People from churches across the Diocese gathered together in the Cathedral to celebrate the life of our smaller churches.
Churches with 20 or fewer active members make up 45% of our churches and play an important role in their communities.
The service of celebration was led by our Dean of Smaller Churches, Alison Maddocks, who retires at the end of the month, and included a choir made up of 60 people from lots of different churches.
Those gathered were welcomed to the service by the Dean, Stephen Edwards who said: “A church is a church, whether large or small, each is part of the body of Christ. Thanks be to God for the ministry of smaller churches in the Diocese of Worcester.”
Everyone attending was asked to write on a luggage tag what they most want to celebrate about their smaller church and these were hung on a wooden tree of celebration. The most common responses referenced ‘community’ and ‘fellowship’.
During the service, aspects of the life of smaller churches were celebrated through the presentation of different objects, which were received by Bishop Martin. This included a performance by the choir of an anthem which had been specifically composed for the Muddy Boots Mission Area, a posy of sustainable flowers, the first Church and School Partnership award recently awarded to Eldersfield and items representing youth and children’s work.
On receiving these items, Bishop Martin said: “These are wonderful gifts coming out of our smaller churches and examples of a life with God which is growing. Those who are part of our smaller churches are enabling the wonderful stories in stone to carry on being at the heart of their communities and we give thanks to God for that.”
Alison Maddocks preached during the service saying: “We are part of a story of all people in all times and it’s God who is in charge, not us. We are people of hope and that hope set before us is an absolute promise, even when we don’t see it. Smaller churches are part of a network that keeps hope alive, part of one church which has beauty in its diversity. We are one church with many rooms that are used in different ways for different purposes – each local church is part of a glorious whole. We don’t all need to be the same, but we do all need to be one, and we need to work together to enable each of us to flourish. We also need to trust in God – we are where we are now with God, and we must let God show us his purpose.”
Those present were all given a gift of a chocolate, seeds and a bible verse as a reminder that even though they are part of a smaller church, we are all connected to a worldwide family of brothers and sisters which stretches both forward and back in time. At the end of the service Alison was presented with flowers as Bishop Martin thanked her for her work championing local churches and showing how powerful they can be.
There are more photos of the service on our Facebook page:
