Many churches across our diocese are planning to offer free or low-cost children’s holiday clubs to support families in their communities during the school summer holidays and introduce children who may not usually come to church to Christianity in a fun and creative way.
The Worcestershire West Rural team kicked off #Recognise week a day early yesterday with a special All Age service to thank those who working with children and families across the patch.
St Thomas church in Stourbridge are set to run a school uniform bank this summer which will be bigger than ever, expanding across Lye and Tipton. This will help more families in Dudley and Smethwick by providing them with free pre-loved school uniform.
Severnside parishes have thriving youth and families ministries led by Associate Minister for children, youth and families, Libbirty Webber. Their toddler groups ‘Stepping Stones’ and ‘Severnside Youth’ for teenagers are doing especially well, seeing fantastic growth in the last few years.
Bishop Hugh spent the day in Malvern and Upton Deanery earlier in the week where he visited churches, schools and toddler groups to get a sense of some of the things happening across the Deanery.
Diane Cooksey has been Renewal Leader of All Saints' church in Sedgley for a year now. There is a sense of excitement as All Saints is already growing, bringing more people to faith and making bold steps to becoming a truly intergenerational congregation.
St John Halesowen’s first iSingPop Worship ‘PopUp Church’ launched last week, at Halesowen CE Primary, aiming to engage local families and help bring church and school together as one community.
Clergy and Church leaders across our diocese are invited to get involved in the national #RECOGNISE campaign week from 6 -12 July to thank and celebrate your paid and voluntary children, youth and family (CYF) workers.
Last week Bishop Hugh met with our diocesan network of paid Children and Young People Ministers to listen to and encourage them.
Families@4 is a new worshipping community at St Peter’s Church in Ipsley. Throughout 2026, they decided to theme their programme around learning about God’s creation and have created a garden in which the children and their families are growing vegetables and flowers.
Whittington CE Primary School and the Church of St Philip and St James in Whittington have come together for a community celebration day. There were activities for the children at both the church and the school throughout the day and parents were invited to come in and take part alongside their children.
St Stephen’s Church in Redditch has recently been running Alpha Youth alongside their adult Alpha course. 28 young people have been taking part ranging from age 10 to 17.
Around 300 bibles and Easter Eggs were given out to people in Redditch at the Redditch Mission Area ‘Easter Blessings Hub’.
Solomon Unwin from Upton on Severn parish was this year’s winner of the Premier Unbelievable and Spring Harvest Youth Preaching Prize for Skegness.
One of our Kidderminster benefices has recently launched a new website. They are very pleased with their new site, finding it easy to update and maintain. The website uses the HUBB Church platform and was created by editing pre-populated templates.
All Saints church in Sedgley celebrated Palm Sunday with Ted the pony leading the procession and around 90 people of all ages in church.
A Sunday afternoon social group at Christ Church in Matchborough, Redditch is helping to bring people together and combat isolation. Fundays on Sundays is aimed at families and offers food, refreshments and lots of opportunities for family fun.
St John’s church in Halesowen have started two new groups recently, as they expand and enhance their work to engage local families, and children and young people of all ages.
St Philip’s Church in Webheath, Redditch, was filled with excitement and wonder when two Reception classes from Webheath Academy stepped into the story of Palm Sunday in a truly memorable way.
On Friday 13 March, pupils from 10 primary and secondary schools across Stourbridge gathered at Oldswinford CE Primary School for a conference on Climate Change and Sustainability.
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17th July 2026