St Augustine's Church
Thorpe Bay
Welcome to St Augustine's Church
Our Services
Please Note
Public services are suspended until further notice as we follow official advice regarding the coronavirus. The clergy will say morning and evening prayer on behalf of the parish. In the meantime
the vicar, Jonathan Collis, is happy to offer pastoral support, and to receive inquiries about weddings, baptisms and funerals by email on jonathan.collis@cantab.net or 01702 587597.
The Church of England has a variety of resources online for use at home which may conveniently be found on https://www.churchofengland.or
As an experiment St Augustine’s now has its own Youtube channel - and you can hear the vicar speak if you click on the picture below - don’t forget to subscribe etc if you’d like notification of updates!
Introduction to St Augustine's Broadcasting Service by Fr Jonathan
Funerals in the time of lockdown
I am always happy to take a funeral at the crematorium, and to give someone a decent send-off even if the number attending is restricted is an important thing. Nonetheless, St Augustine’s is also
very happy to host at a later date once the lockdown has eased a celebration of a life to which family and friends can be invited. There is no charge for this service, other than for the expenses of
an organist etc, and instead people can make a donation. Please be in touch if you’d like to discuss this possibility.
Jonathan Collis
**************
Bishop Peter, acting Bishop of Chelmsford, has written us this to go with Thursday 21st May.
“This Thursday is Ascension Day and from then until Pentecost Sunday, as in recent years, we are encouraged to pray ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ as part of a global prayer movement for more
people to come to know Jesus. The Kingdom that Jesus proclaimed will only become more a reality if each our lives become a transforming prayer.
Like us at present, the first disciples were locked down between the Ascension of Jesus and the first Pentecost. They were praying and awaiting the coming of the Spirit, as Jesus had promised. When
we begin to re-emerge into a fuller church and community life once again, will our Christian lives and witness be more authentic than previously? Will the people God is calling to himself see more of
Jesus in us and be drawn to him? Let us never forget that as disciples, leaders and teachers in the Church of God we are writing a Gospel by the way we live each day.
As we pray Thy Kingdom Come, will our lives truly be our prayer extended?”
Prayer Group
A Prayer Group could help. Suggestions for prayers would be sent out, by email, each Sunday as blind carbon copies. After that it would be up to you if, when and how they are used. There would be no feedback of any sort, and no time limit on joining. The start date would depend on the take-up.
If interested contact me, preferably by email.
Linda Barnard (contact details in the magazine)
Newsletter for Sunday 24th May 2020
Adobe Acrobat document [114.3 KB]
Sunday 24th May Eucharist
Today's Sermon
Today's Hymn
The Italian Lord's Prayer
All previous services, sermons, hymns and Lords's prayers can be found on The St Augustine's Broadcasting Service on YouTube
The church bell will still ring as a reminder
that prayers are still being offered - public services may be suspended but our ministry continues.
Jonathan
Collis
Coronavirus Information
This from SAVS is full of useful local ways to respond to the Coronavirus crisis.https://mailchi.mp/
Please share our Southend Coronavirus Action Facebook page within your network to encourage people to sign up if they would like to help:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/
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For individual volunteers:
https://consult.southend.gov.
For businesses:
https://consult.southend.gov.
For volunteer groups or charities:
https://consult.southend.gov.u
in normal times we aim to provide a wide variety of services for parishioners and visitors alike:
Monday to Friday:
9.00 am Morning Prayer
5.00 pm Evening Prayer
Wednesday:
10.00 am Holy Communion*
Sunday Services:
8.00 am Holy Communion* - a traditional language service lasting about
40 minutes.
10.00 am Parish Eucharist - with our choir, a junior church, and a small area at
the back of the church with books/crayons etc where parents can sit
with their younger children if they wish. Service lasts for about an
hour, followed by refreshments.
6.30 pm Evensong - a smaller reflective service using the Book of Common
Prayer and lasting about an hour.
*Gluten free communion wafers are available, please just ask when you come up to the altar rail.
We also hold a 'First Steps' service for tots. For those of you with pre-school children we have a monthly tots service here at St Augustine's at 10:45am, with songs, craft activity, story and Jaffa cakes. This service generally falls on the 2nd Wednesday in the month.
