The North Worcester Cluster Retreat - Autumn 2025
A number of us recently took part in a retreat at 'the House of Bread' in Shipston on Stour. This was the third year in succession that we have met in this way. Once again it proved to be a real blessing in so many ways.
The day began with worship, which set the foundation for the rest of the our time at the Retreat. It was a privilege to hear Paul Swann speak to us about the 'open door' and the opportunity Jesus offers us if we choose to step through.
We enjoyed the opportunity to explore the mill and the grounds for a period of quiet contemplation before lunch, allowing God to speak to us individually. Blessed by good weather, everyone could come together for informal conversation over lunch before embarking on an afternoon led by Ann and Will Neale.
Ann used music and spoken word to help us all to engage with a time of 'soaking in the Spirit'. We then spent a short but very meaningful time sharing things that God had been speaking into the day. Words, pictures and confessions added a very important dimension to our time together.
Will Neale led the session before supper with a time of personal testimony, which led into us taking an agapé meal together.
The day came to an end with everyone sitting down together for a light supper which was enjoyed by all. The feedback from all participants was extremely positive... Same time, same place next year!
Words by Paul Long
Di’s Story
I have been part of the All Saints community since 2020 and because we were then in the midst of the Covid pandemic services were all online. I had been an active member of another church in the city for many years. However during the pandemic I sensed that God was calling me to somewhere and something new. I didn’t anticipate this at all so I waited for God to reveal his will to me and because all activities were so restricted at that time I watched different broadcast church services, searched the Bible, read words of wisdom and it became more and more clear to me that I should explore All Saints. For me this was quite a change as I had always been part of a non conformist church. However I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the songs at ASW were all familiar to me and I very much liked the style of worship.
The following are a few extracts from prayers and words of comfort and encouragement I received during Covid “I believe you will make a way for me and provide for me, if only I trust you and obey. I will trust in the darkness and know that my times are still in your hand. I will believe you for my future, chapter by chapter, until the story is written…” A prayer attributed to St. Brendan the Navigator.
“Trust in the Lord and do good. Then you will live safely in the land and prosper. Take delight in the Lord and he will give you your heart’s desires. Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him and he will help you.” Psalm 37: 3-5
“We have all been forced into a wilderness experience by Covid – living with uncertainty and ever changing situations….. We need to 1) seek God and pray – practise Sabbath and silence. Endure or embrace this time; 2) join a community – a church family/midweek group; 3) immerse ourselves in Scripture and the promises of God.” An extract from a Rich Johnson sermon in 2020.
So having made the decision to join All Saints I decided to join Revive, a group for women meeting on Wednesday mornings. However Revive wasn’t meeting in person only on zoom due to Covid restrictions. This worked well for me because with the different women giving talks or testimonies online it enabled me to get to know more about people new to me quite quickly.
I had never ever been part of a women’s group throughout all my church life mainly because I didn’t feel it was for me, but having joined Revive I have made so many new friends and my prayer life has deepened. I feel almost that God had been preparing me for this new venture in my faith journey and this confirmed for me that I was where God wanted me to be and doing what he wanted me to do. It is a privilege to be one of the leadership team of Revive and seeing what God is doing in and through the women of Revive who come from different churches in the city.
I have always been thrilled that at All Saints there are a number of different opportunities for prayer throughout the week. Prayer has always been very important to me and I am one of the participants in the weekly Foodbank prayer group and the monthly Persecuted church prayer group. In addition, at the end of our Revive meetings there is always a time of sharing and prayer in small groups. It has been a great encouragement to hear and see what God is doing and for the trust that exists so that women are able to share their deepest needs in a safe space. “The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. James 5: 16
I do not think it is enough to just turn up at church on Sundays because you need connection to help build up your faith and share your life in all its ups and downs. It took me a while to make a decision about joining a lifegroup so what really prompted me to do so was when my daughter was taken ill and hospitalised while on holiday abroad with her family 3 years ago. It was something completely out of the blue and although I was praying hard I needed to feel that others were supporting in prayer too so a close friend who was in a lifegroup circulated the details to her lifegroup and we saw amazing answers to prayer. After that I knew that I needed to get on and join a lifegroup which I have never regretted.
