Worship Action Group
The brief of the WAGs is to develop worship, nurture and prayer in line with the church’s mission statement: growing up, growing together, growing out, growing more.
Portable altar and font: thenew portable altar and font are now in frequent use. They have given us lots of flexibility and options. As well as paying for these two items, Sarah Jayne and Martin Lovell also paid for the candles and candlesticks for the portable altar. We are very grateful to the Lovells for their generosity.
Prayer: we continue to adapt the church’s prayer life to fit the congregation’s hectic lives. Our ideas have needed to be flexible and accessible, so that they can be used wherever people may be at the time:
- Every Harvest, Advent & Lent, we’ve been publishing Prayer Project leaflets with items for prayer and include seasonal prayers written by members of WAGs.
- At Easter & Christmas, we’ve been handing out prayer cards published by the Prayer Trust.
- Thy Kingdom Come – we engage with the Archbishops’ Ascensiontide prayer initiative that involves praying for family, friends, neighbours & colleagues to come to faith.
- Summer Prayer Project – happens every 3 years for July/August. A folded card with the names of Thelwall streets organised into the days of the week.
Explore Prayer Cards and Display Stand: we have purchased the Explore range of 12 small prayer cards and a display stand to go alongside the votive candle stand: www.cpo.org.uk/explore-resources/prayer-cards.html. WAGs are looking at options for locating the display stand and/or votive stand to improve accessibility.
Caroline Johnstone was licensed as a Reader on Saturday, 11th October 2025 at Chester Cathedralby Bishops Mark, Julie and Sam. It was a joyous occasion and a worthy culmination and celebration of Caroline’s three years rigorous practical and academic work. The turn out from All Saints at the service was awesome!
Daily Personal Bible Reflection: wherever possible, we try to encourage people to connect with some form of regular personal bible reflection. ‘Our Daily Bread’ is very popular in the congregation, especially with our older folk. But there are now so many new resources available – in physical and digital format – that there is something to suit everyone. A good number of our folk use the app: lectio365.com.
Audio-visual: the new system is now installed and in use. It’ll take us a little while to adjust to its capabilities and idiosyncrasies. But once we do, it will open up a new vista of possibilities for our worship, ministry and outreach.
Choir, Music Group & Organ: our musicians, choir / music group have risen to the challenges of leading music in our worship, choosing hymns and organising rotas. Trish arranges for the organ to be tuned and serviced every autumn by Jardine’s of Manchester.
Parish Music Outreach Worker: We’ve put the search for a ‘Director of Music’ (a.k.a. Parish Music Outreach Worker) on hold for now, to give time for church finances to settle and strengthen, and to work with the new junior school head teacher to take the idea forward, as the role was largely shaped by the previous head teacher.
