Welcome to St Stephen’s Church

Featured

Posted on by
Reply

Welcome and thank you for visiting St Stephen’s Church, North Mundham.  St Stephen’s is part of a strong and vibrant community in the Parish of North Mundham, south of Chichester.  This is a popular church, with a large congregation, attracting people from near and far.

The services during the month offer an opportunity to praise God in different ways.  The Church runs a Sunday School on the 1st and 3rd Sunday of each month.  We welcome children to all our services with a monthly All Age Service.  Children and youth groups meet in the Village Hall for games, singing, activities and Christian teaching.

St Stephen’s and St Leodegar’s churches work closely together as a united benefice and are ministered by Revd. James Russell.

A new way to pack shoeboxes online together!

Posted on by
Reply
Operation Christmas Child
Good News. Great Joy.
pack a shoebox online
 
A New Way to Pack Together –   Your Gifts are More Important than Ever!   Shoebox Online is a quick, fun and easy way to send a shoebox full of gifts and put a huge smile on the face of a child who may never have received a gift before!

If you are unable to pack a shoebox in the traditional way this year, how about packing one online and letting us do it for you? This year every single shoebox counts and with traditional packing harder for some, yours could be the one that ensures a child doesn’t miss out.

If you normally pack as a church, group or with family and friends, we also have an exciting new custom goal page feature that will allow you to join together to do this online.   Pack Online Yourself or Together   We’ve already sent the first 5,000 boxes to Belarus and we hope to send our next precious cargo of Shoebox Online boxes to Nigeria and Liberia.
  packing SBO boxes loading SBO boxes    
Children in developing countries have not only witnessed the spread of Covid-19, but have also seen their already fragile local economies restricted, making life for many even more difficult. Alongside this, some faithful shoebox packers in the UK face challenges to giving a gift due to local restrictions and the need to shield.

That’s where a gift packed through Shoebox Online could make all the difference.   shoebox joy  
New! Pack Together Online   This year we have an exciting NEW feature we’ve created to make Shoebox Online packing extra fun for groups to join in together, and reach even more children with the true meaning of Christmas! We’re launching custom webpages that allow you to track the progress of your church, group, or event towards a faith-filled Operation Christmas Child shoebox goal!.   SBO goal page progress  
It’s simple: create a goal page through Shoebox Online, then just upload an image or logo, write an encouraging message, and decide how many shoeboxes you want others to pack. We’ll send you a unique link for your goal page so you can share it by email or on social media. Then, spread the word, pray, and watch your goal tracker as it represents more children blessed with a wide smile and a sense of hope!   Pack Together Online with New Shared Goal Pages   For answers to common questions about this exciting, contactless packing opportunity, check out our Frequently Asked Questions.   Packing a Shoebox Gift Online is Simple:

Step 1:   Choose whether to pack for a boy or girl and which age group   choose boy or girl  
Step 2:   Select the gifts you would like to send.   pick gifts  
Step 3:   Personalise your gift with a note and photo   write a message   Step 4:   Donate for your shoebox gift.

Then we’ll pack and send it for you!   Start Packing Online   Thank you for considering packing a shoebox online this year and encouraging others to get involved. Together we can ensure thousands of precious children around the world experience unimaginable joy and hear of God’s amazing love for them.  
Sincerely,
Nick Cole
Director of Operation Christmas Child UK  

Declare His glory among the nations Psalm 96:3  

A note about the mailing list

Posted on by
Reply
Some of you may receive the weekly news for the first time, even though you have been added or signed up some time ago. I have just realised that there are people on the list who have not been receiving the emails… Hopefully this has been rectified now.

If you have changed your mind about receiving these emails or don’t know why you are on the list and don’t want to receive them, I do apologise. It is very easy to unsubscribe.
Click on this button and you’ll be removed…
Unsubscribe from the St Stephen’s Church weekly news e-mail
Alternatively you can email me on editor.churches@hotmail.co.ukv(or reply to this email) and ask to be removed.

From the Diocese of Chichester…

Posted on by
Reply
Advent and Christmas 
As Advent approaches we have many events and resources available: Chichester Cathedral Advent Diocesan Advent Reflections Cathedral Carol Service  This year we are offering podcasts twice a week as our Advent reflections. The theme will be taken from the lessons contained in the Nine Lessons and Carol service, chosen to help us celebrate  the fact the Gospel remains unchanged this Christmas. These will go out Tuesdays and Thursdays throughout Advent on all of our channels. You will find them from 1st December on the Diocesan website here 

Bishop Martin introduces the Advent podcasts in the video below:

Introduced by Archbishop Justin Welby – the line is available 24 hours a day on 0800 804 8044 – it has been set up for those unable to join online church services during the period of restrictions.
Options available include Prayer During the Day and Night Prayer updated daily, from Common Worship. A section called Hymn Line offers callers a small selection of hymns, updated daily. An option entitled ‘Hymns We Love’, provides a hymn and reflection and is based on an initiative by the Connections group.

Living Faith in 2021

Posted on by
Reply

Applications need to be made by 1st December 2020 for the Diocesan Living Faith course in 2021.

Living Faith is for lay Christians to find and develop their gifts and explore what discipleship and calling means for them. It is also part-one of the Authorised Lay Ministry training programme and candidates who wish to train as ALM’s need first to complete Living Faith. 
Because of ongoing COVID 19 restrictions the course will only be offered online in 2021 on Monday and Wednesday evenings.  You can apply and find further information about the course here >>

No church during the second lockdown

Posted on by
Reply

The Government rules for the second lockdown clearly state that places of worship will be closed except for a few specific eventualities, one of which is private prayer. All worship services in St Stephen’s Church and St Leodegar’s Church will be cancelled from Sunday 8 November 2020 until and including 29 November 2020. We are hoping to be able to open for worship again on Sunday 6 December 2020.
 

St Stephen’s Church open for private prayer
Every Sunday in November from 9:30am till 11am (NOTE CHANGE IN TIME). Please let Lynn know if you are coming to church during these times.

St Leodegar’s Church won’t open for private prayer
You are encouraged to join with St Stephen’s Church. Please remember to contact Lynn if you do.