Groups
St Mary's Ladies Group
St Mary's Ladies Group was formed in 2013 to give a space for women of all ages both in our church or living in the village and in sympathy with our Christian faith to meet together. We aim to provide support for each other, deepen our faith and enjoy each others company while experiencing visits and talks. More...
Light Lunch Group
Several times each year we meet together for lunch in the church. We open the doors at 12noon where sherry or fruit juice is served while people catch up with friends or make new ones. We then serve a three course lunch, soup, main and dessert followed by tea or coffee.
We follow lunch with a short prayer service, which people find uplifting and helpful. We sing a hymn together, read the Bible and pray for our friends and family. You would be most welcome to join us. Please book a place so we know how many to cater for. Lifts are available. Check Church Calendar for details.
St. Mary's Choir
Our choir has had a busy year, leading the musical side of St. Mary’s worship. We have been asked to sing at weddings and have been honored to be part of many very special funerals, including important members of our church family. We have been working on recruitment and have been pleased to welcome some new singers, including some younger members.
Choirs Practice is on most Tuesday evenings in the Church @ 7pm. Check Church Calendar for details.
Contact Emily emily@renshawkidd.com
St Mary’s Church – Bell Ringers Chartham
Ringing practice is on most Friday evenings from 7.30pm to 9.00pm - visitors are most welcome. Anyone who is interested in taking up this enjoyable past time, please contact us, we will be pleased to ‘show you the ropes’ !
Check Church Calendar for details.
Contact:
bellringing@stmaryschartham.org
Flower Arrangers
We continue with our faithful group of 6 who derive pleasure from creative use of flowers to add to the beauty of this church. We’ve also arranged flowers for weddings if asked and were planning the Flower Festival in August 2020 with a theme, “Pilgrims–Travelling Light”, initiated by this year being the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower - This is now postponed until August 2021. If anyone would like to be involved in, or even take up, flower arranging, please let me know. The creation of something beautiful brings each person joy and relaxation and so is worth considering.
Contact Dee Hickman.
An important part of our life at St. Mary's is meeting regularly to study the Bible and pray together. We have several groups that meet in people's homes around the parish, fortnightly, or weekly. If you would like to know more, please contact us.
Shalmsford Street Home Group
We average ten members of the St Mary’s congregation who meet fortnightly in the evening from half past seven for fellowship and to study the bible in our home group. Our ethos is to support each other with studies led consecutively by each member, confident that what is said remains within the group, and understanding that a home group, being dynamic, will change and expand to develop more Home Groups within our church community.
We begin our home group with a short catch-up chat over cups of tea and coffee, and start our study with prayer. We are then led by one of our members in a study, and conclude with our prayer diary covering matters of importance to each of us, our church and world events that are impacting our families, our personal lives, and our wider communities.
Our study has most recently been based on John Pritchard’s “Twenty Questions Jesus asked and how they speak to us today”, and for the last chapter we also used a link to Lectio365* to listen to the evening prayer. We are using Chapter 1 of the book Stations of the Resurrection: Encounters with the Risen Christ by Guli Francis-Dehqani and Malcolm Guite with our next meeting on the 25th June, when Colin and Florence will lead, and when we will also decide whether we wish to continue with the book, or try something different.
We invite anyone interested to join us, without commitment, to sample our home group.
Simon Hickman (Mobile 07703843245)
* Lectio 365 is an app that supports one to pray the Bible by meditating on the scriptures and asking God to speak through them.
Home Group Resources
Wednesday evening home group
We meet in Robin & Bronny's home in Chartham, on The Green, from 7pm until about 9pm. Our group is an opportunity to develop friendships, deepen our fellowship, and to support and enourage each other in our Christian journey. We pray together and share our news. We take time to discover more about the Bible, about Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit. Finally we consider what this means for us in how we live lives in today's world.
If this "sounds like you", then you might like to come to see if our group could be right for you.
Just contact Robin or Bronny and we'll be happy to talk about what we do, and you could come along one evening to see what you think.
Contact: Robin & Bronny Slowe
Home Group Resources