Each one of us has a different story but we are all one in Christ who sees us, knows us and loves us. This is a part of my story but it’s not the end of the story. There is more to come and I trust in a God who holds the future.
Graham’s Story
We joined All Saints in January 2008. We come from an Anglican background, and I sang in a church choir from the age of ten. Gill and I met in church, singing in the choir and attending the church youth group. We have been together for over 50 years (married for 45 years). My faith journey has been in partnership with Gill. When we moved to Worcester from Sussex in 1985, we joined our local church in St. Johns and soon made new friends, our new church family, some of whom we still meet up each Friday evening (pub at home). My journey in following Jesus was strengthened through service as church treasurer, member of the PCC and church music.
I say this because all through that time I became aware that this service needed to embrace the local community. However, neither I or the local church understood how to bring this about beyond traditional activities and ministries. I began exploring contemporary worship music with friends and we visited St Michael Le Belfry in York. This was inspiring. As time went on Gill and I realised that we had an unmet need for spiritual feeding, and an opportunity to meet in small groups for bible study and discussion. Our daughter had started to worship at All Saints, and Gill made the very hard decision to join All Saints as well. Gill and I discussed this, and I decided to join her. Moving away from our church family and friends was a very hard thing to do, but our vicar and friends supported us and understood why we were moving.
All Saints has grown and developed over the past 17 years. But at its heart is a church family which welcomes and values people. On our first Sunday we met several people, including the leaders of a cell group (we now call them life groups) and received an invitation to join them. As we grew into the All-Saints church family, we experienced:
Strong teaching much more related to how we grow in our faith journey, and how the bible prepares us for life in our community,
Wonderful sung worship in a contemporary style, with language that is relatable,
Less liturgy, leaving more time for prayer and worship.
I have been challenged by All Saints; as church treasurer - how to ensure our resources serve our ministry, as a member of the worship team - how to work in a team and help everyone worship in song, and then as Foodbank Manager (voluntary role) - how to give and serve generously, and to quote Jess Fellows, Live Life Loved.
So, I am still at All Saints because these challenges remain. There is still much work to do in our community, and All Saints provides the platform and support to enable me to contribute to this work.
We cannot expect everything to be exactly as we want it, and I am not saying that is the case for me at All Saints. But our leadership understands this and tries to keep our focus in what is important, to love and serve and to follow Jesus. The wider church of today has many divisions, many different understandings, and many ways of being faithful. I welcome the opportunity at All Saints to keep a focus on our core values to follow Jesus, build community and love Worcester. We are still developing our thinking around this, and I look forward to the fresh challenge this presents.
However, in reading this I hope you will see that being part of All Saints has helped me in my faith journey. I have been sustained in my role as Foodbank Manager by knowing that God is at the heart of what I and the foodbank team are doing. We are showing His love and the teaching of Jesus each day through providing food parcels for those in crisis (over 200,000 meals a year), greeting our clients with non-judgemental love, and putting a smile on the faces of the downcast. We do this by working closely with all local churches and many local community organisations. Worcester Foodbank is widely respected for the way we (All Saints) love Worcester.
John’s Story
My name is John Dowbiggin and I became a Christian in 1975 at the age of 28. It came about because of meeting a member of the Bethesda Temple Mission choir, who were visiting from the USA and who I saw give a stunning performance at Kendal Priory.
After that, everything was plain sailing – NOT! In 1980, my wife and I separated (and subsequently divorced) and I changed career by taking a government sponsored TOPS course for Systems Analysis. This led me to a fulfilling career that was moderately well rewarded until I was 61.
After my divorce I drifted from God although I didn’t stop believing He was there.
In 1984 I invested £5 in an ad in a Valentine’s column of the Leicester Mercury, and as a result met Lindy, who turned out to be my soul mate, and we married in August of that year, and have just celebrated our 41st wedding anniversary. In her teenage years Lindy had been a regular church goer but had also drifted as life took its toll.
In 1995 we moved to Kinver, near Stourbridge, to live with Lindy’s widowed mother, Joyce. One Easter, I felt drawn to join the Dawn Chorus in front of the cross on Kinver Edge. So, on a dark and miserable Easter Sunday morning, we got up and walked up the Edge to join a fair-sized crowd to celebrate the risen Lord.
