Welcome to the website of All Hallows’ Church, Ordsall and St Michael’s Church, West Retford.
Our vision is to offer love and welcome for all in our local communities. For more information on each church, please click on the links in the main menu.
Our Welcome
As churches in Ordsall and West Retford, our aim is to provide warm, friendly places of worship and peace at the centre of each community. We do this through our Sunday services and the various events that happen each week, including Places of Welcome coffee mornings and Craft Circle – our craft groups. Church should be a place that is for everyone in the local area, in which all are welcome to come and hear the good news of God’s love revealed through Jesus Christ. You can read a statement about our welcome by clicking here.
Our Tradition
In our services, we’re gathered together as God’s people, invited to hear God’s word through the Bible and blessed as we receive the bread and wine of Holy Communion. At the end of the service we’re sent out to be representatives of God’s love and peace in the world, and to share the message of Jesus with those we meet.
Both of our churches are in the central to high tradition of the Church of England, which means that our services use liturgy, our ministers wear robes and that we emphasise the celebration of Holy Communion regularly. Our worship follows a set pattern of Bible reading and seasons according to the lectionary, and the colours of the banners and vestments that we have in church reflect this. We sing hymns or simple songs together from hymn books or words from a screen. Worship includes the use of all our senses and this includes singing parts of the service together and the use of incense and ringing of bells at key points in the service. Some of our members may describe themselves as ‘Anglo-Catholic’ whereas others may not use this language.
Our Beliefs
We are members of Inclusive Church, a network of churches, groups and individuals uniting together around a shared vision.
“We believe in inclusive Church – a church which celebrates and affirms every person and does not discriminate. We will continue to challenge the church where it continues to discriminate against people on grounds of disability, economic power, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, learning disability, mental health, neurodiversity, or sexuality. We believe in a Church which welcomes and serves all people in the name of Jesus Christ; which is scripturally faithful; which seeks to proclaim the Gospel afresh for each generation; and which, in the power of the Holy Spirit, allows all people to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Jesus Christ.”
Inclusive Church Statement
As a parish we believe in the ministry of men and women to preach, teach and be ordained in the Church. We support local and national Pride events, and affirm and welcome LGBTQ+ people to participate fully in the worship and leadership of our church. You can find out more about Inclusive Church here.
Our Leadership
Priest-in-Charge: Rev’d Alex Shiells
Deacon (Assistant Minister): Rev’d David Bean
Licensed Lay Ministers (LLM): Chris Trend & Chris Carnall
Clergy with Permission to Officiate (PTO): Rev’d Nicky Carnall, Rev’d Simon Holdaway & Rev’d Tim Pownall-Jones
Churchwardens: Michael Storey & Barbara Burrows (All Hallows’), Pat Bloodworth & Nigel Bower (St Michael’s)