“All Saints Challoch, it shouldn’t work but it does!” Bishop Nick
On 30 May, Canon Stuart headed a day at Glentrool Hive for the folk at All Saints to get together for a day of reflection and development as we pondered the future of our beautiful wee church. The following are the main points that he highlighted:
“All Saints Challoch, it shouldn’t work but it does!” Bishop Nick (let’s say it again!)
Initial Report of Development Day Glentrool Hive – Group Comments
Why Shouldn’t it work?
Geography, Position and accessibility, we are not in Newton Stewart. Hence a gathered congregation from across a wide area.
There is a lack of public transport on a Sunday.
The congregation is largely made up of incomers, ex pat English!
We have lost a number of folks, through death, age or moving away.
Not enough new people.
Older demographic.
Not child friendly.
Our profile and presence is not high enough across the wide area we cover. Our publicity is improving but still not good enough.
Do people actually know what Episcopal means? A mystery to many.
We are not promoting ourselves to visiting Anglicans and recently retired to the area who come from the CofE..
Never been a community church.
Not outward looking enough.
Our church building is cold, inflexible and usually locked.
Slow decision making processes – decision to action and delivery takes a long time. Eg heating project.
It appears we are known in the diocese as being a bit weird and eccentric?? So says +Nick.
Why does it work?
Church has demonstrated great persistence and fortitude in the face of long vacancies – testimony to congregational commitment. We are still here!
People come because they want to be here – hence they travel.
A strong sense of fellowship, people are involved, work together and care for each other. Give lifts to folk so they can get to church.
Welcoming, friendly and family feel. Related to size – we are a small church numerically? Offer good hospitality and great cakes in a good fellowship space at the back of church. A very inclusive church.
A growing church.
A bit different to other churches in the area. We are Episcopal, related to our tradition, worship style and focus, sacramental and eucharistic.
Congregational members involved in the delivery of the service, readers, prayers, worship leaders, welcome.
We have live music in worship.
We have an online presence.
Live stream our Sunday service and weekly online evening prayers.
Holy Week Services and events.
We have a ministry team of priest, lay reader, lay worship leaders, pastoral coordinator. Fortunate in our leadership.
Many and varied gifts in our midst.
People feel valued.
Beautiful location of the church, attractive churchyard, seats, flowers, planters.
A gem of a beautiful church.
Church looks cared for and is!
A “watering hole” in the desert.
Events bring folks in – people comment on the fellowship and welcoming atmosphere.
Support charities – Foodbank, Christian Aid, coffee monies to various charities. 2nd Sunday sales support church funds.
Legacies help support our finances and running costs.
What kind of church is God calling us to be?
A caring community of adults who have all suffered trauma.
A community that hears, preaches and lives the Gospel.
A welcoming inclusive community of sinners and saints.
Non-judgmental, safe, a sanctuary – yet challenging in terms of our discipleship. Accessible.
Outward looking – keen to reach out – visible.
Not just a Sunday church.
A place of solace and celebration.
Being the eyes, hands, body of Christ in the world.
Spiritual, thoughtful, meaningful, reflective.
Focussed on the Word of God and sharing the word of God with the community Prayer, praise, scripture and the sacraments central to our worship and life.
A place to re-charge ourselves in order to re-charge others.
A place for building friendships.
A listening place – to God and one another.
A church which recognises, celebrates and uses peoples’ gifts – Ephesians 4. A community which celebrates and cares for creation.
To be part of the community of Wigtownshire – connected!
A church which recognises we have a special ministry to mature people
So we provide good pastoral care to all.
We understand what people “were” when employed and “are” in retirement. To be happy in the Lord!
How do we grow and develop into the church God wants us to be?
Learning together about Scripture and prayer.
Identify our spiritual heart beat and keep it healthy.
Visibility – Raising our profile.4
Review our publicity and communications.
Review and refresh our online presence.
Branding and advertising – merchandise with logo and strapline, bags, clothing.
Roadside noticeboard renew and update.
Porch noticeboards review, revamp and refresh information.
Posters, leaflets in community spaces.
Outreach and presence in the communities across the charge, review and plan. Eg music event at Whithorn.
Promoting and growing the Whithorn service.
Coffee morning in Newtown Stewart eg Vibe 75.
Presence at community events with stall.
“Foot in the door strategy” – events around Christmas and Easter focus around welcome. Charity events in the community.
Support for new members – How to find you way around the service? Accessibility, assistive technology. What’s happening and how do folks know.
