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St. Peter's, Little Thurlow
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Weekly Pew Sheet : now available online here
Welcome to the Stourhead Benefice, we hope that you can join us at our services and events as we strive to make God’s presence known to all people.
Benefice Prayer
Father God, thank you for our Churches of the Stourhead Benefice, and its people. We pray that you will fill each of us with your Holy Spirit, so that our Benefice may grow in number as your Disciples. Help us to see you in everyone we meet, and that they, may see you in us. Give us the courage to witness the Joy of the Gospel by our words and actions, as you call us to be the bearers of the Good News. Send your light to lead us, open our minds to worship you in spirit and in truth. Open our eyes to the opportunities you give us. Open our ears to hear your call. Open our hearts to your love, that we may serve you and bring others to your light. Amen
Living Faith in Suffolk is a course for people who are involved in, or considering, any kind of ministry as well as those interested in looking more deeply at expressing their faith. We will be running this course on four Thursday evenings through May. Each session will be approx. 2 hours. It will be held at Wickhambrook Benefice Hall. Please speak to Fr Chris, Ruth Hopper or Jill Davis if you are interested. We can share transport.
Do You Sing? In the shower, in the garden, in the car, in church? It would be nice if we could offer those couples getting married in our village churches a little help with the singing. Make the day even more memorable. You don’t have to be a cathedral chorister, just be able to sing. The hymns will be mostly well known; if not, I am sure we can find a YouTube clip. It would mainly be Saturdays but wouldn’t be every week and would be around an hour, depending on how long Father Chris preaches. No choir robes – just dressed smart casual (it is a wedding after all). We would need about six of us for each service and as weddings are usually booked well in advance there should be plenty of notice. Would you like to volunteer? Please email Ruth at ruthhopper@btinternet.com
Updated COVID-19 advice for churches
Face Coverings in places of worship are no longer a legal requirement.
Information can be found on the Church of England’s dedicated covid-19 page – click HERE.
We ask that you continue to sanitise your hands when entering the church buildings and when leaving.
Christian Aid Giving Thanks for our Vaccines Appeal
Many of us here in Suffolk are both joyful and relieved that we have received at least one if not two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine. However, as we hear in the news every day, there are many communities around the world who are suffering because they don’t have access to vaccines. Please give to help protect those who don’t have access to vaccines or protection from this deadly disease. You can read what Bishop Mike has to say about the appeal and donate here.
Please find attached below, the video made by the Diocese, ‘Flourishing Congregations’ in which the Stourhead Benefice was asked to take part.
Please contact the Rector, Fr Chris Giles, who is happy to offer pastoral support and to receive inquiries about weddings, baptisms and funerals by email stourheadbenefice@gmail.com or on 01440 762901
Our pastoral work and prayer ministry remain active and working at this difficult time. We can all still be connected with one another through phone calls, emails and through our website, as we plan to post services and information here. Hope, love and prayer are the three elements that will bring us strength in these difficult times. Our churches have stood through many trials and tribulations over the centuries and we know that in Jesus Christ we find hope and love.
“Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High and abides under the shadow of the Almighty, shall say to the Lord, ‘My refuge and my stronghold, My God, in whom I put my trust’. For he shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. He shall cover you with his wings And you shall be safe under his feathers; his faithfulness shall be your shield and buckler.” – Psalm 91
The Church of England have a variety of resources online for use at home which may conveniently be found at https://www.churchofengland.org/more/media-centre/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-parishes/coronavirus-covid-19-liturgy-and-prayer and https://pray-as-you-go.org/
Finance
Please be assured of the prayers of the ministry team for all of you. Please do not hesitate to be in touch with us for prayer or conversation.
With every blessing, The Ministry Team
Safeguarding
We are committed to ensuring that our churches in the Stourhead Benefice are a safe place for all. In order to fulfil that commitment the Benefice Church Council (PCC) has adopted the House of Bishop’s Promoting a Safer Church Safeguarding Policy Statement
Promoting a Safer Church
For Diocesan safeguarding information see www.cofesuffolk.org/concerns-and-contacts
Click the logos below to visit either our Diocesan web site or the Church of England national site.
We understand reporting abuse may be very difficult and distressing to you and it may add to your hurt by our not being able to immediately assist you. Therefore, please click here where further help is available.
Licence information CCL no 635929 Streaming licence no 1441713
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a law to strengthen data protection for people in the UK and Europe. It will apply in the UK from 25 May 2018. We are preparing within the parishes of the Stourhead benefice for the introduction of the new legislation, and working towards compliance. A data privacy notice is available upon request.