After that we became involved in St Peter’s, Kinver, joining the choir, reading intercessions and running a music fellowship where my guitar playing background came in handy.
After a while, we began to feel that we needed different spiritual sustenance and decided to look at other churches in the area. The first one we went to was Amblecote Christian Centre, led by Clive Sandry and we looked no further. We spent 13 happy tears there until we moved to Worcester, and in that period, grew considerably as Christians as we took their teaching on board.
While we were there, I had a serious bout of sepsis, was hospitalized, died on the operating table and was in intensive care for 6 weeks. I don’t consider it a coincidence that I the night I died and then came round the church had called a night of prayer for me.
When we came to Worcester, we were going to look for a church when our next-door neighbours, John and Wendy Turner, introduced us to St Paul’s Pentecostal church. We once more advanced on our spiritual journey and took to this church like ducks to water and made many friends there.
Then came Covid!
During lockdown we couldn’t meet although we had some services via You Tube. At the end of lockdown, while we could attend a service, we had to still wear a mask, and I couldn’t handle wearing a mask and singing, so we took to watching and joining in the service via You Tube. At that time St Paul’s started having problems with the transmission to the extent it becomes virtually unwatchable, so we switched to watching the morning service from All Saints.
After 2 or 3 weeks, I said to Lindy I felt a real calling to be there, so the following week we went and were made very welcome and felt like we had found a new spiritual home. After a few weeks, we met with Brian and Judith Mason to discuss joining a life group, and from there were introduced to Catherine and David Wightman. That brought us to one of the best things in our life, our life group. A group of about a dozen people, who over the past few years have become our friends, and who have our backs in prayer as soon as we express a need.
Thursday nights are now very special, as we meet to discuss various aspects of scripture, usually related to the week’s sermon, and to pray for each other.
This has all helped us grow, and the splendid teaching from Rich and the team is always good.
As we have got older, we have had various medical issues, and we are pleased that sometimes we can join the morning service online when we don’t feel up to rushing.
Through our life, God has blessed us many times and guided us to a place where were happy to call our home ” Domus Gaudio” (House of Joy), and that is the first thing you will see as you come up our drive.
Emma’s Story
One thing I’ve learned about following Jesus: you can never quite predict what He’s going to do next. Just when I think I have life neatly mapped out, God throws in a twist that leaves me shaking my head, laughing or more often than not, crying in awe.
I’ll be honest, when I walked through the doors of All Saints for the first time, I had given up on all hope of the reality of God and didn’t think I’d ever come back. Life had felt like an uphill battle for so long that I just couldn’t even fathom how things could ever be easy. Don’t get me wrong, I was happy plodding along in life, but at the same time, I felt a little lost and hopeless, although at the time I don’t think I was aware of how I truly felt. You’re probably intrigued to know how I came to walk through the doors on that first Sunday, and if you’re not, well, I’m going to tell you anyway!!
Like many good stories, it all started with a baptism.
A friend of mine, Hayley, who I hadn’t spoken to properly since we were 15 years old, shared a video of her baptism on social media. When I saw the video, I was overcome with joy and excitement and felt prompted to reach out to her, but I didn’t. I did the usual “like” and comment, but deep down I felt spurred to do more. As I do with most feelings, I buried it down and ignored it.
Fast forward a week or two, I’m at my friend’s house for her son’s birthday celebrations. I’m feeling a little anxious as I’ve been told that another family will be joining the little gathering. My friend reassures me that they are a lovely family, with beautiful children and that I will be in safe hands. Before long there is a knock at the door and in stroll Zoe and Jamie Klair with their two and a half children (Gabby was soooo tiny). Before long we got to chatting, making small talk and finding out a bit more about one another. I mentioned that I grew up in Droitwich and Jamie’s eyes lit up. “Droitwich?! Do you know Hayley? She just got baptised at our church!” he exclaimed. That small, seemingly insignificant conversation was the nudge I needed to reach out to Hayley and get myself through the doors of All Saints. God knew what He was doing!!
The welcome, the love and the joy that hit me as I walked through those doors on Sunday 29th September 2024, changed my life forever. I can’t say that I significantly remember the sermon, but I remember that feeling of joy and peace flooding through me. Whatever it was, it made me want to come back the following week, and THIS is when my life totally changed.
