Chester Diocese
News Item
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Start spreading The Word … it’s time for Back To Church Sunday
BACK to Church Sunday – like many a brilliant idea – is in essence very simple. The idea is to invite people back to church and welcome them warmly when they come. The scheme has already proved itself in churches and cathedrals across the land. And later this month it will be rolled out in more than 100 parishes throughout our Diocese. Some people have already benefited from previous Back To Church Sunday services, run on a more limited scale. Alison Gosling, a 48-year-old married mother of three, and a solicitor, is someone who’s very glad she experienced this successful evangelisation event last year. Now she’s full of praise for the project and looking forward to the success of Back to Church Sunday services to be held this coming September 30. However, just a few years ago she was one of millions of Britons who feel a yearning to return to regular church and Christian life but simply never get round to doing much about it. Alison grew up in a Christian family in East Yorkshire, but she drifted away from regular church attendance in her early twenties. She continued to attend church for major festivals such as Easter and Christmas, but for many years simply did not feel fully connected to Christianity. Occasionally, she would sit in the pews, alone, thinking about Christianity, and often dwelling on those familiar words ‘Let us give thanks unto the Lord our God. It is meet and right to do so’. And in more recent times Alison responded positively upon her instincts for a closer connection to God. First, she did a 10-week Alpha course run by St Anne’s, Fulshaw, Wilmslow, and started to think more about her life of faith, about what she’d learned as a young person, and about how much she had ‘taken in by osmosis’ since then. She also began to talk to other local Christians about their faith. It was through Alison’s connection with parishioners of St Anne’s that she received a personal invitation to attend a Back To Church Sunday service at the end of last September. Her friend, parishioner Georgina Watmore, sent the invitation, which came with a gift of Fairtrade chocolate and some literature. Georgina assists with the work of the Priest Missioner of Wilmslow parish, the Revd Canon Mike Lowe. Alison went along to that service last year. She said: “The thing that really struck me was how embracing it was, and how very welcome I was made to feel. The service was also very recognisable for me. It felt good to be worshipping with other people, and Georgina welcomed my feedback. “It’s been a lovely experience and I hadn’t really been expecting that. I have met some very spiritual people since being invited ‘Back to Church’.” As well as regular church attendance, occasionally with members of her family, Alison now often goes to a Reader’s house for dinner and a Bible-based group discussion. She added: “It is wonderful that the project is running again this year, and that it’s now more widespread.” The Revd Canon Mike Lowe, who led the service that Alison attended last year, said: “We are doing it again this year. We planning to invite more than 200 to attend the services at St Anne’s and at St Bart’s. In our Diocese we have often talked about being a welcoming church. This scheme allows us to be also an inviting church, which is so important.”
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Alison Gosling – Back To Church Sunday worked for her
The Revd Canon Mike Lowe – Church needs to be welcoming
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