Chester Diocese
News Item
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‘Hotpot’ evangelism and a most weepy service
A CHEADLE Hulme parish which experienced the closure of its church building last year is celebrating the success of hotpot suppers in encouraging people to come to meetings. A weekend of hotpot-eating, fun and drama – intended to foster good community spirit – has taken place, organised by St Augustine’s parish. The parish is still going strong following the closure of its church last January (2006) when it was judged uneconomic to carry out the repairs to keep the building open. St Augustine’s now uses the buildings of other local churches, mainly St John’s Methodist church, Stockport Road, Cheadle Heath, for its worship and mission work. One of the things that has helped the parish succeed is its regular hotpot suppers, created by parishioner Jim Gwilliam, a retired rail worker of Tillard Avenue, Cheadle Heath. As part of the parish’s recent weekend Big Deal events, more than 90 people also meet at St. John’s Methodist church for a special ‘Journey of Life’ Service to celebrate the joys and acknowledge the sorrows of the different stages of life. St Augustine’s Priest-in-Charge, the Revd Helen Scarisbrick, said: “The service was an important opportunity to reflect on how hard modern living can be, when you consider all the pressures to work, plus marriage and relationship breakdowns and the difficulties of being a teenager in today’s world. A Cheadle Hulme parish which experienced the closure of its church building last year has found is celebrating the success of its hot pot suppers in encourage people to come to meetings. A weekend of hotpot-eating, fun and drama – intended to foster good community spirit – as we reported last month – has now taken place, organised by St Augustine’s parish. The parish is still going strong, even though its church building was closed last January (2006) when it was judged uneconomic to carry out the repairs to keep it open. St Augustine’s now uses the buildings of other local churches, mainly St John’s Methodist Church, Stockport Road, Cheadle Heath, for its worship and mission work. One of the things that has helped the parish succeed is its regular hotpot suppers, created by parishioner Jim Gwilliam, a retired rail worker of Tillard Avenue, Cheadle Heath. As part of the weekend Big Deal events more than 90 people also meet at St. John’s Methodist church for a special ‘Journey of Life’ Service to celebrate the joys and acknowledge the sorrows of the different stages of life. St Augustine’s Priest-in-Charge, the Revd Helen Scarisbrick, said: “The service was an important opportunity to reflect on how hard modern living can be, when you consider all the pressures to work, plus marriage and relationship breakdowns and the difficulties of being a teenager in today’s world.
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Hotpot evangelist Jim Gwilliam
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