The Worcestershire West Rural team kicked off #Recognise week a day early yesterday with a special All Age service to thank those who working with children and families across the patch.
St Thomas church in Stourbridge are set to run a school uniform bank this summer which will be bigger than ever, expanding across Lye and Tipton. This will help more families in Dudley and Smethwick by providing them with free pre-loved school uniform.
Recently, the sound of Halesowen’s bells carried more than just music across the town – they carried 250 years of history.
A 199-year-old trowel that was used to lay the foundation stone at St Andrew’s Church in Netherton, has been returned to the church as a £1.7m restoration campaign gets under way.
St John’s church in Halesowen recently launched a new worshipping community in partnership with a local charity called Halas Homes, to make church more accessible for their service users; vulnerable adults with disabilities and learning difficulties.
Severnside parishes have thriving youth and families ministries led by Associate Minister for children, youth and families, Libbirty Webber. Their toddler groups ‘Stepping Stones’ and ‘Severnside Youth’ for teenagers are doing especially well, seeing fantastic growth in the last few years.
This weekend saw the licensing of James Ellin as Team Vicar and Renewal Lead in the Saltway Team at St Andrew's Church in Droitwich.
One of the key elements of our renewal churches is that they will resource other local churches. St Stephen’s Church in Redditch did that when they decided to return the funding allocated to them by the national church to improve their building. This generosity will enable other renewal churches to complete their own building works.
Diane Cooksey has been Renewal Leader of All Saints' church in Sedgley for a year now. There is a sense of excitement as All Saints is already growing, bringing more people to faith and making bold steps to becoming a truly intergenerational congregation.
St John Halesowen’s first iSingPop Worship ‘PopUp Church’ launched last week, at Halesowen CE Primary, aiming to engage local families and help bring church and school together as one community.
Clergy and Church leaders across our diocese are invited to get involved in the national #RECOGNISE campaign week from 6 -12 July to thank and celebrate your paid and voluntary children, youth and family (CYF) workers.
A unique recycling initiative is being launched at St Stephen’s Church in Redditch which will give its Victorian pews a new lease of life in community settings.
Last week Bishop Hugh met with our diocesan network of paid Children and Young People Ministers to listen to and encourage them.
Families@4 is a new worshipping community at St Peter’s Church in Ipsley. Throughout 2026, they decided to theme their programme around learning about God’s creation and have created a garden in which the children and their families are growing vegetables and flowers.
Peter Carmody-Heaton is a pioneer priest who has been working in a new role as a Community Missioner primarily for The Forge Group, to help bring people to faith.
Saltmine Theatre company delivered interactive performances to pupils at five schools in diocese of Worcester last week to help bring the bible to life and make it fun, memorable and accessible to the primary aged children.
Steve Hollinghurst, our diocesan New Worshipping Communities Lead, is inviting churches looking to start or grow New Worshipping Communities (NWCs) to join the national C of E initiative called ‘Greenhouse’. Churches joining Greenhouse have the freedom to choose what resources and support will be most helpful.
Around 300 bibles and Easter Eggs were given out to people in Redditch at the Redditch Mission Area ‘Easter Blessings Hub’.
One of our Kidderminster benefices has recently launched a new website. They are very pleased with their new site, finding it easy to update and maintain. The website uses the HUBB Church platform and was created by editing pre-populated templates.
The Healthier Churches Fund was created using money which has been freed up from investments alongside some Lowest Income Communities funding from the National Church. Parishes can apply for funding for projects to help make a difference in reaching out in their community and bring more people to faith.
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13th July 2026