience of active Christian work.

Niall spent 10 years running a Christian homeless project in central London, providing accommodation and support for the young homeless, then spent another 10 years working in secondary schools with pupils with emotional and behavioural difficulties.

Throughout those 20 years he has been active as a preacher and Bible teacher around the UK and in a number of countries, including Russia, Sri Lanka, Romania and Zimbabwe.

Niall was also part of a mission that took aid to Romania and he developed a project to help an orphanage in Zimbabwe.

The latest official Census shows that 70 per cent of the population describe themselves as Christian, yet only 6.3 per cent of the population go to church.

Niall had some research carried out and found that the main reason people don’t go to church is that they are simply too busy.

There were other reasons such as a previous poor experience of church, no people of the same age in church or simply that church was thought to be boring.

By bringing church into people's homes all of those issues are addressed. The site can be accessed 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, in the privacy of a person's own home, and at a time that's convenient. This church has ever open doors. The website is for everyone - those who are already Christians, as well as those who may only be interested in learning a little more about Christianity and the Bible.

The site offers a daily audio "Thought for the Day", a weekly audio message, a weekly women's article and a weekly Bible study.

There is also a discussion forum as the aim is to enable people to discuss their views, bring their questions and express countering opinions whilst developing a sense of community on the website.

Other services include a facility whereby users can e-mail in for Bible-based advice on spiritual or any other matters, and an events calendar where individuals can find out what is going around the country and churches can freely advertise their own events.

Niall runs a Christian fellowship that meets in the South Hams and, amongst other Fellowship activities, he leads two services each month for the inmates of Dartmoor Prison.

Niall’s current work involves him in running a drop-in centre for teenagers, supporting young adults who are caught up in harmful life styles and without any family support, as well as working in conjunction with a local youth service project to support locally based, challenging secondary school pupils - and running the largest church in the South West.