St Andrew's Halliwell

St Andrew's Halliwell is a sister church in the parish of St Peter's, Halliwell. The building, which is on Johnson Fold Estate, is called the Hope Centre - home of St Andrews. The Bishop's pilgrimage to St Andrew's began with prayers at Barrow Bridge Mission Church and St Peter's School where Smithills Fellowship meet.

Following the prayers Bishop Nigel was taken to meet people who live on Johnson Fold Estate. Rev Paul Hardingham explained: "It is an area of social deprivation and there are some problems. I took Bishop Nigel to meet Margaret Hanley, a member of St Andrews, and Irene Jones, a member of the Residents Association. They chatted about some of the needs on the estate."

The community reception was an informal gathering with light refreshments held at the Hope Centre building, home of St Andrews. Rev Hardingham said: "We had about 60 people present including the Mayor of Bolton and her consort, local councillors, community workers on the estate, members of the PCC and leadership teams of the other churches in the parish."

The pilgrimage service also took place in the Hope Centre building. Bishop Nigel said a prayer of dedication for the building. Charles Clark spoke about how he became a Christian through St Andrews and looked back at how people have been influenced by the church over the years. Margaret Hanley spoke about her involvement in the church and the encouragement that it had been for her. New members, Steven and Julie Walsh spoke about how they felt called to be part of St Andrews and to get involved.

Photos from this Run the race Bishop's pilgrimage

At the end of the service Johnson Fold Community Worker, Graham Cook, passed the baton back to Bishop Nigel.

On reflection Rev Hardingham said: "The whole challenge of running the race came over very powerfully in terms of where we are as a church. We want to reach out to the people on the estate and be available.



The anointing was very personal and I think people found that quite a challenge and very helpful in the sense of being commissioned to fulfil that call.

Everybody who was involved was very encouraged. Having the Bishop endorsing what we are trying to do was important and people valued having his perspective on it."