Writing from the Rectory
February
The BBC will once again report on Simon of Sudbury at St Gregory’s - this time via Radio Suffolk on their breakfast programme on 16 February. The interview will combine the church’s civic role, as a functioning parish church and as custodian of a relic of national political and historic importance.
Sudbury is gaining momentum regarding tourism particularly from those with an appetite for history. The site of St Gregory’s church on The Croft dates back to at least the death of Bishop Aelfhun in 797 AD.
Simon was a keen advocate of education and built a college of priests to the West of the church tower and gave substantial funds to extend the chancel. In order to recognise his legacy we wish to share his story with more visitors to the town but we can only do this with your help. Many people come to the church hoping to see inside but are sadly disappointed that, owing to recent vandalism, it can only be opened when we have the volunteers to open up and stay for the duration.
If you would be able to spare a couple of hours, perhaps just once per month between 11 and 3 any day of the week, we would provide training and be only too glad to hear from you.
Please contact Claire 07776955306 parishsecretary@stgregspcc.uk
As well as the BBC, we have been in discussion with the Tower of London, who are creating a new exhibition on the peasants’ revolt at their historic royal palace. They feature Simon’s demise in particular as it represents the only occasion in the fortress’ long history where a breach of security occurred. They have agreed to send one of their team to come to Sudbury to give us a talk which we aim to coincide with our planned weekend of events (12-14 June 2026) marking the death of the late archbishop.
Churches should serve their local community both spiritually and relationally and as curators of the past we hope to remind visitors of our rich heritage and the fragile tension between the state and its people. Jesus spoke truth to power and got lynched for challenging the status quo of injustice, thereby mixing religion and politics which remain inseparable.
St Gregory’s has been a place of worship for 1200 years and we invite you to share in it as a place of beauty and tranquillity.
Blessings,
Revd Andrew
January
In the BBC Reith Lectures, we are told that a moral revolution is needed. The difficulty then becomes who gets to define morality? We have an answer to that question, and it is known as the bible. There’s an ancient story (2 Kings 22-23) of a society that had largely forgotten about God and yet one day as they were clearing out the temple, they came across some scrolls which contained the Old Testament. From that day forth they decided to commit themselves to learning and applying the wisdom handed down to Moses to every generation to come. By the time of Jesus all Hebrew children would learn the scriptures by heart. What a contrast then to today where, increasingly, children do not own a bible and don’t learn about the Christian faith or any other at school. Jesus attached great importance to people having access to worship and to him that had previously been excluded. Jesus was the founder of inclusivity: women, widows, orphans, children, migrants, the sick, the poor. In fact, when some children were prevented from accessing Jesus, he rebuked the well-meaning adults saying, “Let the children come to me!” Commonly I hear the following comment by parents, “We want our children to choose for themselves whether or not to believe in God “ This is a popular view and at first glance appears to have a certain wisdom and compassion about it. However, to make informed choices we need information! We need to experience something before deciding whether to accept or reject it. A friend of mine regrets that her parents chose never to take her to church with this well-meaning idea of choice. Why not give your child the chance to encounter Jesus by trying junior church? We’re starting a new monthly service at St Gregory’s from January 18 at 11am and on every third Sunday. We have made enormous strides within the same Sunday service towards creating fun and safe spaces for our young people while the adults listen to sermons and prayers. However, the time has come to separate traditional from contemporary worship styles. This means having a 9:30 am service with choir, hymns and formal liturgy. At 11 am we will have songs and interactive age-specific activities for informally engaging with the same themes. Why not join us with your family and learn more about your identity and purpose in life?
Every blessing to you and yours,
Reverend Andrew
December
Christmas can be a magical time of year with children’s excitement, decorations and family gatherings. The reality is often messier with overcrowding, overindulgence and overspending. Christmas is a difficult time for many with tensions running high and people struggling to cope.
So what is the real reason for the season?
