BOXING classes are hitting the spot for many who attend them at St David’s, Exeter, and are described by the Bishop, Dr Mike Harrison, as “a beacon of hope for town”.
The Fitter for Faith classes offer hope for people living with addiction, homelessness, and other challenges. The initiative is run by Ben Cookson, a professional boxing-for-fitness coach, who’s a former drug addict with experience of homelessness. Each weekly session is followed by a shared lunch, a well-being check-in, and a time of prayer.
“I teach proper boxing skills, and we turn it right into a fitness session,” Mr Cookson says. “The basic movement is actually good. There’s no level you’ve got to get to. We’ve got someone in a wheelchair, we’ve got someone who’s visually impaired, we’ve got a 74-year old. It’s open to everyone.”
Mr Cookson begins training as a Church Army evangelist within the autumn. He became a Christian, he says, after being invited to church by a friend and attending an Alpha course. “If I used to be to say to someone, ‘Would you want to come back to church and speak about your childhood trauma?’ they might say, ‘No thanks.’ But generally, once I’ve said to people, ‘Would you want to come back and learn some boxing skills?’ they are saying, ‘Yeah, I’ve all the time wanted to do this.’
“It’s a option to connect and for me to hold a message of God’s goodness and to freely give what was freely given to me.”
Jake, who attends the classes, credits Mr Cookson with “seeing something in me that no person else did”, and describes the sessions as “helping me get out of my comfort zone, and be more compassionate to others. It’s also helped me to remain clean from alcohol and medicines.”
Dr Harrison concludes: “It is an ideal example of a Christian outreach project, providing healing, growth, belonging, and community, in addition to offering people a chance to experience a God who loves them and meets them where they’re.”
