The Revd Tracey Morris writes…
I am the minister of St Columba’ Anglican and Stephen Hill Methodist church covenant in Sheffield. I took over here in Oct 2022 when the covenant was already in place and we have been working really well in bringing things together. We now consider ourselves to be one congregation. The strapline we try to live by is One Church Two Sites. We have also grown. When I joined we had an average attendance on a Sunday jointly of about 50 and now we are up to about 70 to 80. We alternate buildings on Sunday mornings and we are now starting to do joint practical things, whilst still maintaining our separate governance. We are still a work in progress and we are working on more resources to do more children and youth work. We have great connections with the community and we are working more with this. But the culture has definitely shifted and there is a fantastic relationship. The beliefs and values of the whole congregation are very much aligned with most people and there is a lot of love between them. We feel really blessed by what God has been doing in our covenant, so we are having a service on Sun 3 Nov (National Covenant Celebration Day) to celebrate our covenant relationship, with the Superintendent and the Archdeacon joining us. I am an Anglican Priest in Sheffield Diocese but have been authorised by the Methodist Church so I am fully involved in the Circuit Leadership.