A burnt-out church on a troubled estate would have caused many to flee from a ministry there. But to the Rev Andy Morris and his wife Jackie, Bestwood Estate is home. They told JENNIFER SCOTT about their hopes for the future.

THE thick-framed windows of St Philip's Church squint out on a tangle of wind-tousled weeds, graffiti-sprayed walls and boarded up shops.

This, say Andy and Jackie Morris, is home.

Rise Park, Bestwood Park, Top Valley and Bestwood Estate each have their own distinct flavour.

Some are leafy, with wide streets, each house possessing a handkerchief of garden. Others have reputations that go before them.

Such reputations, bestowed upon entire areas, are unjust and potentially damaging, insist Andy and Jackie.

Kids grow up tarred with the Bestwood Estate brush. One lad they know spent large swathes of his school life in exclusion units. Finally, he was diagnosed as dyslexic. He has just qualified from a college course.

"You wonder," mulls Andy, "if he'd always been labelled a trouble-maker because of where he came from."

The couple's heartfelt tolerance is all the more unexpected, given their experiences since they moved to Bestwood Estate five years ago.

Andy is, in fact, the Rev Andy – the vicar of two of the estates' churches – St Matthew's, in Bestwood Estate, and St Philip's, in Top Valley.

At least, he was. Last July, he woke up one Friday morning and unlocked the St Matthew's church door. They were planning a summer fete the next day. There was a lot to do.

Behind the door, however, devastation lay. The church had been gutted in an overnight arson attack that had caused £200,000 of damage.

It was still smouldering. Fortunately, for the couple, who live in the vicarage next door, the church was a modern building.

"If the church had been old and dusty, we would have gone up with it," Andy says.

St Matthew's still stands, a shell of a church. Its congregation has joined the worshippers at Andy's other church – St Philip's.

The idea is for a large-scale rebuild that will house both the congregations from Top Valley and Bestwood Estates. The church is due to start discussions with Nottingham City Council about potential sites. Somewhere on a main road would be nice. "We're still praying about what the future holds," says Andy.

If anyone can make this happen, it's Andy and Jackie. Jackie is sparkling-eyed, bursting with energy, a talker. She's always getting told off during church services for making noise. Andy is more contemplative.

They moved out to the estate in December 2004.

In their first five months, their home was burgled five times. They would find a burned-out car by the church every other week.

But it's been about 18 months since the last one. The imprisonment of Colin Gunn and the launch of Operation Kingdom – a Notts Police initiative to clean up the streets – have, they say, improved things immeasurably.

Tat said, their other church is a constant target for vandals. In the past seven months, there has been £8,000 of damage done.

"People find it hard to imagine we'd choose to come and work here, but it's brilliant," says Jackie.

Jackie was a district nurse. She strained her back lifting patients and was told she wouldn't walk again. Through sheer determination, she rid herself of her wheelchair.

Andy is a former factory manager at Courtaulds. His father was a fruit and veg merchant. He was ordained 16 years ago. Both he and his wife are Bulwell-born.

The Bestwood Park parish was like coming home.

And they've helped make the estate feel more like a home for others again.

Their services are informal, which has probably helped the two churches grow. The congregation – once 20 per church – has rocketed to 60.

During the week, the chairs are pushed back and St Philip's becomes a toddlers' group.

"The little ones get really confused when they come in on a Sunday," laughs Jackie. "They wonder where all their toys and the bouncy castle have gone."

Jackie likes to gather the community around her. She did it at St Matthew's, where she and Andy set up a youth group.

Sadly, the youth groups have had to stop since the fire. But the church flourishes in other ways. A course designed to interest people in faith attracts a small group aged from nine to 94.

Two recent weddings epitomise the resilient community spirit. The congregation helped raise money for two young couples so they could afford to tie the knot.

Jackie plans to build on this mood by opening a little "once-a-month pub" with darts and snooker. "There are so few pubs up here and it's hard for men to come to church," she says.

From one window in St Philip's, you can still see the boarded-up buildings and the weeds – if that's what you're looking for. But another is a bright, stained-glass riot of magenta, purple and turquoise. It makes the church a light, airy space: a place where you can sense the future.

"Technically, I still am a vicar of two churches," muses Andy. "But the future is together. We will be stronger that way."