A year ago, Holy Trinity Hatton didn’t see any children or young families in the church regularly. They wanted this to change, so decided to work on becoming ‘child ready’ in the hope that when children and families did come, they would find a welcoming environment and times of worship that they could easily engage with.
As part of this process, the church started hosting ‘Breakfast Church’ once a month in place of their usual 10.30am Sunday morning service.
Breakfast Church starts with hot drinks, pastries and bacon rolls, and an informal time to chat and get to know each other. There is then a short time of worship with hymns, readings and intercessions, as well as a short talk focussing on the theme of the morning. After this, there is an opportunity for everyone to explore the theme more deeply through a variety of activities; including a craft space, a discussion group, a place to pray alone or in groups, and an activity to take outside into the church yard.
Breakfast Church offers something for everyone; whatever their age, life stage, or learning style.
Initially, the service was only attended by the existing regular congregation, however new people soon started to drop in. A year in, there are now three or four families who regularly come with their children.