Jesus’ birth is an historical fact with an overwhelming amount of evidence to confirm it, described by C.S. Lewis, (author The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe), as the central event in human history. In the beginning, the world existed only in the mind of God. It had no matter, was hidden, dark, unknown. The Holy Spirit hovered and through only the power of words there was a big bang and it was created. In the birth story of Jesus Christ, the form of God was hidden, dark and unknown. The Holy Spirit hovered over the Virgin Mary, and she conceived in her womb. Christians believe in the virgin birth of Jesus. Atheists believe in the virgin birth of the universe. Choose your miracle. [ Glen Scrivener]
Jesus’ birth represented a system reset for a world gone wrong through mankind’s viral determination to play God.
Wise men were told several times to find an eating trough, a manger. Shepherds found him wrapped in swaddling bands thus prophesying his role as the flawless lamb prepared for sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem which means town of bread. He describes himself as the bread of life. He invites us to feed on him.
Have you ever thought that Christmas is all about eating bread rather than Turkey and Christmas pudding?! The Mass of Jesus Christ, Christ-mass, is about celebrating the real historical man whose name means the Messiah who saves. Saves from what? The impact of past abuses, our lack of freedom, our sense of guilt, despair, injustice, lack of identity.
New research from The Quiet Revival Report (biblesociety.org) confirms that GenZ is driving a surprising surge in church attendance across England and Wales. Attendance among 18-24-year-olds has quadrupled in the past six years reversing decades of decline. Find out how you can discover your true identity, purpose and value by signing up to the latest Alpha course starting January 9 at the Salvation Army on Station Road from 6:45 pm.
In the meantime, we would love to welcome you to one of our services over the Christmas period – see the advert in the magazine for more details.
May you know peace and joy this Christmas,
Revd Andrew.
Celebrating Christmas in the Gainsborough Benefice of All Saints’ and St Gregory’s:
14 Dec Carols by Candlelight, 3 pm, St Mary’s Church, Chilton
21 Dec Carols by Candlelight, 6.30 pm, St Gregory’s Church
24 Dec Christingle 3.30 pm All Saints’ Church, 11 pm Midnight Mass St Gregory’s
25th Dec 8 am Said Communion, All Saints’ 10 am Family Communion in both All Saints’ and St Gregory’s
November
I am excited to inform you that we have been busy developing our children’s ministry at St Gregory’s, the sister church to All Saints' in the Gainsborough Benefice. We are upgrading the facilities to be more child-friendly and introducing a monthly family, interactive service in 2026, on every third Sunday at 11 am, from Sunday 18th January. This complements our annual child-based activities – perhaps you came to the Light Party?
Do look out for ‘Christmas Through the Keyhole,’ which will welcome all the local primary schools at the end of November and be open to families on Saturday 29th November, free of charge. It invites the visitors to immerse themselves in the mysterious, wonderful, earthy yet heavenly story of God coming to be with us in human flesh as written in the stars and ancient texts. Smell the incense and gaze at the stars; taste the pitta and hear the angel declare “Glory to God in the highest”; read the emperor’s decree and follow the map through bandit country. Finally, join with the shepherds, wise men and animals to adore the newborn saviour of the world.
We will be particularly pleased to welcome you to our Advent and Christmas services, both at All Saints’ and St Gregory’s Churches. Come and find out more about the relevance of God making himself known to us so that we might realise again this year, that in the dark streets shines the everlasting light, the hope of glory, the Prince of Peace.
Every blessing to you and yours,
Reverend Andrew
Forthcoming events in the Gainsborough Benefice of All Saints’ and St Gregory’s:
23 Nov Light Up A Life: 3 pm at St Gregory’s Church (stnicholashospice.org.uk)
29 Nov Christmas Through The Keyhole in St Gregory’s Church: 9 am-12 noon
14 Dec Carols by Candlelight, 3 pm, St Mary’s Church, Chilton
21 Dec Carols by Candlelight, 6.30 pm, St Gregory’s Church
24 Dec Christingle 3.30 pm All Saints’ Church, 11 pm Midnight Mass St Gregory’s
25th Dec 8 am Said Communion, All Saints’ 10 am Family Communion in both All Saints’ and St Gregory’s
September
Big Bang!
