Last weekend saw the first Bishop's Big Conversation weekend of the year, and the second since restrictions eased towards the end of 2021.
All Saints, Thorpe Acre was the host church, and the weekend saw Bishop Martyn and a small team from the diocese joining with the congregation of All Saints in a number of events aimed at connecting with members of the local community who may not normally attend church and sharing something of the Christian message of good news with them.
Events included a coffee morning, a breakfast event with questions and answers, a prayer walk, some door to door visiting in a block of flats, an evening in the local pub (in which Bishop Martyn even acted as guest Bingo caller!), a meal with musical entertainment followed by another question and answer session and a church service to finish on the Sunday morning.
As is always the case with these weekends there were a number of encouragements, some good contacts were made and some good faith conversations took place. Jon Barrett, Mission & Communications Enabler for the Diocese, who was part of the team with Bishop Martyn commented that "it was great to join for the weekend with a church who have such an obvious desire to be a blessing in their local community and to share their faith in a natural, down to earth and everyday manner."