Half way through Lent, and Trinity Church was open from Thursday to Saturday for Experience Easter. Over 400 primary-school children and adults attended, making a total of over 2000 visitors since TrinityLearning started the event in 2010.

In The Garden of Gethsemane, children created animals from cold, hard clay

Two girls writing their hopes and dreams on palm crosses.

Trinity Church was transformed for the event. There were six tableaux round a labyrinth, and 20 volunteers from 5 Abingdon churches helping.

Today the United Service of the Church in Abingdon was held at Trinity Church. This is an annual celebration for the 14 member churches.

In the foyer, and round the church, were displays from a number of projects supported or closely connected with the Church in Abingdon, such as the Street Pastors.

Rev’d Richard Bittleston led a short service and also played piano. Richard will be leaving Trinity in the summer, at which point Trinity and All Saints will be getting a new joint minister. The number of ministers are being reduced in these days of declining church attendance in some of the more traditional churches.

The final hymn was to the hymn tune Abingdon. A recording from my phone can be heard here.

It is 50 years since John Robinson’s ground breaking book – Honest to God – was first published.

The next meeting of the The Abingdon Progressive Christianity Network Group, who follow in that tradition, will be held on 3 December, 7.30 pm, at St Michael’s Church. The discussion will consider what a church true to an honest understanding of Jesus might be like.

A few weeks ago the group hosted at Trinity a bigger event, inviting people from further afield, called: Let’s be Honest – Exploring a fresh way forward for Christianity. The picture shows Revd Canon Adrian Alker speaking at that event.

The Church of England Commissioners have approved the scheme to restructure the Parish of Abingdon, creating two parishes where there was one.

Christ Church is the Parish Centre for the newly created Parish of North Abingdon, to which Christ Church Long Furlong, and the Anglican part of The Peachcroft Christian Centre belong.
The newly created Parish of Abingdon-on-Thames comprises St Helens, St Nicolas and St Michael. These churches, to my perception, are more traditional while those in the north are more evangelical.

Discussion, consultation, and negotiation began back in 2007 to divide the parish of Abingdon in two.

The red line on the map shows to which church parish you now belong in a parochial council electoral voting sense. But there is no problem going to any church you like. You can even go to Oxford Cathedral if you like.