Charles Hindley and Anita Mansell are both based at Holy Trinity Old Hill and work closely together part-time on children, family and youth ministry. Charles has been working there eight years, backed by a fantastic team of volunteers, of which Anita was originally one. Anita swapped to a paid role seven months ago and is funded through the renewal project by the national church, focusing on families, schools and primary aged children.
Anita and Charles have a real passion for their ministry. They found faith for themselves at an early age and are both parents and have teaching backgrounds. As a child Anita had a curiosity for church that her parents didn’t share, so she went on her own. “You could do that then!” she laughs. Anita speaks highly of her Sunday school teachers - just how fun and interesting they made church and how loved she felt there.
Anita’s first job with the police made regular church attendance tricky, but once she’d left, it was the fond memories of church that bought her back in her thirties. She had her two sons baptised at Holy Trinity Old Hill and has been a member of the congregation ever since! She says: “The ladies that ran the toddler group were just so kind and caring. I felt I’d come home!” Later Anita worked as a verger at our cathedral and was always heavily involved in children and youth work as a volunteer at Holy Trinity, before applying for the part-time paid role.
Anita describes Holy Trinity as a ‘caring and nurturing’ church and with her role also funded by the renewal project, she has taken responsibility for forging stronger links with their community, and with nearby schools and families. While engagement is already at a good level with a core of forty children and young people, Anita’s role is to enhance what Charles has been doing, all backed by a fantastic team of volunteers they are both very grateful to.
Anita has instigated an idea from the church's Mission plan, introducing ‘Pop-up Cuppa’ from a gazebo in their carpark on Thursdays mornings. Anita said:
“It’s about being available. I talk to a lot of parents whose children attend the school opposite, but I also chat with people just cutting through. It’s a great way to signpost people to activities within the church and that has boosted attendance.”
Anita helped organise Holy Trinity’s first Light Party in October, celebrating Jesus as the light of the world, as an alternative to Halloween. Encouragingly this was really popular with 43 children attending. The next event Anita is planning is ‘Experience Easter’ outside, further engaging local school children. Anita is also exploring introducing a more bespoke family service soon.
Charles has been running a youth group called ‘Explore’ since he started eight years ago, though numbers have undulated as young people have grown up and left for Uni, so led by the Spirit, the format has changed over the years. “We always teach Jesus though” Charles says. Currently it is for young people in school years 7 – 13 and happens on Thursday nights for 1.5 hours.
Charles has been very encouraged that this group of young people have felt comfortable enough to invite their non-church going friends and it has seen significant growth as a result.
Anita and Charles run Youth Alpha periodically, inviting this group along, and have found it to be very fruitful. Anita said: “Last time we had 22 young people start. They all had brilliant questions. Many of them found faith and have gone on to do some fantastic things!”
One of their other greatest successes working together has been a monthly prayer initiative they started called ‘church family prayer’. They have two groups running simultaneously. In one room people meet to pray together in a traditional way. While the other room is aimed at families and children. They use visual aids when praying for certain countries, and double-sided prayer prompts with a full written prayer on one side and suggestions of who they might pray for on the other.
Charles said:
“It’s lovely to see children and young people who were originally just reading out the prayers, now using the prayer points, growing in confidence and developing their skills in praying.”
Charles and Anita are keen to share their learning with other churches and have recently joined a new initiative called the Greater Dudley Youth and Strategy team, along with other paid workers in the area. The aim is to walk alongside and advise volunteers at other nearby churches looking to engage children, young people and families.
Anita said:
“It’s a really great thing to be a part of. Through it we can support children, families and young people ministry across the whole deanery and hopefully bring more young people to Jesus. That feels like a really worthwhile cause!”