Among young people, according to a recent survey, the number one reason for doubting the existence of God is not suffering. Rather, it is science: the belief that science has disproved the need for a creator. For this reason, I attended a sold-out conference this summer that explored how to use science to demonstrate that belief in God is not only possible but sensible, even as a scientist.
We don’t have to be scientists to know that theories to explain the workings of the universe have changed over time. Similarly, there was great confusion about what precisely electricity was. Likewise, cleanliness in operating theatres has not always been understood to be important. Our ‘university system’ was based on the understanding that the universe could be understood because it is made and maintained by intelligent design and fine-tuning, and began life with a Big Bang!
Einstein thought the universe was in a permanent fixed state, but it has since been found to be expanding over time, which is what we would expect to see from a huge explosion. But wait, that means that if we reverse time, then the universe is shrinking. If we go back far enough, about 13 billion years apparently, it reduces to a single minuscule point. But then what? There’s not enough space left for any matter to exist at all. This destroys the materialist’s argument that ‘since matter creates more matter, we don’t need God’. The problem with this argument is that, with no space at all in the universe, it was once infinitesimally tiny; there was no matter to launch ‘project world’.
Therefore, if it isn’t matter that made more matter, we must have some agency, some force, that isn’t made of matter, to kick things off – an intelligent designer. Using purely science, we can see that through the wonders of DNA, there is a code which instructs cells on what they should be and how they should function. That code looks remarkably like letters… and that looks remarkably like a form of language.
In the creation account in Genesis, it says that God spoke the world into existence. We should not ask the question, ‘Who created God?’ because He is neither made from matter nor formed in our likeness. We are created by Him and He delights in all that He has made.
If you enjoy grappling with these big questions, why not come to church one Sunday morning, and we can talk more?
Blessings,
Reverend Andrew
August
Who or what would you say has had the most influence on the people and places of Sudbury: the wool or silk trades; the Anglo-Saxons or the Normans? Gainsborough or Bishop Aelthun, who was the eighth bishop of Dunwich and died here in 797AD? What defines a place or a person?
It seems easier to remember past failures, than it is to celebrate successes. There’s something in the British psyche that delights to support the underdog and enjoy the downfall of the too successful. However many achievements and positive contributions a person may make in their life, their legacy can be overshadowed by a single incident: Judas Iscariot was called to be a disciple of Jesus but in the end lost faith in the direction his teacher was taking and has forever since been known only for his betrayal. Another disciple instead of believing the accounts from other people wanted hard evidence that Jesus was resurrected and was thereafter called ‘doubting’ Thomas.
This was never more so than with Simon of Sudbury who tends to be remembered for only one thing: the consequences of his fateful introduction of several poll taxes in the 1370s. Archbishop Simon’s legacy was described as ‘ambiguous’ by Canterbury cathedral in a recent radio interview I took part in. (You can find out the full story, ‘Illuminated: Don’t lose your head’, BBC Sounds July 27th 7:15pm Radio Four)
However, perhaps you can help me find out more about his other contributions to achieve a more balanced rendition of one of Sudbury’s most famous characters? During his career, Simon of Sudbury was recognised by the Pope and promoted to the position of Archbishop. To be elevated to the top job must mean he was a considerably talented and faithful man of God. He was also invited to look after the country’s finances, as Lord Chancellor, and built a college to train priests next to St Gregory’s church. Much of the current cathedral at Canterbury owes its existence to his considerable input there.
Unsurprisingly I would argue the person of most influence on Sudbury and with the greatest legacy of all is Jesus Christ of Nazareth. His life, death and resurrection mean that whatever bad choices we might have made, however hopeless the path we have led until now, we need not be defined by those. His invitation is always, ‘Come to me all you that are heavy laden and I will give you rest.’
