Sixty things we did last year

Limitless Youth Festival

Hurdsfield School Carol Service

James cycling back from France to Macclesfield during his sabbatical

Sylvia and the prayer diary

Easter Trail

Christingle service

Light Party

Nativity service

Kids

Hurdsfield Tots: our weekly term-time group for pre-school kids, their parents and carers.
Leading assemblies at Hurdsfield and Puss Bank Primary Schools.
Weekly one-to-one reading with about 40 kids at Hurdsfield Primary School.
Our curate and our youth minister joining some 15 kids a week at a breakfast club at Hurdsfield Primary School.
Our youth minister joining Hurdsfield Primary School’s year 6 residential trip, and supporting other trips.
Easter Trail.
Messy Harvest craft afternoon.
A Light Party for primary-age kids, as an alternative to Halloween.
Our kids groups filling shoeboxes with gifts for children in Ukraine.
Nativity Trail.

Youth

Pathfinders: our weekly term-time early Sunday evening group for years 6-9.
Fusion: our weekly term-time Sunday evening group for years 10-13.
Taking 23 young people to the Limitless Christian Festival.
Our youth minister helping to lead a weekend away at The Quinta (Christian conference centre in Shropshire) organised by two other churches, and taking four young people from HTH.
AMPLIFIED youth worship events, in partnership with other local churches.
AMPLIFIED silent disco.
AMPLIFIED paint party in our church grounds (throwing powdered paint at each other).
Our youth minister supporting the Christian Union at Tytherington High School and regularly joining its meetings.
Youth groups bonfire.
Supporting and resourcing other local churches through the Hope Youth Forum, including hosting training and conversations around the principles of youthwork.
Providing a mentor for three young people to meet regularly.
Our Fusion group packing hampers to bless particular people in our church family at Christmas.

Community

Visiting those who have recently been bereaved.
Visiting or telephoning 15-20 people each week who are housebound or otherwise isolated.
Visiting everyone moving onto a large new estate in the parish, with a welcome pack of church and community information and some homemade cake.
Weekly litter picking around the parish.
Monthly evening community meal for invited local residents.
Weekly Drop In, providing company, refreshments, chat, games, and help with day-to-day matters like filling in forms.
Weekly food pantry (in conjunction with another charity, Cre8 Macclesfield), where Hurdsfield residents receive surplus food at very low cost.
Emergency food and clothing vouchers for those in desperate need through, for example, homelessness or benefits’ sanctions.
Collecting donations of food for the Silklife Foodbank.
Giving some 40 Christmas hampers to local households in need.
Taking an HTH Christmas card to every home in Hurdsfield.

Services

Services each week at 8:30 and 10:30 am, also streaming the latter live on YouTube.
Our 10:30 service included four groups for kids and youth:
- A baby corner with toys for pre-school kids and a sofa for their parents and carers
- Superstars (pre-school to year 2)
- Trailblazers (years 3 to 5), and
- Pathfinders (years 6 to 9).
Good Friday guided reflections in church.
Baptism service for three young people.
Joining other Macclesfield churches for an open-air service in the town centre.
Taking Home Communion to the housebound.
Carol service in church.
Congregation-in-costume nativity service.
Cupcake Christingle service.

Prayer

Evening prayer gatherings for the whole church to come together to pray.
Prayer ministry team meeting before our 10:30 am service to listen to God and pray; then available to pray with anyone towards the end of the service.
More than a dozen small groups meeting weekly for fellowship, worship, Bible study and prayer, and including a large daytime group for older and retired people.
Turning our vestry into a prayer room as part of wider Christian initiatives like the Season of Creation and Thy Kingdom Come.
HTH News (our weekly email with more than 200 subscribers) includes a prayer diary, requesting prayer for specific individuals and situations.

Discipleship and mission

Holding a Safeguarding Sunday to highlight how seriously we take the safety of all U18s and adults, with all volunteers, including all PCC members, being DBS checked and taking C of E safeguarding training.
Working with eight other local Anglican churches in the Macclesfield Anglican Churches Revitalisation Initiative towards a Christ-centred, mission-focussed, integrated Anglican organisation in Macclesfield.
Allocating 10% of our unrestricted income (money not donated for specific purposes) as part of the way we support a number of mission partners working locally and around the world.

Social

And

Managing to do all this while releasing our vicar for a well-earned three-month sabbatical.

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