Welcome to the parish of St. Peter’s Halliwell
Rev Alan writes…
Movement on Our Frontlines Sermon Series In our
morning services, we have started an exciting new sermon series called Movement on Our Frontlines which builds on our overarching theme of Movement throughout 2026, with the aim to help us learn that the church is a movement that we can all play a part in. It is based on the Fruitfulness on the Frontline initiative from LICC (London Institute for Contemporary Christianity). You may remember we looked at this as a parish in 2017. It is based on the principle that where you are now truly matters to God. We all have an everyday context that’s significant to God, full of people who matter to God. But can we see how God might have been working in and through us on our frontlines? And can we imagine what more God might want to do there?
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Morning Service series - Movement on our Frontlines
Our overarching morning sermon theme for 2026 is Movement.
Throughout 2026 we are learning what it means for the church to be a movement rather than an institution.
We started with the theme of Prayer as a Catalyst for Movement.
During Lent, we considered prayer as a catalyst to all spiritual movements by studying Jesus’ prayers in the Gospels and his experience in the wilderness.
Serving a Movement.
In our next series, we examined the growth of the Jesus’ movement through the church in the book of Acts, to help us discern the role He is asking us, both as individuals and as a church family, to play in His movement today.
Movement on Our Frontlines.
This latest series is based on the LICC (London Institute for Contemporary Christianity) teaching resource called Fruitfulness on the Frontline. You can find more information on this on LICC’s website at https://licc.org.uk/ourresources/fruitfulness/. There is also a book available on this theme.
Our morning services from St. Peter’s Church are live-streamed (slides and audio, no live images) and are available to watch later on our YouTube channel.
Evening Sermon series - Pressure Points - The Book of James
Pressure is nothing new. James, the half-brother of Jesus, wrote to Jewish Christians in the first century who faced intense pressure. They had been dispersed because of persecution, and they faced increasing pressure to let faith live only in their heads instead of being evidenced in their lives. James beckoned these first believers to let pressure push them deeper in their journey with Jesus. Today, James invites believers to open their lives to the truth of God’s Word and learn how to deal positively with pressure points.
We meet every Sunday at 6.30pm in St. Peter’s Church and the opening worship, reading and talk from this service is available on our YouTube channel.
Oasis
Oasis is our midweek service – a time of fellowship and friendship at St Peter’s!
Refreshments are served in the church lounge from 10.30am and at 11.30am there is a 30 minute service in church for those who would like to attend.
Do come and join us – everyone is very welcome for part or all of our time together.
Verse of the Year 2026
Rev Alan says:
We’ve been on a journey in our sermons in our morning services as a parish since I started as Vicar just over three years ago.
• Year 1: we focused on the Kingdom of God
• Year 2: we focused on the church as Jesus’ Family on Jesus’ Mission
• Year 3: we focused on Jesus, how we should fix our eyes on him and learn from his example.
In 2026 (Year 4): I want us to focus on learning more about and loving our neighbours, which of course should flow out from giving our whole selves in our love of God and our commitment to his church as Jesus’ Family on Jesus’ Mission.
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Newsletter Archive:
St. Peter's Church
Barrow Bridge Mission
Smithills Fellowship
St. Andrew's Church
Parish Centre
St. Peter’s parish church is an impressive Grade II listed building at the heart of the parish. In the 1980’s an extension provided a lounge, kitchen and toilets and more recently a welcoming entrance area has been created between this and the church.
Barrow Bridge Mission is situated in an important conservation area on the edge of Bolton. The attractive community is a former model community mill village and comprises former mill owner and worker cottages.
Smithills Fellowship meets in St. Peter’s Smithills Dean CE Primary School and Smithills Hall Chapel. The Chapel forms part of Smithills Hall and is leased from the council.
St. Andrew’s meets in the Hope Centre, which serves the Johnson Fold estate. The centre has been completely refurbished in the last 15 years, to better serve the needs of the surrounding community.
St. Peter’s Parish Centre is a hive of activity most days with church groups and other bookings.
It is also home to the administrative hub of the parish. The office is open Monday to Friday from 9.30am-3pm.
St. Peter's Church
St. Peter’s parish church is an impressive Grade II listed building at the heart of the parish. In the 1980’s an extension provided a lounge, kitchen and toilets and work is currently underway to provide a welcoming entrance area.
Barrow Bridge Mission
Barrow Bridge Mission is situated in an important conservation area on the edge of Bolton. The attractive community is a former model community mill village and comprises former mill owner and worker cottages.
Smithills Fellowship
Smithills Fellowship meets in St. Peter’s Smithills Dean CE Primary School and Smithills Hall Chapel. The Chapel forms part of Smithills Hall and is leased from the council.
St. Andrew's Church
St. Andrew’s meets in the Hope Centre, which serves the Johnson Fold estate. The centre has been completely refurbished in the last 15 years, to better serve the needs of the surrounding community.
Parish Centre
St. Peter’s Parish Centre is a hive of activity most days with church groups and other bookings.
It is also home to the administrative hub of the parish. The office is open Monday to Friday from 9.30am-3pm.
Safeguarding
At St. Peter’s Halliwell we work hard to maintain a safe environment for all. We are committed to implementing the House of Bishops’ safeguarding policies and good practice guidance.
If you have any concerns or enquiries regarding safeguarding, please visit our Safer Church page here for details of who to contact.