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.
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.
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.
By 2030 we plan to renew around 12 churches across the Diocese so that every major population area has at least one larger church with 150 attendees. This film seeks to showcase and celebrate the progress so far.
Gornal and Sedgley parish have been very encouraged recently by a new member of their congregation. Since joining in September Andy has attended every week and within a few months sought to renew and affirm his baptismal vows.
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.
St Stephen’s Church in Redditch has hosted a gathering of Christians in education from across the West Midlands. The event aimed to connect school staff, volunteers and students across the region to find creative ways of working together to share the gospel.
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!
Members of St Stephen’s Church in Redditch have been sharing hope in different locations across Redditch, offering people free tea and coffee and a chance to talk about faith and about anything which might be worrying them.
Former primary school teacher Emily Holmes has recently joined St Peter’s Bengeworth in Evesham as ‘Children and Families Worker’. Emily is keen to bring more families into church and has a real heart for creating neurodiverse-friendly spaces where all children feel safe and valued.
Former Corporate HR Manager, Grace Wrigglesworth, 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.
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.
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.
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.
Latest News
27th February 2026