TEN town churchgoers are bidding farewell to Bromsgrove and heading stateside on an important mission.

Parishioners from the NewSong Community Church in Sidemoor are jetting to America to help out in some of the poorest inner city regions on May 27.

One of the trip organisers Danny Villarreal explained: "We will be heading to an inner city area to do some regeneration work, whether it be building a prefabricated house, cleaning someone's house or even decorating it."

He added: "People may ask, 'why America?' but we have strong links over there, with one church in particular which helps and supports us in an indirect way."

However, before the missionaries jet off they need to raise around £8,500 to help with their community work, so members are holding a concert this Friday (May 16).

Experienced musician Danny will be performing an acoustic session with the church's musical director Paul Douglas to include the hits of Sting, Billy Joel and Robbie Williams.

"It will be a really relaxed, informal evening. There will also be special guests and some brilliant dancers," added Danny.

Music is also playing an important role on the stateside mission when church representatives will spend a week discussing ways to integrate music into the community.

"We will be learning techniques to make music more effective in Bromsgrove," said Danny.

Tickets for Live at the Chapel available from the Broad Street church on the night.

The show starts at 7.30pm.