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.