CHURCH leaders at St Stephen’s had the toughest of tasks on Tuesday, choosing the artwork to welcome people into the building itself.

Late last year church worker Elaine Whitfield launched a competition for children to design a piece of art incorporating the words ‘Welcome to St Stephen’s Church’ and using the words love, faith, peace, hope and compassion.

And with big prizes on offer – a tablet computer, an Amazon Kindle and a voucher to name a star from the Star Registry – little wonder they were inundated with entries.

Redditch Standard editor Ross Crawford was invited to join them for the tough task of choosing a winner as it quickly became apparent the children had really taken the task to heart.

The Reverend Paul Lawlor, Vicar at St Stephen’s said: “It was great to see entries from schools right across the town. The heart of this was to encourage people to see St Stephen’s as a shared space and I think this has clearly done that.”

It is hoped to have the winning piece in position by the autumn but in the meantime the church will be holding an exhibition of all the entries from March 4 to 12.

Read more at: UK REDDITCH CHURCH FACING A VERY COLOURFUL CONUNDRUM