Fran

Fran is the leader of the Restore Peckham church community

‘Pecan is a real gift to the local church.’

Fran Beckett knows a thing or two about church and community, having spent time as the CEO of the Shaftesbury Society (now Livability) and the Church Urban Fund. She’s also advised the government on community and voluntary sector issues.

Today Fran is the leader of Restore (Peckham), a church focused on sharing the love of God in practical ways, particularly with those on the margins.

Her role as a church leader brings her into regular contact with Pecan and she now chairs our local church advisory group. ‘We’re very spoilt to have something like Pecan in our area,’ she says. ‘They are a real gift to the local church.’

Fran believes strongly in the two-way partnership between organisations like Pecan and local churches. ‘Because Pecan works with individuals, they need to have links to local churches which they can refer people on to,’ she explains.

Fran also gets excited by the massive opportunity to resource individual churches. This is starting to happen through the Urban Mission Toolkit, a new 21 week course equipping and inspiring people for urban mission. Fran was involved in the Peckham launch, and was enthusiastic about seeing Christians of all ages and backgrounds, ‘wanting to see Peckham reached and lives touched.’

Fran is clear, Pecan has a key role to play in continuing to envision people about what can be achieved for God in Peckham.

Her own vision is to see a breaking down of barriers between communities. ‘It is quite fragmented,’ she says. ‘There isn’t ‘the community’, it is lots of different communities. Community is at the heart of the Godhead. I love to see people finding hope.’