Blessings
Revd Andrew
February
A Canterbury Pilgrim
I travelled down to Canterbury Cathedral. My rendezvous was with Robin, BBC radio producer, to complete a documentary on Simon of Sudbury due to be released in the summer of 2025. The chief surveyor explained Simon’s considerable contribution t o the construction of the Gothic nave and showed us a stone arch decoration of his face complete with fetching hairstyle! Moving to the Romanesque architecture, we stood looking over Simon’s tomb directly at the high altar, the epicentre of Anglicanism, and site of Thomas Becket’s martyrdom. Such proximity denotes the esteem with which the then custodians of Simon’s body chose to position his final resting place. The tomb was robbed of the full-sized stone effigy of his lying in state, as were so many, during the puritanical raids of the Cromwellians. However, set into the sarcophagus, are archways just large enough for the prayerful to utter discreet supplications.
A stained-glass window in the chapter house depicts the coat of arms of the Talbot hound.
In the Victorian library the smell of oak cabinets and ancient leather books was enchanting. Here is housed an original parchment complete with Simon’s seal which ironically depicts the murder of Thomas Becket in 1170.
A leather-bound volume held minutes of a meeting chaired by the monks and nuns in charge of running the cathedral during the vacancy. The main item on the agenda was the last will and testament dictated to a scribe by Simon in the Tower of London facing his imminent and inevitable demise. It describes his desire to have his body appropriately buried at Canterbury. However, he also bequeathed his vestments and various artefacts to the college of priests here in Sudbury – the question is, what happened to them?
Simon’s considerable faith in God and building of the college of priests in Sudbury gained recognition by the then pope and for which he was elevated to be archbishop of Canterbury in 1375. How contemporary this fascinating tale [the Peasants' Revolt 1381] unravelling a story of knife crime, a sense of tax injustice in rural communities and a vacancy at the top job in the church!
Until 1981 roses were placed on Simon’s tomb by the mayor on Christmas day in recognition of his contribution to the repair of much of the city walls. It does seem that the townsfolk of Sudbury could do more to acknowledge the contribution of the Theobald lad made good.
Who knows, perhaps some annual act of recognition might just raise the profile of the town and thereby give a welcome boost to its economy too.
More information see https://monumentoffame.org/2020/08/21/archbishop-simon-sudbury/
All you need is love
February is the month for love, traditionally anyway; I hope you have known love in your life and continue to know it.
However, we know that it cannot be relied upon to last forever in the sense of a personal, human relationship; at some point either we or our loved ones will depart this earthly life. There is, however, a love that is guaranteed and permanent, not conditional, not keeping any record of wrongs, forgiving all things. The most popular choice of bible reading for weddings is 1 Cor 13. It speaks of spiritual gifts such as knowledge, prophecy, discernment. If we possess these abilities as they have been given us by God but do not ‘have love’, our actions are empty and lack integrity. I suspect all the questions we’ve stored up over the years to ask Him will fade away as we have revealed to us in plain sight His overwhelming love, compassion and mercy in their fullest form. When we dwell in the house of the Lord forever, there won’t be any need for faith or hope, we shall only need love. There will be no need to hope that all will be well, no need to walk by faith not sight as we will see plainly all that makes sense of life. It’s as though we see through a mirror that is partly frosted, the bible tells us, but one day we shall have 20/20 vision of all that God has been planning for our sakes, for love. In the words of Augustine of Hippo, “Let us entrust the past to His mercy, the future to His providence and the present to His love.”
