St Nicholas Church, which lies on the corner of Baldwin Street and High Street, opened its doors to a new congregation in the autumn 2018.
As a Resourcing church, its focus is to serve the wider city, by reaching out to people currently unconnected to the Church and by assisting future church plants. With 60 per cent of people in the city centre aged between 15 and 29, the new church's particular focus is on younger generations.
The team at St Nicholas is led Revd Toby Flint, who previously was the Lead Pastor at Holy Trinity Brompton in London.
As well as focusing on exploring the three priorities laid out by the Diocese of Bristol in its vision making disciples, growing leaders and engaging younger generations St Nicholas partners with other churches and organisations involved in social action as it plays its part in tackling homelessness, food poverty and youth unemployment.
Rt Revd Dr Lee Rayfield, acting Diocesan Bishop, said: As Bristol becomes younger and more diverse, we want to make an impact on the city.
We are excited about how St Nicholas will grow the Church and bring about social transformation.
This is one way in which we will be developing our commitment to making more disciples, engaging younger generations and connecting with our communities in our changing city.
Toby worked in youth and adult education in London and France before training for ordination in Oxford.
He served his curacy at Holy Trinity Brompton, where he has continued in an associate role for the last six years. He was previously Lead Pastor with responsibility for Alpha and Sunday services.
St Nicholas closed as a church following bomb damage during the Second World War. It was leased to Bristol City Council and was rebuilt as a museum telling the story of Bristol and making reference to the church setting. A central feature of the church is a large altar triptych piece by William Hogarth originally commissioned for St Mary Redcliffe and subsequently bequeathed to the city.
Since the museum closed, the Council has used the space for firstly the Tourist Information Centre and then latterly offices. An agreement has been reached to continue to house the painting in the church when it reopens with allocated days when it will be made visible for the public to see.
