A skiing ministry in a village in the Swiss Alps is continuing to grow after almost 40 years, having developed from a small chaplaincy programme into a thriving church.
Verbier, a small village 1,500 metres above sea-level with a population of about 3,000 permanent residents, is a top ski and summer resort which hosts many English-speaking residents and holidaymakers, in which a small-scale winter chaplaincy programme was formed in 1986.
The venture has grown substantially since then, surely beyond the imagination of founders Leslie Ratcliffe and Sandy Millar, with the programme taken over first by David Steele and then re-established as the English-Speaking Church (ESC), Verbier in 2009 by Andrew Baines and the late Tim Mullins. Over 50 people now attend the church, following 15 years of steady growth.
In 2012, Baines and Mullins also launched Christian Outreach in the Alps (CORA), a UK charity which would provide oversight for the ESC, as well as administration of the chaplains coming out from the UK on a fortnightly rotation.
The following decade saw more growth for the church as more Christians moved to the area and its profile and range of activities continued to increase, aided by a new website and greater publicity.
Even Covid presented them with opportunities, with worldwide audiences tuning into their online services during lockdown. In 2022, the church found itself in the unique position of being officially recognised as an independent Swiss church legally linked to CORA. It remains well regarded by the resort, and partners with many English-speaking initiatives.
The ESC’s most prominent moment in the spotlight may have come last year, when Edward Courage, a church committee member for most of the last decade, praised God for his life after surviving a helicopter crash which killed three others in the Alps. He was rescued after being stranded on a ledge in a crevasse for five hours, after falling 500 metres down a slope in an avalanche.
Following a 15-year stint at the helm of the work of ESC and CORA, Baines stepped down as chairman of ESC last year, to be replaced by the Revd Will Pearson-Gee, and was also replaced as CORA director by Dr Mark Houghton.
Baines said of his time leading ESC Verbier: “It is hard to put into words how richly blessed I and my good friends on the church committee have been over the past 15 years. Amongst us, there has been a constant call on many of Paul’s fruit of the Spirit, particularly peace, patience and faithfulness: peace as we have worked as a team and grown into new responsibilities; patience when we felt our plans were not going as fast as we wanted; and faithfulness to God that, step by step, we were honouring Him, trusting Him and working towards His will for Verbier.”