Andrew
December
The earth-shaking consequences of Christmas from ‘Seen And Unseen’
by Barnabus Aspray (abridged, part 1)
The radical uniqueness of the Christmas story can be easily lost in a culture over-familiar with carols, nativity scenes, and Christmas cards.The birth of Jesus is not, for Christians, merely the birth of the founder of their religion, comparable to Muhammad, the Buddha, Guru Nanak, or Moses. The heart of the Christian claim is that in the Incarnation, the Almighty Creator of all things has irrevocably identified himself with the human race,standing in solidarity with every person who ever existed and ever will exist. Imagine Tolkien being born as a hobbit in the Shire, or J.K. Rowling going to school at Hogwarts. The mind-bending notion of the author entering his or her own creation is far closer to the Christian idea of Jesus than any comparison between him and other great figures of history. For Christians, he was not just a moral teacher, not just an inspiring example – not even an object of adoration and love without further qualification. He was and isall these things of course. But all those things are put in the shade by something else, totally unique and unrepeatable: Immanuel, God-among-us.The implications of this are staggering. Dorothy Sayers puts it this way (quote slightly adapted):For whatever reason God chose to make human beings as we are –limited and suffering and subject to sorrows and death – he had the honesty and the courage to take his own medicine. Whatever game he is playing with his creation, he has kept his own rules and played fair. He can exact nothing from us that he has not exacted from himself. He was born in poverty and died in disgrace and thought it well worthwhileNovember
Get together for a meal
Jesus understood the value of gathering and eating together. One suggestion as to the power of food is that when we eat together, we lower our otherwise neatly-trimmed spiritual hedge and get beyond the‘I’m fine’ response to ‘How are you?’.Surely, we all have in common the need to eat? Following the success of the vision day where we each brought either soup or crumble, we are adopting this same menu for the shared benefice lunch after the joint service at All Saints’ on Sunday January 26. At Newton Green Claire was instrumental in locating heated containers to warm up the soup from various places. I am confident we can do this again. Recipes were swapped and a lovely of variety within the ‘menu’ was achieved. This approach reaches out to an every-member ministry in which we are all journeying together as disciples rather than being in receipt of a service done by others to us as if we were customers. There will be sign up sheets for everyone at the back of church and there remains a third option for those who are culinarily-challenged in the form of a donation or accoutrements, (I believe), such as cream, bread, etc.Looking forward to sharing deeper fellowship with you after the service,Andrew
August
Is Christianity harmful? The earth-shaking consequences of Christmas from ‘Seen And Unseen’
by Barnabus Aspray (abridged, part 1)
That question is apparently being asked by Generation ALPHA, (those born between 2010 and the mid 2020s). Its origin derives from the age-old misuse of the bible to dominate and manipulate others. In so doing, powerful people have grossly misrepresented the key message of the Christian faith : to love God and our neighbours.
Jesus Christ brought freedom to people instead of the control so often associated with those in authority.
I recently learnt that the African slaves, made to toil in the cotton fields of North America, were given a version of the bible that excluded the books of Exodus and Psalms. Why? Because Exodus is the story of God’s rescue and liberation of the Israelite's from slavery in Egypt and the Psalms are often an invitation to lament, not just to feel sorry for the state of things but to protest to God against injustice, e.g. ‘Why do the wicked prosper’. What gets missed is, that rather than rejecting the bible as harmful, many of those slaves had a profound faith in the Hebrew scriptures and loved their author, the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact you might say that faith is all they possessed. They had that joy which passes all understanding and sang so beautifully and with deep spiritual conviction about the real Jesus of the bible, who came to begin restoring all of creation to freedom from oppression and justice for the downtrodden. It’s time we heard the testimony of those slaves whose voices have largely gone unheard as they vigorously protested their abusive owners.
In ‘Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave Boston. 1845’, we read, the man, who wields the blood-clotted cowskin during the week, fills the pulpit on Sunday and claims to be a minister of the meek and lowly Jesus. The man, who robs me of my earnings at the end of each week, meets me as a class-leader on Sunday morning to show me the way of life and path of salvation’. Surely in light of this it's safer to stay away from organised Christianity and pursue our own spiritual enlightenment and remain pure and true to our inner conviction? Unfortunately, the bible teaches that the heart is deceitful above all else. A better approach is to seek out the company of others, at a local church, who have trodden the path to freedom in Christ. Perhaps you might try the cartoon version of Pilgrim’s Progress 2019 available in full for free on YouTube or the Lectio365 app.Rev'd Andrew
April
Have you ever wondered whether life would be so much better if more people were like you? It’s a tempting idea but when I consider my own shortcomings the appeal quickly wears off! We are all made fearfully and wonderfully unique: different abilities, interests and perspectives. All of these enrich life and enable society to function. You’ll remember that tricky question – if you only had six people to send into space to save the human race whom would you choose? So difficult when we are all uniquely made.
