Finding God in the Jungle

November 2025

Imagine an indoor shopping centre: it could be in any city. A man in hi-vis eats a pasty from a paper bag. Musak oozes from a charity shop doorway. A cleaning trolley prowls already-clean floor tiles under a glass-and-girder roof. There's one of those massage chairs you see in motorway service stations but never see anyone use.

I'm on my way to visit a community project called "The Jungle" and for a moment this doesn’t feel like the place to find it. But as roller shutters rise, like the morning sun, upon a double-width retail unit, here are huge plants, hanging creepers, artificial grass, murals. A frontage that beckons me into another world.

As first impressions go, this is a belter. I really wasn't expecting it to be quite so... JUNGLEY.

Over a coffee, under the benign gaze of a lion portrait, I learn that the jungle theme derives from Biblical metaphors of the garden, creating beauty from disorder. The lion is Aslan, and sitting with me is Micah, who painted it.

Micah Hayns, Lola Chapman and Phil Chapman – my hosts today – radiate that special blend of charismatic calm and catalysing energy. Lola tells how, resting under a tree during a prayer walk, she took the bold decision to quit her previous job. A collaboration with creative artist Micah ensued; The Jungle was born and Oxford premises found; and more recently husband Phil migrated from Wycliffe Hall to join the staff line-up.

The team, and the whole Jungle community they've created around them, reflects that family feel. "Community is essential: it's when people come together and build healthy relationships, then they are empowered", says Lola. "You also can't just 'bolt God on'. Jesus is holistic in His approach to people in the gospels.  We're looking at the physical, emotional, social AND spiritual needs of the whole person, the whole family, the whole community."

While we've been talking, the infants’ musical story-time has dispersed and a series of young men has drifted in. They're members of the Men's Prayer Group, and they’re here to hang out with darts, pool and each other.

Many are ex-addicts or ex-offenders; some are currently going with Phil to a local Alpha course - there's even been a recent baptism. It's work that requires “a head of granite", as Phil puts it, “to take people as you find them and give no judgement. To hold a safe space in which they can be totally open and vulnerable.”

“Our holistic approach means we support the whole person first, and only then – softly, softly – through relationship and walking alongside people, doing ‘life’ together, then the message of Jesus is clear through our actions, our love. We keep the Gospel very simple.”

Softly, softly it may be, but it’s truly transformative. One of the Jungle regulars here today is a gifted poet and rap artist – and his powerful impromptu performance tells of a challenging background and subsequent journey to faith. Moved to the edge of tears, I ask him how long his piece took to write. "Two hours, plus a whole lifetime before", his candid reply.

I feel like I could linger all day. But warm welcomes like this one are not to be out-stayed. A convivial community Teatime is now in full swing, and among the chattering throng a woman is playing a harp. As I make my way back through the undergrowth, brimming with inspiration, a whole gang of folk whom I've never met before warmly waves me off.

EW 2025