LOUISE Hudson enjoys church so much that she really wishes she’d gone back before.

Louise Hudson outside Hart Plain Church

This year's theme is Come As You Are

She hadn’t been for 20 years before returning to Hart Plain Church last September. She was tempted back by the national Back to Church Sunday campaign.

Now Louise has joined the choir and a house group, she’s enjoying reading the Bible and feels closer to God. She also has a new network of friends.

She’s urging parishes to sign up to the campaign, which involves worshippers inviting their friends to come back to church on September 26.

“Since coming back to church, I just feel more positive,” said Louise. “I feel calmer, I don’t feel on my own as much, and if I’m having a bad day, I know that Jesus is there and that I can read the Bible and that will help me.”

The 48-year-old mother-of-three had been to Hart Plain Church for six months in 1990. She’d worked as a nurse at the Queen Alexandra Hospital for 20 years before becoming ill with ME in August 2007.

Louise, who lives in Bunting Gardens, Wecock, spent four months being unable to get out of bed and another year being largely housebound. She still needs a stick to walk.

During that time, she thought more about faith and bought a Bible. And last August she first saw publicity for Back to Church Sunday and heard Aled Jones talking about it on BBC Radio 2.

“I decided that I would go back, and I popped into Hart Plain Church during the week to check they were doing it that Sunday,” she said. “I was worried because I went in on my own, but people recognised me from 20 years ago, and from work. They were really welcoming. The service was more modern, which I liked.

“I started going every week, and after two or three weeks the vicar gave me a more modern Bible, as I was finding mine difficult to read. I’d been back at church for a month before my daughter noticed I was missing every Sunday morning!

“It does brighten up my Sunday – so much so that I thought: ‘What a waste of 20 years. I could have had all this friendship and happiness for all of that time’. I had thought that people would judge me, but in fact nobody does.”

Our diocese was one of the most heavily involved in last year’s Back to Church Sunday, with 91 participating churches. An average of 23 people came back to each church in our diocese on the day, and many have continued to attend.

Across the world, 105,000 people came back to church last September, with 72,000 returning in England alone.

The idea is that each regular worshipper invites a friend to come with them – although some, like Louise, respond to national publicity. Churches that sign up receive branded posters, prayer cards and invitation cards. This year’s theme is ‘Come as you are’.

Our diocese’s organiser, the Rev Tim Jessiman, said: “I know every week should be a ‘back to church’ Sunday, but there are huge benefits to being part of a national campaign, with everyone making a special effort to be inviting and welcoming.”

Churches in Portsmouth diocese can register and order their resources via www.backtochurch. co.uk, and send a cheque (made payable to ‘Portsmouth DBF’) to Tim Jessiman, 61 Hart Plain Avenue, Waterlooville, PO8 8RG to pay for the resources they’ve ordered. The deadline for churches to register is June 15.