About Us

We are a Church of England church in the Diocese of Durham, which was originally started as a multi-denominational Ecumenical Centre back in the 1970s. Eventually the Church became Oxclose Church, run solely under the Church of England banner, and serving Ayton, Blackfell, Lambton, and Oxclose in Washington. However, we more recently became a Resource Church and have begun to plant worshipping communities in other areas of the North-East. We felt that the name no longer represented who we were as a Church, leading to a change of identity, becoming Hope Family Church.

We are very different to more traditional Church of England churches in that you’ll find a modern style of Church, with a strong emphasis on welcome and being family (including all the noise and chaos that family brings). On Sundays our services are relaxed and friendly, and we absolutely love seeing children and young people, even if they went to spend our Church services on our legendary soft play! So come and give church a try either in-person or online!