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.
Charles Hindley and Anita Mansell are based at Holy Trinity Old Hill and work closely on children, family and youth ministry. Anita swapped from a volunteer role seven months ago and is focusing on families and primary aged children.
Churches across Redditch are working together offer Easter blessings to families in the town. From 26 – 28 March, they will be taking over a shop front in the Kingfisher shopping centre to run crafts and games, gifting families Easter eggs and age-appropriate bibles.
The parish of Teme Valley South held their annual Lambing Café Church service last weekend at a local farm.
St Philip’s Church in Webheath, Redditch recently welcomed families from across the area for a lively Paddington Craft and Film Day filled with creativity, colour and a great deal of orange peel.
All Saints Church in Sedgley held a pancake party in the church hall on Tuesday morning with over 85 children attending. Many of the parents present expressed an interest in bringing their children to other things, including potential New Worshipping Communities being planned.
Bishop Hugh visited St Stephen’s Church in Redditch on Ash Wednesday where they were hosting a ‘Lightbox’ drop in event for young people, followed by jacket potatoes for the community ahead of their Ash Wednesday service.
Today, on Ash Wednesday, to mark the start of Lent, Mission Priest Sarah Roberts-Malpass took to the streets and visited a Kingswinford shopping parade to offer ‘Ashes to go’ to passersby.
POP-up Church is a New Worshipping Community set up at St John’s Church in Kidderminster in partnership with St John’s CE Primary school, following an iSingPOP main event in school in January 2025. Last weekend they celebrated their one-year anniversary!
Yesterday to mark the 85th anniversary of the formation of the Air Training Corps, a special service was held at St Mary’s church in Kingswinford, attended by Bishop Hugh.
A new initiative in Bredon is bringing people together to play board games once a month on a Friday morning in the village hall.
Over the past seven months St Stephen’s Church in Redditch has been regularly present on Ward 12, a dementia ward at the Alexandra Hospital, offering music as a simple but powerful way of meeting people where they are.
Church of the Ascension in Wall Heath host ‘Soul Food’ NWC every other Tuesday evening from 5pm. In their last session before Christmas the theme was ‘joy and connection’. As well as discussing this theme, they also demonstrated it, filling shoeboxes with gifts for families in need.
From 21 January, St James' Church in Hartlebury will be launching a new weekly Community Tin Bank, which grows out of prayer, local concern, and a desire for the church to serve its village in practical and compassionate ways.
Many people will come into our churches for Christmas services who might not attend at other times of the year. This provides great opportunities including informing your local community of exciting things coming up. Here are some ways in which our renewal churches are planning to do that.
The Redditch Toy Appeal organised by the Redditch Mission Area has helped provide Christmas presents for over 1000 children this year! With more referred than ever before, staff from the diocesan team, including Archdeacon Nikki volunteered to help.
St John’s church in Halesowen welcomed over 90 people on Saturday 15 November for a special Messy Church, which included a film-showing of 'The Snowman' by candlelight, bringing the whole community together!
Claines played host to a joyful family ‘Light Trail’ during the half term holiday, which ninety people participated in. Ten households in Claines decorated their homes as “light stops,” each displaying a word that formed part of a Bible verse, for participants to unscramble.
In January 2026 Claines Church, will be launching a new and exciting church service for children called ‘Bubble Church’. This has been made possible thanks to a grant from the ‘Healthier Churches Fund’.
Parishes across the Diocese working with Kirsty Pierson from iSingPOP this year, have reported how much this support has helped them reach new families and children. We hope it will be possible to extend the pilot to see how this initial success can be further embedded and built on.
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16th August 2026