Churches from across Blackpool joined together recently for a fabulous week of practical and pastoral mission events across the town – from cleaning streets to a concert for young people and much more.

The week also included a ‘No More Knives’ tour of local secondary schools which has been hailed as a great success by Lancashire Police.

There was a supportive response to taking part in the whole mission week by people in congregations from across the town; with everyone working alongside Christian charity The Message Trust to achieve the aims of the week.

The mission began with a Commissioning Service at Blackpool Church, St John’s, which was led by the Bishop of Blackburn, Rt Rev Philip North.

Rev Peter Lillicrap, Area Dean of Blackpool and Vicar of The Trinity Parish, Blackpool said today: “Across the following seven days we had churches getting out on the streets to achieve local social action projects and outreach events, through simple tasks such as litter picking combined with prayer walking the streets. It was wonderful to see the impact on the community as partnerships formed and relationships were strengthened.

“Meanwhile we had The Message Bus (a mobile youth centre) going to four locations during the week across the town. This provided our churches with a great opportunity to share their faith with a new generation of young people.”

Rev Lillicrap added: “The No More Knives tour visited several secondary schools across Blackpool and the Fylde and this mission work culminated in a youth concert at the Paradise Lounge at the Pleasure Beach on Friday.

“A testimony at the concert by one of the band members led to more than 100 copies of the Bible chapters Luke and Acts being handed out; including information about youth events happening across our churches.”

Parish Renewal Lead from the Diocese of Blackburn, Rev Steve Haskett, commented: “The Blackpool No More Knives/ Love Where You Live initiative was a fantastic team effort. It was great to see local churches come together in partnership with The Message Trust, Lancashire Police, Lancashire Police and Crime Commissioner’s office, Blackpool Council, and local high schools on the Fylde Coast.

“The week ended with a dynamic youth event in Blackpool Pleasure Beach’s Paradise Room. More than 400 high school aged young people attended, where they saw performances from The Message Trust’s bands and heard a powerful message about how the love of God shown in Jesus Christ can impact and transform lives.

“The police and local high schools were full of praise for the initiative and, at their request, work is now under way to plan another week later in 2023.”

Sergeant Dan Whitaker, from Lancashire Violence Reduction Network, added: “The No More Knives tour has been hailed a great success throughout all the schools we’ve visited, reaching nearly 5000 pupils.

“There’s been loads of interactive engagement, which is something we really want to see from this age group. We’re looking to reach other schools across West Division, and the county, in the near future.”

• The entire mission week was to finish with an outdoor Praise in the Park Celebration in Kingscote Park, however this was postponed due to the weather to August 12 and an indoor celebration was held instead at Layton St Mark’s church which was attended by many who had been involved in the week.

Captions for above pictures, top to bottom

• Rev Peter Lillicrap (foreground) with volunteers taking part in litter picking in Layton during the mission week
• The Message Bus pops up at Boundary Primary School, Grange Park, as part of the mission week
• The No More Knives touring team is pictured during their visit to Hodgson School, Poulton-le-Fylde during the mission week