Flourishing with Flourish

Revd Callum Boothroyd, Vicar of Over St Chad’s, Winsford

When I arrived at St Chad’s in 2022, I promised myself I wouldn’t rush into anything. For the first year, I simply wanted to get to know the parish — its people, schools, rhythms, and needs.

Winsford is a fascinating place — full of warmth and character but facing real challenges. My parish alone covers around 13,000 people and five schools, one of which is a Church of England school. The area is growing fast, with thousands of new homes planned.

That first year, I spent much of my time in the schools, leading assemblies and meeting staff and children. The pupils would say, “Oh, Callum from the church is coming today,” which was lovely — but I didn’t want to be the church coming to them. I wanted them to see St Chad’s as their church.

So, I began inviting classes into church for visits and tours, telling stories about our sacred objects — especially the gory ones! Gradually, relationships deepened.

After that first year, I paused to pray: Lord, what next? Around that time, the national Church was talking a lot about “new worshipping communities.” I remember thinking, “That’s lovely, but it won’t happen here.” Yet, as I prayed, I sensed God saying: You don’t need to start from scratch. I’m already at work — look where.

That place was the school. Its vision — “a future with hope” — is profoundly biblical, and hope is something Winsford really needs. As we explored God’s love and faithfulness together, something shifted. The children’s understanding of faith grew, the school’s atmosphere changed, and Christian values began to take root.

When the school had its SIAMS inspection, the governors said, “Just talk to the children — they’ll tell you everything.” And they did. The report reflected what we had already seen: a school living out faith, not just learning about it.

Soon after, the Archdeacon called about a new national initiative called Flourish — a partnership between churches and schools to nurture new worshipping communities. Without even consulting each other, the headteacher and I both said, “We’re in!”

Flourish is a pilot in 40 locations across 13 dioceses. Its five principles are:

1. Young people’s voices shape leadership.

2. Communities grow younger and more diverse.

3. Leadership is shared between church and school.

4. Faith development is intergenerational.

5. Worship is embedded in school life.

We realised we were already living this out — Flourish simply named what God was doing.

We launched with a harvest celebration. The children led the planning and decided the theme should be Creation and the Fall — “how good God’s world is, and how humans have messed it up.” Our pattern became simple: meet with the children, plan together, and then let them lead worship using gentle Anglican guide rails.

We expected a handful of parents; ninety-eight turned up! Now around sixty people attend regularly, and the children’s leadership team is so big we rotate them.

One Year 6 girl told me, “I don’t think people think enough about God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I think our job is to make them think more about it.” Others now ask their teachers before tests, “Miss, can we pray first?”

We didn’t plan that. We just noticed what God was already doing — and joined in. Flourish reminds me that this isn’t our work. These are God’s children, and He will nurture the seeds of faith taking root in them. Our job is simply to see what He’s doing, not get in the way — and join in.