Our Impact
We make an impact as a church by living out the good news of Jesus Christ and building the Kingdom of God. In our worship, our prayer and our sharing in bread and wine we invite Jesus into our lives to empower us for this task—we say, "Your Kingdom come." By working for Social Justice, building community, acts of loving service, and giving and recieving hospitality the Kingdom of God comes near—we say, "Your will be done." Through a thoroughly inclusive welcome and by serving the needs of our parish we try to notice what God is doing and join in—that it may be, "In earth as in heaven."
On average 24 'events' take place here each week.
On average 400 people come through our site every week.
About 40% of our footfall comes from the wider community using our buildings.
Below you'll find some of the ways we try to have an impact in our parish. Other things that happen here can be found on our Venue Activities page.
If there's something you'd like to see that isn't here and want to help make it happen, let us know.
Our Distribution Centre for the Chiltern Foodbank operates both a delivery system and a face-to-face weekly drop in session and runs from the Annexe at Holy Trinity, Prestwood. We process Foodbank vouchers and supply Food boxes to clients within the local area. Boxes provide 3 days’ worth of food to create balanced meals for clients. The boxes are packed to accommodate individuals and families: single boxes, couples boxes, single parent boxes and family boxes. The centre is run by a team of staff and volunteers, who run the centre, monitor the incoming vouchers and deliver the food boxes.
A weekly drop-in group for expectant and new parents and their babies aged 0-1 years. This group is run by a team of volunteers each Monday morning in our Annexe here at Holy Trinity, Prestwood.
The Toy Library at Holy Trinity, Prestwood is a free resource for the local community. Run by a team of volunteers, it is open weekly in the Annexe and is a peer-to-peer lending service, providing a wide range of toys, games and resources that can be borrowed on a casual basis.
Our Toddler Thursday drop-in group for children aged 0-5 and their carers meets each Thursday morning in Church. A fun morning of toys, crafts, singing, snack time and our toddler prayer.
A weekly drop-in group for children with special educational needs and their carers. Sensory Stay & Play takes place each Wednesday afternoon in the Annexe; a friendly and supportive space to meet together.
Holy Trinity, Prestwood is a partner church with the national charity Transforming Lives for Good (TLG). We run a Make Lunch Club weekly during each school holiday. Liaising with Prestwood Village Schools, we invite local families to the Church Hall and Annexe for crafts, activities and a hot, nutritious, freshly cooked two-course meal.
We welcome students from the Chiltern Way Academy to our site for a variety of volunteering opportunities. Students have completed Duke of Edinburgh volunteer hours in the Churchyard, have built a fence around our woodland area, volunteered at our Toddler Thursday group, and run a monthly pop-up café in our Church Hall. This is a valued partnership for both us and CWA and we look forward to engaging in more projects together in the future.
Holy Trinity has been a champion of African Village Support since 2017, when the charity was chosen for our annual Lent Appeal.
AVS has been working in Muyembe, Eastern Uganda since 2003. It operates out of a purpose built community centre and provides education, training and recreation for women’s groups; literacy development; and study opportunities in music, dance and drama. Support includes building pit latrines, water tanks, a bore hole for its hostel for girls, mosquito nets, support for HIV/Aids victims, partnership with the Red Cross, and provision of ‘mama bags’ for pregnant mothers. It seeks ‘livelihood’ projects so individuals and villages can be self supporting and grow their local economy.
We are part of the Welcome Network, supporting refugees in our community. Christians are called to love and welcome the stranger, whatever their cultural background. Every church has the privilege and opportunity to welcome and care for refugees and asylum seekers in some way. The Welcome Network identifies churches around the UK who are committed to welcoming refugees. This means that as refugees and asylum seekers move around the UK, they can easily find a church to welcome them into the community. There are lots of ways we can support refugees. Check out No Refugee Alone - Welcome Churches (https://welcomechurches.org/) for more information. Speak to the Rector or contact the office to get involved.
We have a team on Kiva, and you can see the amazing amount of money we've loaed below! Join our team today.
More than 1.7 billion people around the world are unbanked and can’t access the financial services they need. Kiva is an international nonprofit, founded in 2005 in San Francisco, with a mission to expand financial access to help underserved communities thrive.
Our Kiva Live Stats
They do this by crowdfunding loans and unlocking capital for the underserved, improving the quality and cost of financial services, and addressing the underlying barriers to financial access around the world. Through Kiva's work, students can pay for tuition, women can start businesses, farmers are able to invest in equipment and families can afford needed emergency care.
By lending as little as $25 on Kiva, you can be part of the solution and make a real difference in someone’s life. 100% of every dollar you lend on Kiva goes to funding loans.
Join our team today.
Holy Trinity, Prestwood has a large and well-loved churchyard. It is the final resting place for many villagers, and their friends and relatives spend time rememebring them and tending their graves. Due to the amazing care over the years of our dedicated team of volunteers, with careful regular mowing and good management, our churchyard is now also an important and valuable example of an increasingly rare grassland site. In fact, with 23 different varieties of waxcap mushrooms, we are designated as an internationally important waxcap grassland. Many thanks to our dedicated volunteers who help to manage the churchyard. We need more of you! If you would like to volunteer some time all equipment and training is provided. Please speak to the Rector.
Recognition of our Impact
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Great to see the work of Holy Trinity, Prestwood featured on the BBC News website, alongside our village schools and council services. Our amazing Family Suport Worker, Fran McLean spearheads our fantastic team of volunteers who do so much work in the community, just some of which is referenced here.
Cost of living: The hidden poverty in England's least deprived area - BBC News