Imogen shared her testimony. I sobbed. From the first word until the last. It was as if she was recalling my entire life story, the loneliness, the hopelessness, the defeat. The hope and encouragement that poured out of her words just got me, right down to the depths of my heart which I hadn’t explored in a very long time. When she had finished sharing her testimony and the gathering came to a close, I felt a sense of urgency to speak with her. I had never felt more sure of anything in my life, I WAS MEANT TO MEET THIS GIRL. So, meet her I did! I walked right up to her and told her “I think I was meant to meet you today”, we sobbed and rejoiced and that was the start of my journey with Jesus. When I got home and opened my bible to Isaiah 43 and started reading and got literal chills. God was speaking directly to me, encouraging me, well, this was it. The start of a new life, a new beginning, the end of loneliness, the end of self-reliance.
From that moment on, God has moved fast. He took my hand that day and just started running. From one little “Godincidence” to the next, it feels like God is delighting in surprising me, whispering in my ear “See? I’m here. I’ve got you”. From the meeting of new people at just the right moment, to opening my Bible to the exact verse that my heart needed or receiving encouragement from a friend on the day when I feel like I’m ready to throw in the towel. God is with me through it all.
What gets me most about my relationship with Jesus is the awe and wonder. The moments during worship when the music swells and the Holy Spirit can be felt filling the room; those are the moments that strike me most. Those are the moments when I realise, truly realise, that the Creator of the universe knows my name. HOW COOL IS THAT!? Wonder is absolutely everywhere when you’re walking with Jesus. It’s in the big miracles, the reconciled relationships and the tiny details. It’s in the way He turns ordinary days into holy ground.
If you’re reading this and feeling like your faith has become predictable or routine, let me encourage you: open your eyes to the surprises. Look for God’s fingerprints in unexpected places. Be ready to laugh at His sense of humour, be humbled by His grace, and be awestruck by His love.
The world paints this picture that Christian life is boring. But following Jesus is far from that. It’s the greatest adventure; full of surprises, full of awe, full of love and full of wonder. And the best part? The story isn’t over!
Abi & Luke’s Story
When we moved to Worcester as newly-wed first-time buyers back in November 2023, grounding/settling was our top priority. The last few months had been a whirlwind; wedding planning, house-move logistics, packing for honeymoon (and moving house!) and starting in a new job for one of us. We had lived out God's perfect timing and generous provision so plentifully but were exhausted, adjusting to so many new and unknown things (#adulting - 3/10) and keen to make new acquaintances as well as get into a stable routine. With varying church backgrounds between us, we began our church search! An All Saints 6pm service was first on the list and it immediately felt like home. Jess greeted us with warmth, prayed over us and introduced us to new people. We did try some other churches over the next few weeks, but were drawn back to All Saints in January 2024. We've joined a lifegroup, made so many friends, serve on team and help out where we can with church events like Alpha. What drew us here? Honestly, Google, but ultimately, God. What's kept us here is the people, community (such an active and engaging social calendar!) and teaching. We are being fed with God's Word; the sustenance for our souls. It's that guidance and support that has invigorated our relationships with Jesus (and each other!), given us opportunities to contribute to our local community (Foodbank and Maggs charity in particular) and what's not to love about Worcester? We love it here and give thanks to God for His many blessings!
Jess & Lee’s Story
My husband and I along with our children moved to Worcester from Devon in 2024 and were looking to join a new church. We loved All Saints from the moment we first visited for many different reasons including the welcoming people, biblical and inspiring teaching, passion for prayer and worship and being Jesus focused. Being part of a church community at All Saints has helped remind us that we are not alone and that our faith is bigger than just our lives and we are part of the body of Christ and a bigger story of God’s church on earth. In particular, we really love the children’s ministry at All Saints. We have two small children and in a world and culture full of chaos and confusion, we want them to grow up to know the freedom and life that is found only in Jesus and to choose him as their Lord and Saviour. All Saints has a fantastic children’s ministry that not only creates fun for children and their families but keeps the gospel and focus on Jesus at the heart of the children’s ministry. It’s also been great to connect with other parents to gain wisdom on parenting and remember we aren’t alone on the journey.