The Blessed Sacrament is perpetually reserved for the Communion of the sick and dying. Please inform the vicar of parishioners who are sick or in hospital.
This year's Lent Course 'Surprised by Prayer' will now be run next year.
Confirmation Sunday is now Sunday 13th December at 4 pm.
The Bishop of Bradwell will be coming to confirm at St Augustine’s on 13th December. This gives us an opportunity to consider our commitments, and off you have never get round to being confirmed (or baptised, for that matter), or you have children in year 6 or above who haven’t been confirmed, please have a word with Fr Jonathan. The service is the Church of England’s way of those who have come to maturity to affirm the promises made on their behalf at baptism, and when it is customary to begin receiving communion. We shall have mixture of adults and children this year, and preparation is done on a tailor made basis as candidates come from a variety of different backgrounds. Fr Jonathan
The vicar is always pleased to receive enquiries about christenings,
weddings and other services.
Telephone 01702 587597 or email jonathan.collis@cantab.net
Fr Chris Giles
We are pleased and saddened by the news that our own curate Fr Chris Giles has now received an appointment to be The Rector of the Stourhead Benefice, Suffolk, between the towns of Haverhill and Clare.
Fr Chris updates:
My Institution and induction service will be on the 29th April at St. Peter and St Paul’s Church Kedington. Thank you all for the congratulations and good wishes I have received about my appointment as The Rector of the Stourhead Benefice, Suffolk which lies between the towns of Haverhill and Clare. Fr Chris
Note: there is a website actually called ‘Stourhead Benefice’ which gives you pictures, maps and details of the 8 rural parishes it serves. It also has a lovely video from parishioners advertising for a new vicar! http://stourheadbenefice.org/wordpress/
Our congratulations and best wishes
to Fr Chris and his lovely family
The Church of England has updated its guidance for churches in light of the latest advice from Public Health England.
Please follow the link -
https://www.
Forthcoming Musical or Special Events - on hold at this time
Chelmsford Cathedral. The Dean of the Cathedral produces a quarterly events guide with the aim of encouraging everyone to discover what the Cathedral has to offer. To find out more and to view the guide, please click on the link below:
Church Extension Update
Having obtained approval from the Diocese Advisory Committee (DAC) some months ago for our extension plans, our architects submitted a formal building application to Southend council. We waited the seemingly obligatory 16 weeks for the council to approve the plans, only to be told that our application had been rejected.
The reasons for the rejection were to my mind, and that of our architects, relatively minor and we were extremely disappointed that the council thought it necessary to issue a formal rejection without any kind of prior notice or liaison from the council planning department.
I arranged a follow up meeting with the council and our architects on Wednesday 30th October to discuss the rejection and find a way forward. Following lengthy discussion about the role of the DAC and the processes we have been through to get DAC approval for our plans, I’m happy to report that the meeting went well and I am reasonably confident that the councils objections have been addressed. We can’t be absolutely sure because the council official we met with was not the person who rejected the plans (of course not!) but our architect will now submit a new set of plans, with minor alterations, which we hope will be approved.
Another delay is of course inevitable and we’ve been told that it could be another 16 weeks before we receive the councils response, that will be Mid February.
There won’t be much to report before then so I wish you all a very merry, albeit slightly early, merry Christmas and hope that the New Year will bring us good news! Best wishes to you all.
Peter Barron
If any of you would like to find out more about baptism, confirmation or marriage, please don't hesitate to contact me at
jonathan.collis@cantab.net
Safeguarding
“We are committed to ensuring that St Augustine’s is
a safe place for all”
For further information please go to our safeguarding page, the link is here
Where to find us
Google says we're right here!
We are located in the middle of Thorpe Bay, about two miles east of Southend on Sea and just a short walk from the sea front. We are easily accessible by train (Thorpe Bay station is on the main line from London Fenchurch Street) and bus (Nos 1, 7 and 9), and there is ample on-street parking around the church. The church itself is on an island site at the junction of Johnstone Road and St Augustine’s Avenue.
Our address is:
St Augustine’s Church,
St Augustine’s Avenue,
Thorpe Bay, Essex.
SS1 3JH.
Visit Counter
24th May 2020
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