logo design

Meeting in St Mary's Church*, a 900-year old building nestled at the bottom of Ham Hill, we are a small community of believers, aiming to love the Lord God with all our hearts, follow and obey Jesus and serve Him with our lives, through the power graciously given to us by the Holy Spirit.

Our mission is to be constantly renewed in God's love through repentance, to be a witness to the transforming power of His truth in our own lives, and to pour out His love to the community around us.

 

*Our 10am service is held in the Memorial Hall in West Street.

Rev Peter Thomas' Licensing Service

Peter Thomas will be licensed as our Priest-in-Charge at 7pm on Wednesday 6 June 2012 in St Mary's Church, by Right Rev Peter Price, Bishop of Bath and Wells, and by Ven Nicola Sullivan, Archdeacon of Wells. Peter's first service at St Mary's will be at 8am on 24 June, followed by a 10am service on 15 July in the Memorial Hall. Watch out for full details on the monthly services pages in due course.

Introducing myself...

I am a Somerset boy, born and brought up near Bridgwater. It was in a village church near there that I became a Christian through a ‘coffee-bar mission’ in 1971. At Imperial College in London I did a Maths degree from 1972-75, and was involved with both the Christian Union and the local church. When someone asked if I had thought about ‘going into the ministry’ I thought they meant politics! After university I worked in Taunton for a period before theological college (Trinity, Bristol). Whilst a curate in Gloucester I married the PCC secretary (Anne). A second curacy in Loughborough was followed by 7 years in an Urban Priority Area in Merseyside where, within 2 weeks of arrival, our boys (Simon and Colin) were born. Our desire to be in rural ministry was then met by 13 years in a benefice of 3 villages in Worcestershire – including 5 years as Rural Dean.

 

We had always said we would look to move when the boys went to university – on Sabbatical we read of the Norton sub Hamdon etc post in Grapevine and in July 2005 moved to our 5th diocese (but with a real sense of moving back home) – and a further 6 years as Rural Dean; about to be completed.

 

Our boys are both men of faith and a great encouragement to us.

 

My vision of rural ministry includes a recognition of having the cure of all the souls in the parish. It also includes a need to establish and extend the Kingdom of God; those who acknowledge Jesus as King. I will continue to work, with church members, within that vision for the parishes of Stoke-sub-Hamdon, Norton-sub-Hamdon, Chiselborough, West and Middle Chinnock.                 

 

                                             Peter Thomas

Good News for St Mary's!

Our Churchwardens, Tom and Colleen, made this announcement on 18 March 2012:

 

We are now able to announce that Rev Peter Thomas, the Rural Dean of this area of Somerset is to be the next Priest-in-Charge of St Mary’s. This will be in addition to his present position of Priest-in-Charge of Norton sub Hamdon, Chiselborough, West and Middle Chinnock; however we will remain a separate parish.

 

Peter will continue to live in Chiselborough; our vicarage is currently leased out but we will have use of the office area.

 

This is an interim arrangement. Within the next four years these parishes together with Montacute and Odcombe will be the responsibility of 1 ½ priests.

 

A service of Celebration and Welcome is planned for Wednesday 6 June when Bishop Peter will officially license Peter Thomas to our parish.

 

The pattern of services at St Mary’s, which are appreciated by Peter Thomas, will not change. We will continue to hold our three services each Sunday. These will be led mainly by our Readers and Christian Merivale, with visits from Peter Thomas and other priests. The diocesan office will cover the costs of our 8.00am services when we have visiting priests – Michael Kerr, our PCC Chairman, has worked hard to negotiate this agreement.

 

The Churchwardens, together with the PCC wish to express our appreciation of our members' patience and support throughout this time.