How the community at St Francis, Mackworth, embraced change for good

Angeline Murray (pictured with Revd Andy Bond) has attended St Francis church in Derby since the 60's.  In this article, she reflects on the changes made that have brought great joy and light to Mackworth.

Over the years, the attendance dwindled; however, God gave a sign that the church needed to serve Mackworth in a new way.

In 2020, Revd Andy Bond took over as the church leader. He introduced a vision from the start: “a light on the hill of our estate”. This vision remains and forms the foundations of everything the church does within the community.

Our initial concerns that the "traditional" service would be lost were soon gone, with the 9 am service being held weekly – robed clergy, hymns, a sermon and communion.

A modern service is held at 10.45 am and 4 pm) with worship songs and live singing/band and monthly communion. The service attracts lots of new people, and the songs are made available online and on Spotify too!

Lots of services, but we are all one church.

My personal highlight is seeing so many people every week after there had been so few. I’ve made friends with so many lovely people. Everyone is welcomed, and I always leave church with a huge smile on my face.

There is a real sense of community.

The vision of serving our estate, growing community and worshipping God was quickly established by the new team and is taken seriously - we are reminded of this vision every week.

Our church has so much to offer now, including early morning Zoom prayer meetings, in-person meetings for Bible study, alpha, youth alpha, connect groups (highly recommend!), schools outreach, residential homes outreach, men's football, open doors coffee, chatty crafters, toddler group, and much more.

As we grew, we needed more space. Some difficult decisions were made – statues moved, pews replaced with comfortable (and stackable) chairs, altar rails removed.

I'm smiling right now just thinking about church and how it's changed!

St Francis has changed so much but in my opinion for the better

Revd Andy Bond, Church Leader, said "We are so aware that what God is doing in this season, stands on the worship, prayers and giving of those who went before us. We also pray St Francis will be serving our estate long after we are gone. It is said "every church left to its own devices gets older and smaller," every year we all get older & people leave, move or are "promoted to glory"; therefore we have to intentionally push down in age and out to the parish. This is not so we look good, but for the name and fame of the Lord Jesus in this and every generation.

Learn more about St Francis, Mackworth - www.stfmackworth.org