Many of us would accept that we are all of equal value, despite our wide and obvious contrasts. How then do we measure value? During an assembly once, I asked the children whether they thought some people are worth more than others. Surprisingly a year six boy raised his hand and answered “Yes”. Intrigued, I pressed him further and he cited Elon Musk. Ah, I realised he understood the question to mean financial worth.
The value of a human life could be measured in all sorts of ways but only one gives us the result we demand – namely this, we are all of equal worth because we are children of the same living God. Knowing this gives us a permanent identity with status, purpose and meaning whatever else happens in our lives. Noone can alter the fact that we are children of God despite everything that happens to us: neither success nor failure, health nor sickness, happiness nor sadness. Knowing we are loved and forgiven by the creator of the universe can give us the motivation to press on each and every day.
In the West, there is a growing confidence to embrace mystery and to accept that the fact we cannot explain everything in life is okay. However, there are some big questions that arise once we accept that we are children of God such as: Why does a loving heavenly father allow so much suffering in the world? What happens after death? Who was Jesus? Did Jesus really rise from the dead? These are just some of the topics several local churches will be covering on the ‘ALPHA’ course (www.alpha.org).
When: Starting 24th April 2024 and the sessions begin with food at 6:45pm
Where: Eden’s Youth Centre, 45 Gainsborough Street, Sudbury, CO10 2EU
For more information: email parishsecretary@stgregspcc.uk
Curious about faith? Why not join a series of group conversations that explore the Christian faith in an open, friendly environment.
Blessings
Rev'd Andrew
‘How is the date of Mothering Sunday determined?’
This was one of the questions at our recent All Saints’ Church Quiz Night. It was interesting to note that half the room were unclear on the origins and why the date moves every year. In fact, it is linked to Easter and so moves with the lunar calendar.
Easter is considered the most important ‘moveable feast’ in the Christian calendar. Whilst Christmas is exciting and we anticipate the birth of Christ, Easter was always the purpose for His coming to earth. Whilst we grieve all the havoc that humanity can wreak on Good Friday, on Easter Sunday we celebrate the ultimate gift of release from this and a relationship with our creator God through Jesus rising again.
Historically, that first Easter took place around the time of the Jewish Passover – the first full moon following the vernal equinox. The Christian calendar therefore follows this pattern and so Easter Day is always celebrated on the first Sunday following the Pascal full moon, or the first full moon after the spring equinox (March 21).
But what does this all have to do with Mothering Sunday?
Mothering Sunday is placed as the fourth Sunday after the start of Lent and falls this year on March 10th. While it can be a day of many different emotions - positive, sorrowful, full of hurt or perhaps anticipation – it dates back to a time when servants were permitted this Sunday off to return to their mother’s church. They would often collect flowers from hedgerows on the way to take as gifts and we are permitted to relax any rules around Lent fasting for the day. There is also a connection with Galatians 4:26, which reminds us that as Christians we are liberated and have a spiritual home with God. Perhaps this Mothering Sunday we can reclaim those origins and return to a church or attend as usual, remembering this freedom we now have offered to us in Christ.
If you would like to know more about the reason for Christmas, Easter and more – do consider joining our Alpha course which will be starting up after Easter on a Wednesday evening at Eden’s Project on Gainsborough Street. There will be more details in the next issue!
And if you would like to form a team for the next All Saints’ Quiz Night, it is on March 23rd at 6:15pm. Please contact Dave on 372352 for more details.
