St Mary's Asian Food Festival Outdoor Worship

Hong Kong worshippers from St Mary’s transformed Stockport town centre on Sunday as they took part in an Asian food festival. It was a great opportunity for them to share their Cantonese culture, whilst also taking the church’s intercultural worship out of the church pews and into the shopping precinct.

Stockport has become home to a growing number of Hong Kongers who have left the country in recent years. St Mary’s has welcomed them with open arms and curate Revd Andy Crook (pictured below), who speaks fluent Cantonese, conducts weekly services for worshippers in their own language, as well as English.

“There is so much to share from our vibrant, intercultural worship at St Mary's church and it was great to do this on the streets in the same way that we do every Sunday - with great Asian food, a Cantonese Bible study and our Cantonese language service.

“We normally sing in Cantonese, English and Mandarin, and it was good to hear some of that, with a young and talented band, on the streets. This complemented the richness of the music and food on offer in the festival, which we also hold monthly in and around St Mary's Church on the second Friday of every month.

Services in Cantonese take place at St Mary’s at 2pm every Sunday, following a communal lunch and bible study.