Trinity Church, Gosforth, reports on how they have spent a mission grant from the Synod:

The grant given to support the mission and community development work of Trinity has been used to support the work of our community and pastoral work.  This post is being re-designed from September 2019 to be more focussed on community and outreach.

Up until then the work has been mainly focussed on building links within the community that works on the fringe of church.  This has included a celebration tea for the over 90’s, work with those impacted by bereavement, running two toddler groups each week, establishing another weekly toddler group with faith content (church mice).

We have also held outward looking occasional services including a very popular Christmas eve all age worship where the Christmas message is presented in an accessible way.  There have also been occasional events on the Trinity Square the latest being a BBQ where 430 sausages in baps were served up and given away along with the opportunity for conversations.  People took advantage of both opportunities, although the conversations did not match the number of sausages!

From September we are also exploring how to make the church more open and available, especially to centre users (we have a footfall in the region of 2,500 per week).  We are also exploring the setting up of men’s sheds, this latter project being driven by our new deacon whose main remit is to develop community outreach.

During Advent we are planning a nativity event which will engage with the community and involve travelling down the High Street.

As a church we are looking at what our story is during the year, including involving the congregation in “This time tomorrow” conversations within worship and preaching using the book “Living faithfully” which seeks to bridge the gap between Sundays and the rest of the week.