Parish of Bishopstoke

Our church is joining with many other Christians all around the world in the fourth Thy Kingdom Come - a 'global wave of prayer' from Ascension Day until the Day of Pentecost. Our special prayer times during that period are: Thurs 30 May 8 pm Holy Communion (St Mary’s) followed by silent prayer and 9.15 pm Night Prayer / Compline (St Mary’s) Sun 2 June 9.15 pm Night Prayer / Compline (St Mary’s) Mon 3 June

Dear Friends This month in all of our church services we are thinking about prayer. We’re doing this because in just a few weeks time it will be the fourth ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ – a global wave of prayer from Ascension to the Day of Pentecost. We’ll be coming at prayer from a variety of angles: ‘unanswered prayer’ (or when we think God’s not listening), desperate prayer, and prayer for where you live. I hope these talks and the services they are part of will be very helpful to

Our next Café @ St Mary’s will be on Saturday 19 May from 10 am - 12.30 pm. As it's Christian Aid Week, all the proceeds will go towards our Christian Aid collection for this year. Do come along for a drink, one of our delicious cakes and a chat, whilst raising funds for some of the world's most needy people. We look forward to seeing you.

On the Day of Pentecost – Sunday 9th June – we will be celebrating the outpouring of the Holy Spirit by worshipping together as Christians in Bishopstoke. This year our united service will be one for all ages together at the Methodist Church at 10.30 am, and our speaker will be Lucy Moore, Messy Church founder and team leader. The service will be followed by a bring-and-share lunch and everyone is most welcome to come along. (The only C of E service that day will be Holy C

As part of the nine days of prayer between Ascension Day and Pentecost this year, we will walk part of our shared parish boundary together (which was slightly revised a few months ago) with members of St Thomas’ Church, Fair Oak. The day for this will be Saturday 8 June. We will start at the Hardings Lane entrance to Stoke Park Woods in Fair Oak (where there is some parking, at 2 pm, and finish at Stokewood Surgery on Fair Oak Road no later than 3.30 pm. (Some people may li

Many thanks to everyone who came along to our Annual Meeting on 28th April. We have two new PCC members – Edna Brown & Shirley Smeal, and Cherry Challis has been re-elected Church warden. We are very grateful to all of these people and the others who continue to serve the church on PCC. It would be really good to be able to elect another Church warden in the coming weeks to serve alongside Cherry.

Many thanks to everyone who has continued to fundraise and give to the Children’s Society through their boxes this year. We raised a wonderful total of £492.95. If you would like to have one of these collecting boxes in your home, please get in touch with me. Many thanks.