A forest church in Dorchester Abbey will celebrate the christening of one of its members a year on from the first service.
The church has grown from its first meeting in January to 70 regular attendees at the monthly services in the Cloister Garden.
Steph Forman, from the abbey, said: “We celebrate God’s creation with songs, prayer and outside activities. We always have welcome Lego and treasure hunts, environmental crafts and planting with our local gardening group and finish with a firepit, toasting marshmallows and hot chocolate. It is huge fun!”
Along the way they’ve built memories and collected resources, for example, the children were excited to plant, harvest and then eat as jam their blackcurrants, which will now be used for Tea Room jam. The services have also gradually collected a new group of adult helpers who are inspired by forest church.
Steph Forman, from the Abbey, said: “We always said that would know if we’d succeeded when families wanted to bring their friends so Hattie’s christening seems like the ultimate reflection of this!”
The service will be taken by the Revd Canon Rachel Carnegie, who has led this work from the start.
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