Vicar discusses revitalisation of St Anne’s Church in Grantham ahead of Christmas period

A vicar has spoken of the revitalisation that has taken place at a Grantham church, ahead of the Christmas period.

Andy Acheson became the vicar at St Anne’s Church in Harrowby Road back in August.

Since then, the church has hosted picnics, firework nights, youth work, as well as fellowship and worship on Sundays.

“St Anne’s was identified by the diocese of Lincoln as a wonderful church to ‘revitalise’,” said Andy.

“By which I mean to breathe new life into and see grow and thrive again.

“After a few hard years, including the pandemic, I arrived in August with a large group of folks who moved house with me from a large church in Stamford (St George’s) to join the existing congregation to try and re-energise the ministry and community of St Anne’s church.

“And it’s been a wonderful few months, things have been going really well, and the church is growing with lots of new folks joining us, and new faces every week.”

With Christmas now approaching, the church has organised a festive programme which begins on Saturday December 2 with a Christmas fair between 10am and 2pm.

Services will continue at 9.30am and 11am each Sunday, and Handle’s Messiah will take place on December 8.

Christmas Eve sees the church host carol services at 9.30am and 11am, before a crib service and communion later in the day.

There will also be services on Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve.

Andy explained that the biggest change made since he had arrived was the addition of a second service on Sunday mornings.

He said: “At 9.30am we have a Traditional & Reflective Communion service, with liturgical prayers, much loved hymns and bible teaching.

“At 11am we have a Contemporary & Informal Service. This service has passionate bible teaching, a worship band, children’s groups, and prayer ministry and we all gather together at 10.30am to have tea and coffee and fellowship.

“We’re also trying to be a hub for the community so we’ve started a toddler group called bumps and buggies on a Thursday mornings (9-10.30am), and a community cafe called ‘Annie’s Cafe’ on a Tuesday morning (9-11am).”

More information can be found at www.stag.church.