Our Town Centre Church

St Stephen's Church is in the centre of Redditch, on the edge of the Green.  It is a large Victorian building with a large open chancel & side chapel, pews filling the main body of the church and the rear had a 70s re-fit to provide a kitchen, office, shop & WC as well as a meeting area known as the Forum.

Although our Sunday gathered congregation tends to be small, between 25 and 30, we host the town civic services such as Remembrance Sunday, filling the church to over-flowing.

We host a Christian book and gift shop Mon-Sat, a cafe twice a week, a lunch-time drop-in once a week and a food bank three times a week.  Along with our church, the Green includes a pedestrian area, the war memorial and the Redditch Bandstand.  It is a central gathering point.

As people live, gather, shop and work in the town they wander in to St Stephens for coffee, for the loos, for company, for peace, to say a quick prayer.

Whilst hoping & praying to build up the gathered congregation, we are looking at ways to make the building a more interactive place.  We would like to encourage the interest that people have in the building and provide ways that enable them to engage with our spiritual life. Whilst encouraging visitors, we will need to celebrate the church's role as a place of worship rather than a museum.

Plans for a new glass door will improve access on the West side, nearest the bus stops. We have cleared some of the redundant items that have been hoarded over the years and set up a children's corner with some toys, books, paper & crayons.  A new church history has been written and about to be published.

We would like to have discreet labels for items such as the font and pulpit.  Other possibilities are colouring sheets based on our beautiful stained-glass windows, a treasure-hunt activity sheet and we'll be looking at ways in which other open churches have been creative.

One way that we're encouraging interaction in St Stephens is the creation of a prayer space in the side chapel. The first one will be set up this Saturday.  Look out for our next post...