The five churches in Middlewich came together for a week in October of ecumenical mission activity, and around 15 young people, many with no formal contact with a local church, responded to an invitation to follow God's call to trust in Jesus. The five churches were joined by a team from the One Hope Project (UK) and The Holy Spirit House (France) lead by Max Ford.
The week, which had been "planned and prayed for" since the beginning of 2019, began on the Sunday 20 October with a joint Healing Service at St Mary’s Roman Catholic Church. There was worship, teaching and ministry and four people gave testimony to having been healed during the service.
Other activities during the week included a Community Afternoon Tea at the Methodist Church with around 50 older people. There was a Men’s Breakfast on Saturday morning at the Assemblies of God church, and a midweek renewal service at the local United Reformed Church. On Wednesday morning, six members of St Michael’s Church went out in pairs into the town centre to speak and pray with people, and distribute leaflets about the mission events. There was also a social gathering on Saturday evening.
Members of the One Hope Project, Tom, Max, Jon, Ronan and Eve-Marie.
The team also spent time on Thursday in St Nicholas RC High School in Northwich, where they were able to talk about Jesus through a series of assemblies with different year groups. They then went into Middlewich High School on Friday to help with a variety of lessons (RE, Citizenship, Music and Science) where, in response to questions from pupils and staff, they also had the opportunity to talk openly about their faith in Jesus.
The main event was the 180 Youth Concert which took place on Friday 25 October at Middlewich’s Victoria Hall. The One Hope Band played and Max Ford spoke. It was a slow start but eventually, the young people came in. Around 15 young people responded to Max’s call to trust in Jesus. Team members and Middlewich Street Pastors were then able to chat with them afterwards. Many of these young people have no contact with the church other than through the Street Pastors and we have set up a 180 Youth Facebook group to maintain contact.
The Final Celebration Service was held on Sunday 27 October at St Michael's Church. This was a time of thanksgiving and prayer. Max Ford spoke one last time and was thanked and commissioned by the laying on of hands, for his next project. There were more testimonies to what God had been doing during the week, including one of our own youth team whose foot was healed as the result of prayer by the youth group.
Following the week-long mission, the Revd Simon Drew from St Michael and All Angels Church, said: "This whole week was planned and prayed for since the beginning of 2019. It's been fantastic. Miracles do happen - even in Middlewich - ecumenical co-operation does work, God’s people did step out in faith and lives were transformed by the Gospel. God is good."