Over the last year and a half at St Mary’s, one of the things I’ve really valued most is the sense of community and welcome within the church family. Before coming to St Mary’s, my previous church had several small family-style groups that met during the week to spend time together, chat about life, and explore the Bible in a relaxed and informal way. It was something I really appreciated, and after joining St Mary’s, I found myself missing that midweek space for fellowship and faith outside of Sunday services.

About 18 months ago, I started asking around to see if there might be interest in something similar here. At the time, several people were keen, but life had other plans — I was going through a number of major life changes and wasn’t in a position to help get something established properly.

More recently, I felt God nudging me again to revisit the idea. This time, I was in a much better place to commit to starting something, so I reached out to those who had previously been interested. As often happens, people had moved into different seasons of life and weren’t able to join right now. I started to think perhaps the timing still wasn’t quite right and considered putting the idea on hold again.

The following week, in what felt like perfect God timing, I mentioned it in passing in another Christian group gathering I attend. At the end of the meeting, several people came over and asked if I would go ahead and start it, saying they would love a space to deepen their understanding of the Bible, ask questions, and simply spend time together socially. And so, Hope & Hangouts was born.

The group will be very informal — no pressure, no need to be a Bible expert, and definitely no expectation that anyone has all the answers (because none of us do!).

It’s simply a place to explore faith together, encourage one another, and build friendships along the way.

We’ll be meeting at The Coach and Horses pub, Butchers Row, in Banbury on Thursday evenings at 7pm.

Whether you’ve been studying the Bible for years or you’re just curious and want to learn more, you’d be very welcome to join us.

We’re excited to see where God leads this group and how Hope & Hangouts grows in the months ahead. Sometimes the smallest conversations lead to the biggest blessings — and we’re trusting that this might be one of them.

Rebekah Stennet