Highfield Trinity

We are a small congregation, predominantly white and elderly, but with others who do not fit that description, including a group of young Iranian women and men who have significantly raised energy levels in the church over the last few years.

We meet for worship once a week, from10.30 to 11.30 on a Sunday morning, followed by refreshments and the opportunity to share matters of concern. Anyone who turns up is warmly welcomed.

The worship draws on Methodist traditions, not least with the emphasis placed on singing. One of the songs we sing expresses our philosophy very well:

Let us build a house where love may dwell
and all can safely live,
a place where saints and children tell
how hearts learn to forgive.
Built of hopes and dreams and visions,
rock of faith and vault of grace;
here the love of Christ shall end divisions:
All are welcome,
all are welcome,
all are welcome in this place.

Let us build a house where all are named,
their songs and visions heard
and loved and treasured, taught and claimed
as words within the Word.
Built of tears and cries and laughter,
prayers of faith and songs of grace,
let this house proclaim from floor to rafter:
All are welcome,
all are welcome,
all are welcome in this place.

Marty Haugen, Singing the Faith 409, Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes (2011)

Besides worship and the 'management' meetings necessary to keep church life going – particularly in times of multiple crises, as now – we have two monthly meetings which help sustain a sense of community and commitment:

First Saturday: Coffee Morning, 10.30 – 12.00 noon. This gives us an opportunity to talk informally about things that matter to us, within both the church and the wider community.

Nth -(week)day: Time and Space for God, 10.30 – 12.00 noon. This gives us an opportunity to engage with and reflect on powerful 'messages' – in texts, images, sounds – concerning faith, drawn from different faith traditions.

Driving all we do is a belief that we are called upon by God to transform lives, lives impaired by a society that is not as it should be – not as we believe God desires it to be. We lament lives diminished by poverty. Even more we lament – and condemn – the factors that bring about and sustain poverty. We lament lives threatened by the 'hostile environment' created by government to 'manage' migration. Even more we lament – and condemn – the institutional racism that gives rise to that environment. We lament the profound inequality evident in health, education, housing, access to the law. Even more we lament the ways in which rich, powerful individuals and corporations do all they can to sustain this inequality, of which they are the beneficiaries.

We look to show solidarity and work with all those around us who, like us, lament the state of our society and hope to change it for the better.

In facing and challenging that lamentable society, we seek to express and promote:

Creativity: believing that we are made in the image of a God who is a creator, we look to transform the elements of society as we find it, and create a society showing the love, peace and justice for all that God desires.
Wellbeing: believing that God is love, with a desire that all share in a good life, we look to promote the wellness of body, mind and spirit of those people we come into contact.
Sanctuary: believing that God is a God of and for the despised and rejected, we look to create a space where – in the words of the song above – all are welcome!

Whilst we all share in shaping the life of the church, its mission and ministry, we do identify particular people as 'leaders' who have roles as officials of the church. These include

Stewards: responsible for ensuring that all members feel involved in the life of the church and valued by the church:
Margaret Egginton
Eileen Woodhorpe
Mehdi Amiri

Church Council Secretary: responsible for helping the church to take decisions in an open, honest and socially responsible fashion:
Peter Egginton

Treasurer: responsible for the financial well-being of the church:
Richard Pinder

Minister: responsible overall for the wellbeing of the church and its members:
Naomi Cooke