The Hub Church – creating a home for everyone
For many single people, finding genuine friendship and connection can sometimes feel difficult. We spoke to The Hub Church in Hitchin about their vision to be a radically loving compassionate community where anyone can find a home.
The Hub Church Hitchin was born in 2011 when a small group had the vision of creating a safe space where people could invite their friends to meet with God. A place where, whatever has gone on in someone's life, they can come, ask questions and make new friends. As the church has grown in number, they have continued to build a community with a genuine sense of belonging – and one that welcomes single people at every stage of life.
The Hub Church is intentionally structured in a way that’s easy for new people to join and find opportunities to go deeper. They run two gatherings on a Sunday: one in the morning that starts with brunch and coffee, to create community right from the start of the service, and one in the afternoon where there is space to discuss and explore faith followed by a trip to the pub.
Their intentional community extends beyond Sunday mornings into welcoming mid-week “MiniHubs” where people can share life and find true friendships. These groups are led by ordinary people who may not have instantly thought of themselves as leaders.
“We decided that small groups that always meet over years and years can get cliquey, they can become quite coupley, and actually one of the things we wanted to do was not model and copy that at all. So we’ve designed these minihubs that are based around an activity, a course, a group or maybe a new skill, that gather on a termly rotation... People can come along, meet some new people, and it means there’s always opportunity when someone comes to church as a single person, to invite them to a group of people that are gathering to do something that’s a shared interest... this encourages conversation but it also means that people have an opportunity to meet other people who are interested the same things as them, regardless of their relationship status or where they’re at in life.”
Connection happens in plenty of other ways too—from social events to a popular and friendly football club, where anyone can turn up on their own and get involved.
One of the church’s regular attendees shares how he has been personally blessed by the community: “The Hub Church is really open and I found it easy to connect with great people. As a single guy, I have found real friends that feel like family.”
The church became a Single Friendly Church back in 2023 after working through our 5 Steps Audit. Assistant Pastor Dave shares "It was a really good, valuable opportunity for us to reflect on the language we’re using. And to think about what it is that we’re doing specifically to welcome, include and celebrate the single people in our church community.”
Since doing the audit The Hub have been really aware of their use of language
“We’ve thought about how we use certain words such as “family” and “gathering” and “home”. We know those words have different connotations for different people with different experiences. We’ve really tried hard to avoid using words that are provocative or invoke something that may be different to different people. So we now don’t refer to “family time” and we talk about our gathering together as a community”
They’ve also gone above and beyond to ensure that each person at the church is seen as an individual – not defined by their relationship status. For example - when thank you cards are sent to volunteers they are sent to each person individually rather than to couples.
That is what makes The Hub Church inspiring. Whether you arrive with friends or walk through the door on your own, there is space to connect, belong and discover community.
