Welcome to the parish of St. Peter’s Halliwell
Rev Alan writes…
Let’s Unite the Church in Bolton!
On this Sunday evening, we are all invited to join Christians from churches across Bolton for a Worship & Prayer Evening at The Bridge Church, 109 Bradford Street BL2 1JX.
The evening runs from 8pm until 9.30pm, with the café area open for refreshments from 7.30pm. Dave Kruczek, the leader of Grace Church, has taken the initiative to organise this event as he has a God-given passion to unite us all in prayer for the town. It is supported by churches across Bolton as part of the Passion for Bolton church network.
Read more in this week’s newsletter.
Morning Service series - Catalyst for Movement
Our overarching morning sermon theme for 2026 is Movement.
We will start with the theme of Prayer as a Catalyst for Movement. During Lent we will consider prayer as a catalyst to all spiritual movements by studying Jesus’ prayers in the Gospels and his experience in the wilderness.
Prayer is a virtually universal human behaviour. It fulfils a desire within us all to connect with something larger than ourselves. It gives us access to the wisdom of the Almighty. It offers a place to whisper what we dare not tell another soul, or, in frustration, to cry out before God. Prayer is the starting point for every great spiritual movement. Yet, few people know how to pray. Most people know how important prayer is, but few people can honestly say they have a fruitful prayer life.
In this series we will examine the prayers of Jesus. We will learn how Jesus approached prayer, what he prayed and how he instructs us to pray. If we are going to discern Jesus’ will for our church movement then deep and abiding prayer is essential. This Lent season, let us look to the prayer life of our risen Saviour as we embrace the resurrected life He offers each day through prayer.
Our morning services from St. Peter’s Church are live-streamed (slides and audio, no live images) and are available to watch later on our YouTube channel.
Evening Sermon series - The Movement of God's People
We will be studying several “40” passages of scripture, where each passage provides examples of the movement of God’s people. They will help us see how God moves His people and how God’s people can participate in God’s movement. They will help us look at how our Christian community here in St. Peter’s Parish can seek to be a kingdom movement.
Studying these “40 passages” will help us to reflect on our spiritual journeys and our collective journey as a family of faith. The number “40” in Scripture contains a great depth of meaning, often signalling a time of preparation for a specific future task.
We meet every Sunday at 6.30pm in St. Peter’s Church and the reading and talk from this service is available on our YouTube channel.
Oasis
Oasis is our midweek service – a time of fellowship and friendship at St Peter’s!
Refreshments are served in the church lounge from 10.30am and at 11.30am there is a 30 minute service in church for those who would like to attend.
Do come and join us – everyone is very welcome for part or all of our time together.
Verse of the Year 2026
Rev Alan says:
We’ve been on a journey in our sermons in our morning services as a parish since I started as Vicar just over three years ago.
• Year 1: we focused on the Kingdom of God
• Year 2: we focused on the church as Jesus’ Family on Jesus’ Mission
• Year 3: we focused on Jesus, how we should fix our eyes on him and learn from his example.
In 2026 (Year 4): I want us to focus on learning more about and loving our neighbours, which of course should flow out from giving our whole selves in our love of God and our commitment to his church as Jesus’ Family on Jesus’ Mission.
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Coming up soon … (click to make the slides bigger)
See the Newsletter for more details
Newsletter Archive
Read the Newsletter from the last few weeks:
25th January
18th January
11th January
Christmas 2025
14th December
7th December
30th November
23rd November
16th November
9th November
26th October
19th October
12th October
5th October
28th September
21st September
14th September
7th September
St. Peter's Church
Barrow Bridge Mission
Smithills Fellowship
St. Andrew's Church
Parish Centre
St. Peter’s parish church is an impressive Grade II listed building at the heart of the parish. In the 1980’s an extension provided a lounge, kitchen and toilets and more recently a welcoming entrance area has been created between this and the church.
Barrow Bridge Mission is situated in an important conservation area on the edge of Bolton. The attractive community is a former model community mill village and comprises former mill owner and worker cottages.
Smithills Fellowship meets in St. Peter’s Smithills Dean CE Primary School and Smithills Hall Chapel. The Chapel forms part of Smithills Hall and is leased from the council.
St. Andrew’s meets in the Hope Centre, which serves the Johnson Fold estate. The centre has been completely refurbished in the last 15 years, to better serve the needs of the surrounding community.
St. Peter’s Parish Centre is a hive of activity most days with church groups and other bookings.
It is also home to the administrative hub of the parish. The office is open Monday to Friday from 9.30am-3pm.
St. Peter's Church
St. Peter’s parish church is an impressive Grade II listed building at the heart of the parish. In the 1980’s an extension provided a lounge, kitchen and toilets and work is currently underway to provide a welcoming entrance area.
Barrow Bridge Mission
Barrow Bridge Mission is situated in an important conservation area on the edge of Bolton. The attractive community is a former model community mill village and comprises former mill owner and worker cottages.
Smithills Fellowship
Smithills Fellowship meets in St. Peter’s Smithills Dean CE Primary School and Smithills Hall Chapel. The Chapel forms part of Smithills Hall and is leased from the council.
St. Andrew's Church
St. Andrew’s meets in the Hope Centre, which serves the Johnson Fold estate. The centre has been completely refurbished in the last 15 years, to better serve the needs of the surrounding community.
Parish Centre
St. Peter’s Parish Centre is a hive of activity most days with church groups and other bookings.
It is also home to the administrative hub of the parish. The office is open Monday to Friday from 9.30am-3pm.
Safeguarding
At St. Peter’s Halliwell we work hard to maintain a safe environment for all. We are committed to implementing the House of Bishops’ safeguarding policies and good practice guidance.
If you have any concerns or enquiries regarding safeguarding, please visit our Safer Church page here for details of who to contact.