BEING a central part of the local community is one of the reasons behind rising congregation numbers at a dale parish.
So says Revd Eileen Harrop, vicar at St Mary’s, Gainford, and St Andrew’s, Winston.
Both churches have both witnessed an increase in numbers during the last 12 months.
Feast days and festivals are always popular, St Mary’s was packed at Easter, it also has a regular congregation of between 30 and 40. The congregation at St Andrew’s has also risen by about 10 per cent.
Revd Harrop said: “We have a lot to celebrate in the rural parishes of Teesdale.
“We are fortunate our wonderful ancient church buildings are positive icons and do not conform to the usual stories of old buildings being a burden to the community.”
She added: ” We try to be a very visible part of the community.
“One way we can do so is through Gainford Primary School who we have an excellent relationship with.”
An initiative the school and church are involved in together is the Open Book Team, where church members go into school to complement the national curriculum with Christian religious teaching through drama and storytelling.
This is focused around biblical themes while echoing modern day issues.
Recently, the children learnt about the Feeding of the 5,000, which was brought bang up to date when some of the pupils visited the food bank at The Well, in West Auckland.
At The Well pupils met both volunteers and families which benefited to learn about how the food bank scheme works.
Revd Harrop said: “Although the pupils are fortunate to come from generally comfortable backgrounds they learnt that circumstances can change quickly. We have a lot to be thankful for, but the important message here was ‘what if’?” .
