Former Corporate HR Manager, Grace Wigglesworth, has been Operations Manager for Kingswinford parish for just over a year and her work is already making a difference to the whole Kingswinford community about which she is so passionate.
The Revd Steve Hollinghurst has been appointed as our New Worshipping Communities Lead. Steve is joining our Transformation Support Hub team, which is funded by the national church, replacing Kim Brown.
St Catherine’s CE school and St Barnabas Church in Kidderminster have achieved a silver Church and School Partnership Award. Accompanied by representatives from the church, school and Diocese, Bishop Martin and Archdeacon Mark Badger, attended a special school assembly to present this joint award.
It has been just over a year since Fraser Oates was installed as the Renewal Church Leader at St Stephen’s Church in Redditch. The church has received funding as part of our renewal programme and the team are already seeing new people encountering God and growing in faith.
Former CE primary school teacher Louise Hicklin recently started as Children and Families’ Worker at St John the Baptist Church in Halesowen. Thanks to this appointment and the installation of new toilets, St John’s Church have been able to launch their first Messy Church.
At All Saints church in Sedgley on Sunday 21st September, Giles Joiner was installed as Team Vicar in the benefice of Gornal and Sedgley by Bishop Anne Hollinghurst. It was a joyful service, designed to offer a warm welcome to Giles and his family.
The Chase team in Malvern have given away hundreds of ‘Easy to Read’ Bibles in their communities so far this year, to raise awareness of God’s message and the hope that Jesus brings.
Each September, the churches in the Halas Team in Halesowen come together for ‘HalasFest’, a joint service which celebrates the whole team and all they are doing in their communities. This year they were joined by Bishop Martin who was able to dedicate a set of new toilets which have recently been built inside the church.
Our Diocesan Stewardship team are running training courses this autumn for PCCs and churches on how to run a legacy campaign. While it can feel a tricky subject to broach it is vitally important when legacies can make such a difference to churches and the communities they serve.
A number of our churches have applied to the Kingdom People Fund for a grant to replace their external church noticeboards. Here are a few pointers on how to make your church noticeboard as effective as possible.
St John’s Church stepped in to host the Halesowen Uniform Exchange during the school holidays, after the usual venue had become unavailable at short notice.
On the morning of Thursday 21 August St Johns church in Halesowen hosted a special session of what has come to be known as 'Donut Club' to support local year 11s who were collecting their GSCE results.
ITV Central News visited All Saints Worcester's 6pm service on Sunday 17th August to interview young members of the congregation and Rev Rich Johnson about 'The Quiet Revival', that is the research data that shows that more young adults are coming to church!
In this short film Paul Wilcox from West Worcester Beacon Benefice shares how their three New Worshipping Communities have led to the growth of their main congregation at Hallow.
Church run charity Community Link on Cradley Heath high street run a Uniform Bank in the school summer holidays where they give out second-hand school uniform for free. The charity report hundreds of families now use the service.
Children, Young People and Families Minister Debra Hill and her volunteers have engaged new families through 'Story Time with the classics' at Whittington Church in the school summer holidays.
Churches across the UK are invited to celebrate Disability Awareness Sunday on 28 September 2025 by the Christian Disability charity ‘Through the Roof’ who are offering free resources via their website.
During the first week of August, Kingswinford parish hosted an exciting iSingPOP holiday club at St Mary’s Church featuring iSingPops catchy worship tunes and dance moves. The club proved hugely popular, with attendance peaking at 53 children.
Since launching as a renewal church, the congregation at St Stephen’s Church in Redditch has already doubled in size and some of the funding they have received from the national church is being used to build a core team which will help support continued growth.
Sue Harding is a baptism rep at St John’s Church in Halesowen, one of our renewal projects. She recently accompanied Team Rector, Hazel Charlton on a baptism visit to a family who had recently arrived from Iran and has supported the Mum in her request to be baptised at the church.
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17th October 2025