This weekend will see 300 people congregating in Derbyshire for the Worcester Diocesan Assembly.  Clergy and lay people will be arriving at the Swanwick Conference Centre for a weekend of faith, fellowship and fun.  The Assembly is about celebrating and deepening the Diocese’s identity as the Anglican Church in Worcestershire and Dudley.  The last Assembly was in 2002.

Exciting and challenging speakers are lined up to help people to think together about what it means to be the Church in this generation. The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, will run a question time session, and The Bishop of Rhode Island in the USA, Geralyn Wolf, will be one of three speakers helping to lead discussions throughout the weekend. She will outline her thoughts on what makes a 'healthy' church and what congregations in Worcestershire and Dudley can learn from her own experiences of churches in the United States. Churchgoers from around the diocese will then gather together in groups to take these ideas further, focusing in particular on six themes of crucial importance to churches today: worship God, rid the world of poverty, share the gospel, build inclusive communities, bring people to faith and care for the earth.

Canon Mel Smith, who has been part of the Assembly planning group said, ‘The Assembly is a chance for the whole diocese to get together and reflect, refresh and worship as a united body.  I know that a lot of exciting ideas and firm friendships will come from it.’ 

As there will be a number of clergy away this weekend, this Sunday, Stourbridge Deanery is offering a united service at Pedmore Cricket Club.  Andrew Hazlewood, Rural Dean of Stourbridge said: "It is exciting that the main morning service of churches all over the Deanery will be taking place not in their parish church, but with Christians from the other churches in Stourbridge on Pedmore cricket pitch at 11am. It should be a great time of unity and fellowship in the Deanery - and with the Diocese, as it coincides with the last day of the Diocesan Assembly in Swanwick."

The Programme for the day is; 11.00 am  United Service of Holy Communion for all ages - 12.30 there will be a Picnic lunch and at 1.30 pm a rounders match will begin, or a choice of two walks. The day will finish with a cream tea at 3.30 pm.  All are welcome.

If you want to find out more about the Diocesan Assembly or use the Sunday service written especially for this weekend, please go to:

www.cofe-worcester.org.uk

ENDS

The Diocese of Worcester is one of 44 dioceses in the Church of England. It covers an area of 671 square miles and includes parishes in the County of Worcestershire, the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, and a few parishes in northern Gloucestershire, south east Wolverhampton and Sandwell.