St Edmund’s Church in Shipston run two fresh expressions of church in local care homes. Teams from the church go into the care homes once a month to deliver a worship service to the residents.
The two teams from St Edmund’s are led by curate, the Revd Hannah Gregory and reader, Alison Tomkinson. On the first Thursday and Friday of the month they go into two different care homes and lead ecumenical worship. About twenty people come along in each care home, which doubles the church’s weekly attendance.
Each month the worship services follow a seasonal theme. As the residents of the care homes can rarely go outside, the team often bring in elements of the natural world so they can feel connected to nature. In spring this is flowers, at harvest a sheaf of wheat and in autumn, conkers. These objects often bring back happy memories to the residents such as playing with conkers when they were children.
Singing hymns together also evokes powerful memories. A few residents who don’t define themselves as Christians come along for the enjoyment of singing hymns they used to sing at school. For the majority who are Christian, the group worship is very powerful. During the pandemic with the rules against group singing, many thought that they would never sing in worship with others again. One resident cried in joy during the first worship service after the rules had been lifted.
As well as providing for the resident’s spiritual needs, the services also offer the chance for socialising. After each service there is tea and cake and the team from St Edmund’s chat to the residents. This benefits both parties. The residents get to hear about the outside world and the volunteers from the church are able to learn from the experience and wisdom of the residents. The experience of volunteering is an enriching one for the teams from St Edmund’s.
One of the volunteers, Christine Chatterley said;
“I just love going in and seeing all their smiley faces, it’s such a rewarding activity.”
The Revd Hannah Gregory said;
“It’s such a privilege to be welcomed into their home and to be able to bring a bit of Jesus into their lives. I love chatting to amazing people afterwards.”
If your church is interested in leading care home worship, Hannah recommends contacting your nearest care home and finding out from them what they would like. All volunteers need to be safer recruited and DBS checked which the parish safeguarding officer can help with. Also Hannah recommends PARCHE who provide a great deal of help and guidance for Christians interested in ministering in care homes.