We warmly welcome you to St Mary’s, whether you are a church person or not. There’s plenty going on for all ages.
Do email us if you have any queries or would like to be put on the church newsletter list.
We warmly welcome you to St Mary’s, whether you are a church person or not. There’s plenty going on for all ages.
Do email us if you have any queries or would like to be put on the church newsletter list.
Services, Prayer & Reflection in April 2024
Wednesday, June 9
9.30-10.30am – Toddler Praise
We would love you to join us for some play, a story and a song on the grassy area in the churchyard. (Just up from the Barden Road gate, and down from the St Mary’s Lane gate.)
Sunday, April 7
10am – Holy Communion (contemporary) with children’s groups
Sheila leading and preaching
Sunday, April 7
10am – All age worship with Holy Communion
John P leading and Karol preaching
Sunday, April 14
10am – Morning worship
John B leading and preaching
Sunday, April 21
8am – Holy Communion (Book of Common Prayer)
Sheila leading and preaching
10am – Holy Communion (contemporary) with Children’s groups
Jenny leading; Don Laurie preaching
Sunday, April 28
10am – All-age worship
Karol leading, Ian preaching
6pm – Evensong
David Lamey leading and preaching
Every Thursday, and the last Saturday of the month
Prayer for the future of our church
In this exciting period of change and opportunity for our church, we gather weekly at 4pm in the church on Thursdays, for half an hour of prayer about its direction. And on the last Saturday of each month at 10am for an hour
Every weekday
8.30am – One of our homegroups runs morning Zoom prayers for 10-15 minutes.
All are very welcome. Contact Sean Fishpool for details
Upcoming highlights and news
Revision of the church electoral roll – April 30 to May 14
The church electoral roll for the Parish of Speldhurst with Ashurst & Groombridge will be revised during the period 30th April 2024 and 14th May 2024.
Being on the electoral roll gives you voting rights at our forthcoming elections. If you would like to be added, please download the form or pick one up in church.
After the revision, a copy of the roll will be available for inspection on a reasonable request being made to the Council Secretary.
Annual meeting of worshippers – May 12
Our Annual Meeting of Worshippers will be held on May 12 immediately after the 10am service when we will nominate or in some cases elect people to the roles required to run our church. We will also present our church report for the past year.
There are various roles for which you could volunteer and get involved in the running of the church, such as:
Churchwarden, Deputy Churchwarden, Member of the United Parochial Church Council (UPCC), Member of the District Church Council (DCC), Representative on the Deanery Synod, Electoral Roll Officer.
If you would like to know more, please contact Carolyn Firth. You will have to do safeguarding training for most of these roles.
Youth social – bowling – May 12
Year 6 and above. Meet at church 4pm; then pickup from church 6.30pm. £8. RSVP to Kelly by April 21
Annual meeting of parishioners (AMP) and Annual parochial church meeting (APCM) – May 29
This year our Annual Meeting of Parishioners (AMP) to elect the Churchwardens for churches in our Parish will be on May 29 in St Mary’s Church, Speldhurst at 8pm.
This meeting may be attended by anyone whose names are on the church electoral roll of the parish and anyone on the local government electoral roll by reason of being resident in the parish.
Under section 5A of the Churchwardens’ Measure 2001,1 an appeal against the election of a churchwarden may be made (on certain grounds) by any person entitled to take part in this meeting or by a candidate in the election.
Our Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM) will be held immediately following the AMP to elect members of the United Parochial Church Council, share reports, approve accounts and elect representatives to the deanery Synod. Only people on the Church Electoral Role of the Parish may vote in any formal resolutions that might be made at the APCM.
Church camping – Aug 31 – Sep 1
Save the date!
This week’s newsletter
Groups
Click the images to read more
Children’s and parents’ groups
Our pre-school parents provide great support for each other – do contact us to be included. We have also been running a monthly outdoor under-5s Praise & Play session.
Youth groups
Hallelujah! We have wonderful groups for 9s to 11s and 11s to 16s. Your young people are very welcome
Homegroups
All of our homegroups are meeting for friendship, prayer and study, on different days of the week. They are the lifeblood of our church and we would love to involve you.
Social
St Mary’s members meet for loads of social things – from walking to craft, and you’re very warmly invited.