Keeping our eyes open so we invite and include people in jobs and tasks around the church and services.
Name tags (voluntary) – Help with who is who.
Music, piano, hymnbooks, psalter.
Spiritual Maze/labyrinth – looking at the churchyard.
Financial Resources – review giving and fundraising.
Working party to look at the use of the internal space of the church. Developing as an eco-congregation.
Those thoughts led to:
“All Saints Challoch, it shouldn’t work but it does!” Bishop Nick at Stuart’s Licensing Service.
Thoughts after our of Day of Reflection at Glentrool Hive shared on Sunday 12th July.
To be read in conjunction with recorded group comments and in the light of the Parable of there Sower. Matthew 13.1-9, 18-23.
Remember we are on a journey together seeking to listen to God to determine what kind of church God is calling us to be. This may well be a slow burn but the important thing is the direction of travel and the courage to make the journey.
Isaiah 40.31
“but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint.”
Two things stood out for me from this passage. The notion of “good soil” and “sowing the seed”.
Good soil for spiritual growth, good soil for numerical and community growth.
1. In relation to our church development there is a need for us to focus on the development of our spiritual life inside church and outside of church. Growth together and growth as individual Christian disciples. The question for us to answer is how do we do that?
Keeping a healthy spiritual heart beat for the life of our church. For that to happen Jesus needs to be at the centre. If we don’t get this right nothing will happen.
It is important that we focus on our worship and prayer life, our attention to scripture and to one another. Tending the soil so that the seed of God’s love can grow within the life of our church and within each one of us. If the seed is to grow the soil has to be good.
Part of this is understanding and celebrating our Anglican identity as part of the Episcopal Church. What makes us tick and different from other churches. Much for us to learn here I think.
In all of this we seek an authentic spiritual life which people will know and experience when they are with us.
2. Good soil for numerical and community growth means we continue to develop our welcome, friendship and the support we offer to one another. Healthy relationships matter and we need to tend them. It is not enough to say we are a welcoming church, a friendly church, a supportive church – the proof of the pudding lies in our actions.
Good soil, good community life will help people to put down roots in our fellowship and flourish. They too can grow spiritually and offer their gifts. Again this may be a slow burn, numerical growth is happening but we want this to be organic and natural – and not a conveyor belt, we welcome people in, as we lose others. We aim to grow not to simply have more people in church but for us all to meet with Jesus and know his life and love.
Sharing/sowing the seed – the gospel message and the love of God.
In all of this we have to face up to our context, especially our geography, the gathered nature of our congregation and our capacity to do things.
Two “P’s came out of our thinking. “Profile” and “Presence”
1. Profile. The importance of letting people know we are here, the church in the field – who we are, what we do. What do we need to do to raise our profile from Barrhill to the Isle of Whithorn?
As we raise our profile and the invitation to be with us get’s louder and is heard by more people, this is where the good soil comes in – to be a Christian community worth being a part of, a place where roots can be put down and we flourish together.
We recognise that it is often inevitable that growth in numbers also brings the need for change, are we ready to embrace this? Organic, natural growth – what will that look like for us, given our context and the nature of our current congregation which is mostly older people. We take people with us on the journey, no one gets left behind. This always takes time and hard work, let’s be ready to put in the effort.
Do we celebrate our identity as an Episcopal church? Do people even know what that means? Do we know what that means? We have a distinctiveness in our sacramental and eucharistic focus. We have roots as a dissenting church. Remember there are some who think us to be “weird and eccentric”. I can wear that as a badge of honour – let’s be distinctive and different, but always authentic, with Jesus at the heart of our life and community.
2. Presence. We are a gathered community from right across the charge, which geographically is big and varied! How is All Saints present across the Charge? The crucial thing is that we as disciples are present across the area. So there is importance in deepening and sharpening our discipleship worked out in our communities. The offering of service and love. Finding out what God is doing there and joining in. Working with other churches and people of good will to share the life and love of Christ in practical ways.
The big question! How is All Saints known and experienced in the varied and various communities across the Charge?
So these are some macro thoughts. Our next step needs to be to seek to answer some of these questions.
So what next? I would like to invite any who wish to become part of three working groups. These will be time limited. One to look at keeping the spiritual heart beat of Challoch healthy. One to look at profile raising and one to look at the issue of presence across the charge.
Stuart Bain 12th July 2026.
Stuart sent these to Bishop Nick and received the following reply: