From the Operations Manager

The office will be a hive of activity today as we pull together the final preparations for tomorrow’s Church Away Day at Home! The Ops team have been working on layout plans, the programme of events, bookings, ordering, admin, risk assessments and a multitude of other things, working in partnership with volunteers and lay leaders, to pull together a fun and engaging day. We are so grateful for those who have offered their time to support the day and provide entertainment and activities and hope you are as excited as we are about attending!

 Thank you also to Ruth who has completed her first official week as our Church Administrator, it has been great to have her join the team, and to Olivia who has given so much of her time this summer to support the office and church activities in a range of different ways!  

 Looking forward we hope you can join us for the Heritage Open Days next week, perhaps come along for a mid-week bible study group and, or maybe the next of our Friendly Stop recitals, there are a lot of ways to join us and encourage others to come along, the door is always open.

Stephanie Osman
Operations Manager

From the Vicar

Dear Friends,

A quarter of the way through the year of our annual theme “behold I set before you an open door” seems a fitting occasion to be underlining the wonderful fact that God is always beckoning us to find ways Christ can be both welcomed into his church and He can direct her. I am the Lord’s servant and so is the Church which is Christ’s. To what is he calling us now? Where does he want us to express his life now? These are key questions whenever we are tempted to look back or be anxious about the future. The opportunities and the challenges are the Lord’s and we are His church and seek obediently to follow.

Prayer – thank you for some informal feedback of how the prayer triplets are being used. This month there are times to invigorate and inform our public intercessors. Please don’t feel this is for the brave few - do pop along to the times we have fixed this month to brief others – perhaps your gift of leading prayers for others can be shared more widely? If appropriate any answers to prayer or encouragement in prayer triplets can be shared more widely on Sunday.

Church Away at Home – thank you for those who have felt able to contribute on this day. If you have had to wait for another time (All Saints has many creative people!) – thank you, we hope there will be other occasions to gather. May I underline that whilst this day is our church at home it is also by your invitation a place that others can be invited along too. Pray that the Spirit will move in our midst that visitors will be compelled to come back. I shall be sharing a word from the Lord accessible I trust to visitors in the evening.

Children – we pray for young people and children as they commence their school terms. We pray too for Rosie, Cam and their volunteers that they would see stability and increasing numbers of families supporting this vital area of our churches life. Many of us are looking back with thanksgiving at so much that has been accomplished recently - not least in the Holiday Club. The staff team are especially mindful of all the work done by Kate Gerrish our safeguarding officer. Kate finishes this role at the end of October. She has served the All Saints family with great distinction and diligence in ensuring the PCC is discharging its formal responsibility for the safe care of children and vulnerable adults. I and many of us have been privileged to have witnessed Kate’s caring, thorough and spiritual attention to this area of responsibility within Church life. Kate we are grateful for your love in the Lord and the sharing of your gifts. Do pray with me that the Lord would call one or two people into this Safeguarding role.

May God himself cause the sleeping giant of his church to be awake to his call!

The Revd Canon Mark Brown

From the Youth Minister

We have enjoyed the summer socials in the Youth Ministry this summer and I am really looking forward to everything restarting in the summer alongside some new things. Our Abide group will be taking a step in a new direction, as we seek to implement new variations to provide space for deepened discipleship and outreach opportunities.

We will also reconvene our Encounter groups and be starting a couple more this September so I look forward to seeing God at work in our young people's lives!

This September will also mark a new beginning in my work with our local schools, including Silverdale and High Storrs so please be praying for wide open doors, God's guidance and evangelistic opportunities. 

God bless

Cam Catto
Youth Minister

From the Children’s Minister

I am writing this three days into Holiday Club week and am feeling blessed and full of thanksgiving. God has so faithfully answered our prayers, even the weather has been perfect for us! Seeing the way all the volunteers are serving and the joy and excitement in the children is a wonder. The atmosphere has been wonderful and we’ve had some incredible conversations with some of the children. Monsters Stink was chosen as a theme because when I was praying about what to do this year, I felt a real burden to help equip the children for when they have to face some of the “monsters” of life. With 1:6 children experiencing mental health difficulties, with anxiety being the most common, I wanted to help share the difference knowing Jesus can make but also some of the ways we can look after ourselves and others when we or they are struggling.

Today, we thought about Elijah and how God provided him with water, bread and rest and then gave him a long walk in the outdoors when Elijah wanted to give up. We looked at how God spoke gently to Elijah and reminded him that he was not alone and we talked about the importance of looking for help when we feel low, asking others to pray for us and watching out for others who might be struggling.

Although quite tired, I am excited for what the last couple of days will bring and how God is going to be at work in these precious children. I thank God for each of them and for all the amazing volunteers who have made this week happen.

Rosie Blackett
Children’s Minister

From the Associate Vicar

The beginning of holiday club is only moments away so I encourage us all in the church to be praying. Here are just a few things that you can be praying for:

1. Give thanks for all the preparations that Rosie and her team have been doing over many months to get us to this point.

2. Pray for all the children coming and their families that they would encounter the love of Jesus and have loads of fun as well.

3. Pray for Gods spirit to rest on all the volunteers helping at the holiday club that they would reflect the love of God to everyone that they meet over the coming week.

We look forward to telling you how God has been at work at the Sunday services in a weeks’ time! You can also keep track of how Holiday Club is going by visiting Holiday Club 2023.

Revd Roland Slade

From the Wardens

Summer is here – yes I know the weather hasn’t quite taken this on board. But for many in the church family it brings breaks from school, children home from university, trips to and visits from family. It brings some extra “busyness” and also a break from our usual routine. But God stays constant in all that is happening. Can we use this time to change our prayer pattern, spending more time with God.

Can we pause and take stock? We pray for the upcoming holiday club, for the children attending, their families, for Rosie, Simon and all the helpers. We hope it will be a blessing to everyone connected with it.

Can we pray that God will bless summer for each of us, reminding us of His blessings and His goodness. We have so much to thank Him for.

Richard, Sue, Rob and Lynne

From the Vicar

Dear Friends,

Summer invitations and encouragements
Thank you for your wholehearted support at our annual meeting. Here is a brief update which I trust you will find encouraging and some pointers for the next term, so that some modest changes don’t catch you by surprise or that you don’t miss out on some of our enhanced programmes that others are enjoying (but you might miss if you don’t fix the dates now!).

Prayer Triplets – it is so encouraging to know that we have a hundred or so signed up. We will endeavour to give some feedback during the autumn term if there are specific answers to prayer and, of course, why not all make a booking to come to the September church prayer meeting on Thursday 14th September at 7:30pm.

Church Away at Home: An Open Door for Everyone, Saturday 9th September a date I trust is firmly in your diary. I am grateful to the small team organising this time which is open to all. Making connections with other members of the church family in a relaxed way is good for our life together and an unforced and attractive signpost to visitors and the wider community. Please make an effort to be part of this as fully as you are able.

Bible study with Godfrey 'Going deeper...with Christ' is the exciting title of our now developing day time ministry on Wednesday mornings from 11:15am- thanks to Godfrey and his team. There will be studies in the book of Philippians throughout the Autumn term, to enable us to "Turn up the gospel soundtrack" in our lives. Please see the separate flyer for full details and join an already vibrant congregation of eager Bible students. I am pleased this has started so well and I am encouraging further developments with occasional gatherings in the afternoon – watch this space thanks to efforts from Ruth Totterdell and Lesley Blyth.

From early September we will formally be giving thanks for our financial gifts at each service and signposting opportunities to give – this modest change to the structure at each service is in line with what most other churches would do regularly and has the support of the finance team and PCC. Please give any feedback directly to me please during this trial period of 6 weeks. Thank you for your ongoing financial support of the work of All Saints Church. There are many ways to make contributions now; it is important that these are fully known and explained and held in a context of thanksgiving and worship.

Evangelism through the Local Church. On Monday 9th October at 7:30pm. I am putting on this evening for the encouragement of the wider church -if you are interested in hearing my thoughts (it will directly influence the direction of travel for All Saints - well that is my hope!) then please come along. There will be visitors from the diocese and deanery churches are encouraged to attend. Whilst summer is a moveable feast (I personally hope weather wise it holds off from getting cooler for some time)

I do hope your summer month of August is enjoyable and restful except of course during Holiday club week where hopefully all hands will be on deck or in prayer to support Simon, Rosie and their team leading this week for children and young families.

There are plenty of suggestions for reading that have been offered to you.

Yours in Christ’s service

The Revd Canon Mark Brown

From the Wholeness Team

The Wholeness Team offers ministry at the 9:15am, 11:00am and 6:00pm services each week.  We pray with people seeking healing and wholeness in any matter concerning the body, mind or spirit, as well as those wanting to give thanks to God.  It can be challenging to come out for prayer, but we will try to put you at your ease, listen well, and pray simply, with you or for you.  Anything you tell us remains confidential unless you give us permission to share your concerns with the wider team.  As a team, we can also offer long term prayer support by adding you to a confidential prayer list. 

If you think you or somebody you know would benefit from this, please talk to a member of the team or email   If the prayer request is for somebody else, getting their permission is always a good idea.

If you are reading this and thinking “I would love to be part of this ministry”, it would be great to hear from you.  We are looking to expand the team and would love to see a broader age range and more men involved, across the congregations.  A larger team would mean we could consider how we reach out to the local community with the love of God. 

We would also love to hear from you if you have a testimony of answered prayer which you would be prepared to share at a service.  It is good to share what God is doing and to encourage each other in this way.

Lotta Jackson and the Wholeness Team