The Parish Churches of Kingham and Daylesford & Churchill with Sarsden
‘Making wholehearted followers of Jesus, the Lamb of God’

Baptisms, Weddings & funerals

What are we like? We are an Evangelical Church of England church who meet in St. Andrew’s, Kingham and All Saints’, Churchill. As the word ‘Evangelical’ is used in so many different ways, let us say what we mean by it! We mean that we believe that the Bible is the Word of God, written by men under the direct inspiration of God’s Holy Spirit. Thus, as the Church of England’s Thirty Nine Articles (written constitution) puts it, “Holy Scripture contains all things necessary for salvation.” We therefore aim to build our personal and church lives on its authority.

Services? We have a traditional communion from the Prayer Book every Sunday at  9 a.m. with a sermon but no hymns. One a month we do the same but at 10 a.m. with hymns. Our 10:45 a.m. service is from Common Worship (the latest prayer book). There we mix traditional organ hymns with more modern ones, either played through the sound system or, whenever possible, played by our own musicians. Our services centre around the Bible: it is read, explained and applied to the world we live in. Bible readings and prayers are led by congregation members. There’s loads to do and loads doing it!

And families? At 10:45 we’re quite intentionally family-friendly. All ages stay together in the main services for the first 15 minutes or so, after which the children go out to Crèche, Sunday School or ‘The Tower’ when the service is in Churchill. We often have a ‘two minute slot’ to dramatically introduce the children to their theme for the day. However, parents and children feel free to come and go as the need arises throughout the services, and, with the many very young ones who come, we know that those needs do arise! The        

service is, however, relayed to the crèche room so parents don’t feel left out. ll but once a month the service is at Churchill where there is a large meeting room, kitchen, toilet and baby-changing machine. No-one ever gets a ‘black look’ if - or rather ‘when’ - children make a noise or go for a wander! In Sunday School the kids do all sorts of arts and crafts, learning from the Bible together. Parents, why not bring them along, know they are cared for, and enjoy the service yourself (not to mention some relative peace and quiet). There is now a large variety of mid-week activities for children and young people, details of which are on the For Children & Youth page.

But I'm single! And so are many in our congregations! You won't feel an oddity if you don't carry bags of nappies! There are excellent Home Groups and all sorts of informal and ad hoc social things going on. We aim to provide friendship and care for those in various kinds of need, including the horror of grieving the loss of a special loved one, though we can't make the pain go away.

But I’m a man! Really! Well, how nice! Seriously though, it has been said that the Church of England is full of old women of all ages and both sexes! That is not the case here. We have a monthly Men Only Breakfast (‘MOB’) where we eat healthy muesli (disguised as a great big fry-up!), chat and listen to a visiting speaker talk about some element of being a Christian in the real world. There’s always time for questions and discussion, and we finish by 10. We have a similar monthly breakfast for women called ‘Toast’. As an offshoot of these events, from time to time we have an Agnostics Anonymous group which meets to discuss questions of faith in an informal, no-holds-barred manner, assuming no particular views or beliefs (see For Men or For Women pages).

Whoever you are, wherever you are on the scale of belief, there will be something here for you - and that includes a warm welcome. Hope to see you sometime soon.

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