The Muddy Boots Rural Mission area covers 26 churches and 156 square miles. The area has a number of ministers and three stipendiary incumbents – Sallie Butcher, Julia Curtis and David Morris, who work closely together to support each other.
St John’s church in Halesowen is looking at ways they can build stronger links with and better serve their local community. This week they have launched a post exam calm space for year 11s about to embark on their GCSEs.
Churches across the diocese baptised new people into the faith on Easter Day.
The Lightbox team braved the rain on Good Friday to offer activities as well as free food and drink to young people in Worcester City Centre.
Last month St Peter’s in Bengeworth opened a Community Café inside the church called ‘The Point’. The café opens every Tuesday morning and aims to be a welcoming space for those who might not have been in the church before.
Two new starters will shortly be joining our diocesan Transformation support hub. Sharon Boardman will be joining us as Transformation Project Manager, and Fiona Edlington as Parish, HR and Recruitment Adviser.
St John’s Greenlands in Redditch has a thriving New Worshipping Community for families and children called ‘Activity Church’ which runs at the same time as their traditional Sunday morning service, in the adjacent church hall.
The churches of St Stephen, St George and Claines in Worcester came together on Mothering Sunday for their first joint service, which also included the commissioning of their new Children, Youth and Families’ Minister, Heather Murphy.
An independent review of the Mission Accompaniers scheme has found that it effectively prepared churches for mission.
A learning community has been launched for Renewal and Resourcing Church leaders to support each other as they journey together on their missions to revitalise existing churches and grow the Kingdom.
Matt Cook is the Children and Youth worker for Harvington Youth Project and has been in post seven months. St James the Great is part of the ARCH benefice and has a small congregation on Sundays, however they work together with the Baptist church as the steering group for Harvington’s thriving youth project.
Bishop Martin visited the church of St Peter and St Paul in Rock on Sunday to celebrate the creation of the Muddy Boots Mission Area. As part of the service, people from across the 26 churches in the area committed to praying and working together.
Last Sunday, a new 75” TV screen was installed at St Peter’s Church in Martley, made possible thanks to a grant from the Kingdom People Fund.
Today, on Ash Wednesday, following a service to mark the start of Lent and the giving of Ashes at Church of the Ascension in Wall Heath, Mission Priest Sarah Roberts-Malpass and Curate Chris Smith, visited the nearby high street to offer ‘Ashes to go’ to passersby.
As more children, youth and families’ workers have been recruited in the diocese over the last few years, the diocesan Programme Lead for Children and Young People, Simon Hill, has created a Children, Youth and Families Ministry Network for paid workers.
Sarah Roberts-Malpass has been licensed as the Anglo-Catholic Mission Priest for Kingswinford and Wall Heath, one of our renewal parishes. Her role is funded by the national church and will be very outward focussed, taking the church into the local community.
A diocesan service entitled ‘A Coat of Many Colours’ was held for Racial Justice Sunday on 9 February, at St Anne’s Church in Bewdley. The service was planned by members of the Diocese of Worcester Racial Justice Forum.
On the last Saturday in January, teams from churches who are part of the Myriad learning community, and are hosting and developing New Worshipping Communities, met together for the next session. This group first met this time last year.
A new guide to New Worshipping Communities (NWCs) in the Diocese has been launched. It will support parishes who are looking to find creative ways of reaching people beyond our existing congregations as we look to reach our target of creating 100 NWCs by 2030.
Claire Biggs started as New Worshipping Communities (NWC) Co-ordinator at St John’s in Halesowen in November 2024. This appointment will assist with our diocesan priority to create 100 New Worshipping Communities by 2030.
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13th May 2025