My daughter watches a great number of Disney classics, and it strikes me that in storytelling it’s remarkable how often the plot relies on finding a hero prepared to sacrifice themselves to save the day. At the beginning of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ the master of the mansion refuses to help an old lady, who then casts a spell on him that can only be broken by love. He is given a rose as a timer – when it dies, he will remain forever as a beast. As the man-turned-beast behaves increasingly inhumanely, so the servants-turned-furniture become less alive. By contrast the heroine, Belle, sees beyond appearances and comes to love the inner person.
Just before the last rose petal falls and condemns the beast forever, so a further selfless act saves the heroine’s father from the wolves. Everyone lives happily ever after except for the narcissistic Gaston, whose bullying and manipulative behaviour become his downfall. He embodies evil and suffering.
We have permission to recover the joy and satisfaction of happy endings brought about by love because that is the hope in the bible, our shared story of God’s rescue plan for the world. Even the simplest fable or children’s story can be recast as an allegory of the greatest love story ever told, the creator and his created, God and humanity reunited through love.
February is the month of St Valentine, when romantic love is diarised and expected. Yet the word ‘love’ in English is used to describe many different concepts. We might say we love Easter eggs and yet also say we love our grandparents or football. The kind of love that Belle shows is by taking the place of her imprisoned father. The kind of love we are called to embrace is that which loves mercy, does justice and walks humbly with God.
The servants Lumiere and Cogsworth long to be human again and delight in the chance to serve, offering a spectacular banquet to Belle. Their fate however lies in the realisation of the romantic love of Valentine’s Day. Crucially it is only made possible by another kind of love; the love which serves others and not self. God one day promises us a banquet, a feast, as we are fully reunited with Him.
You may not be blessed with romantic love this Valentine’s but by loving others you will, yourself, find your own heart strangely warmed too.
Lenten Blessings
Rev’d Andrew
There will be tea and coffee from 9:30 am and we start at 10 am with a time of worship. We will finish by 3.30 pm at the latest. Donations of £5 are invited. Claire would appreciate help with catering so do be in touch with her if you can help... she is still keen to receive offers of crumble, but do let her know if you can help in any way...parishsecretary@stgregspcc.uk or 07956 456126.
We give thanks to God for the amazing blessing of the grant award and opportunity it affords to grow younger* as a benefice. This project may or may not result in greater Sunday morning attendance in church, but our primary focus must always be to listen and follow where God leads us in building the kingdom of heaven here on earth, wherever and whenever that is.Extract from St. Gregorys Newsletter
Success with our Grant Application!
Those of you unable to attend church in person over the past couple of weeks might not have heard the great news that we have been awarded the full sum applied for to enhance and expand our children’s work across St Gregory’s and All Saints’ churches.
This is fantastic news and we will be talking more about what this looks like at our joint Vision Day in January. If you recall, the plan is to build a trellis, if you like, of four strands
- a) a sensory space in a room in All Saints Hall which will allow the development of both work with children with additional needs and Toddler Church to grow there. We can then expand Causeway also, to include children.
b) A robed choir at St Gregory’s, with a Director of Music, medals etc and the opportunity to feed the children attending.
c) Start work on an application to lower the tombs in the south transept and to consider a larger space - a garden room- in order to allow the Junior Church to expand.
d) Invest time, people and money in school connections work such as Christmas Through The Keyhole and similar projects whilst also supporting the work of others such as Open The Book.
This programme includes:
To embed the importance of growing disciples amongst 0-25 year olds in all diocesan activities.
To view everything through the lens of children and young people.
To create beacon areas to achieve significant growth in numbers of 0-25-year-old disciples in areas where there is a high children and young person population – largely market towns.
To make resources to support growth in numbers of 0-25 year old disciples accessible to anyone.
To provide ideas, information and support to areas or groups that seek it, to support their long-term success and development of discipleship.
To facilitate five youth-focused expressions of church to be developed from secondary schools.