Eden has grown out of the work of JAC (Just Around the Corner) which works with young people and families.  In the summer of 2005 a young 16 year old boy was tragically drowned, he was a member of a family that JAC had supported for a number of years.  He was well known and liked by many across Woodley and beyond and his death was difficult to come to terms with especially for his family and friends.  In response to this the JAC team set up the JAC van in Ashenbury Park on Sunday evenings as a place where people could come and ask the difficult questions and talk about their grief.

The aim of the session was different from other sessions that JAC ran and young people attended regularly and found comfort in talking about spiritual matters. It soon became known as “church” or “Holy Hour” and then “JAC Church”.  As the session became more established it was obvious that it was meeting a real need among those who didn’t feel they could fit in to ‘church’, and should be set up in a more formal way with it’s own vision and values, leadership team and a new name “eden”!