Bishop Hugh visited St Stephen’s Church in Redditch on Ash Wednesday where they were hosting a ‘Lightbox’ drop in event for young people, followed by jacket potatoes for the community ahead of their Ash Wednesday service.
The Lightbox team open the church every Thursday after school with around 20 – 50 young people dropping in for hot chocolate, snacks and to play games as they walk past on their way home from school.
Jo Oates leads the Lightbox Team. She said: “There are three schools locally and many of the children walk home across the green on the edge of the town centre where the church is located. From April we had a pop-up tent outside of the church building with games on green, but since the October half term, we’ve come inside because of the weather.”
The young people are generally aged 11 to 18 and the church provides a range of activities for them to do, or if they’d rather, they can just sit and chill. Snacks and drinks are provided completely free of charge. On Ash Wednesday there was the chance for the young people to have a go at screen printing a phrase onto a hoodie or t-shirt.
Josh, aged 18, began coming to the drop in when he attended a local school and still tries to come along. He said: “I came for the free hot chocolate, but it’s a really good community atmosphere and I feel comfortable just dropping in by myself.”
Volunteer Abigail said: “It is nice to get to know the young people in Redditch. There is a lovely atmosphere when they’re all here. Many enjoy being creative, others just want to sit and chat while others play games together.”
On Ash Wednesday, between the afternoon drop in and an evening service, the church encouraged people to come into church for a jacket potato with different toppings.
Churchwarden Rhiannon Walpole said: “We wanted to offer something for the local community, particularly a number of homeless people who are often around the area of the church. It’s important to show we are open and people are welcome to come in. Providing a simple meal of jacket potatoes is a good way of doing that.”
31 adults and 9 children then stayed for the church’s Ash Wednesday service at the end of which the church prayed for Bishop Hugh and his ministry before the bishop gave the final blessing.
See more photos from the afternoon on our Facebook page:
