Bishop John writes: From July we are launching a dedicated period of prayer that our diocese will grow both spiritually and numerically over the coming years. Two prayers have been…
From July we are launching a dedicated period of prayer that our diocese will grow both spiritually and numerically over the coming years. Two prayers have been specially written and we hope that everyone will use these regularly as we pray that more people will come to know the love of Jesus and join us in worship.
We will be launching this period of prayer with a pilgrimage around Worcester Cathedral from 2pm on Wednesday 5 July. This will be a chance to pray for our parishes, schools and all those already part of our diocese as well as for those who are not yet our members. All are welcome to join us for this. If you’re not able to make it, Bishop Martin will be making a prayer pilgrimage around our deaneries at the start of August or you might wish to use the prayer and liturgy available to hold your own event. Dave Shaw, Worship Director at Top Church in Dudley is also composing a special worship song which will be available for parishes to use.
By 2030 we pray that we shall have healthy and sustainable churches which are resourced and encouraged to worship God, make disciples, share hope, and transform their communities. We hope to have double the number of children and young people in our churches, at least 100 new worshipping communities and congregations of 150 people in each major area of population. None of this will happen without prayer – please join us in this!
At the recent Clergy Conference, the diocesan stewardship team launched a Boomerang offering, to help activate generosity across the Diocese. Each person was given a £5 note to take home, pray with and see what act of generosity God was calling them towards. We also asked them to share their stories of how the money was used.
Many of our churches hosted ‘light parties’ at the end of October as a popular alternative to Halloween. Some of our renewal churches hosted the biggest celebrations.
Our diocese has been awarded £3.6 million to continue to support churches as part of phase two of our programme to ensure our churches are healthy and sustainable for the future.
Kelly Gordon is a member of Wordsley Parish in Greater Dudley Deanery. She has recently been selected as one of only three people in the UK to be part of the Leaders Europe programme within the Obama Foundation.
St Peter’s CE Academy and St Peter’s Church in the Saltway Team have been awarded a silver Church and School Partnership Award recognising the close relationship between the church, school and local community.
This year’s Church of England Advent and Christmas theme focuses on the first and greatest Christmas gift of all: the gift of God being born as one of us in Jesus Christ.
An article from Archdeacon Mark for December editions of parish magazines.
The Muslim-Christian dialogue group in Lye, Stourbridge, arranged a litter pick on 31 October to clear up two local streets.
A new singing group for children will launch at St Peter’s Centre at Pedmore Church on 15 November, 10 years after Singing Angels originally began at St Andrew’s Church on the Straits.
Bishop Hugh visited Cropthorne with Charlton C of E First School on 3 November to share in their collective worship and meet with the children.
