Our Faith

Dennis - St James Avebury crop-5669

Our Faith

Spending time with God, alone and with others is essential to our Christian faith and we offer a number of opportunities where you are invited to deepen your relationship with God in prayer for the world.

Similarly, coming together to deepen our knowledge and understanding of God through studying the scriptures, history and context of Jesus life and mission deepens our commitment to being followers of Jesus.

We offer a variety of opportunities to learn together and apply our faith to daily life.


What We Believe

Jesus is the central person that Christians throughout history and across the world follow and worship.

He was born about 2,000 years ago in Bethlehem, a unique moment in history celebrated each year at Christmas.

Jesus is the central person that Christians throughout history and across the world follow and worship. We believe he is the Son of God, who chose to become a human being, the better to understand His creation. During his life on earth he healed the sick, restored women to equal partnership with men, challenged the powerful and the unjust, and fed the hungry spiritually and physically. For love of the whole world he submitted to death on the cross, and rose from the dead and appeared to his followers.

After Jesus ‘ascended’ into Heaven, God’s Spirit was poured out upon his followers. They were filled with courage and with power, and went throughout the world telling people about Jesus. Many died for their faith and still do today.

Christians are followers of Jesus Christ. Anglicans believe that God has been fully revealed to the world in Jesus: life, death and his resurrection. Ours is a Faith in God who is One God and also a community – the Trinity of Almighty God, within whom we find Jesus and the Holy Spirit, and a God who is LOVE, Father and Mother of us all. Christianity is the faith of all Christians: a living relationship with God, a covenant we are baptised into, revealed through the words of the Bible and the witness of Christians over 2,000 years.

We believe that Jesus died once for all upon the cross and that God’s raising Jesus from the dead is a sign of hope and forgiveness for all. Prayer is at the heart of our call to be a follower of Jesus and binds the family of God together. We believe that Jesus intercedes for the world and is ever ready to hear our prayers.

The churches of the Upper Kennet Benefice are part of a larger family of Christians called a Diocese. We are members of the Church of England (Anglicans) and trace our Christian roots back to the early Church. The basis of the faith of the Church of England is the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments (the Bible) and the teachings of the early Church Fathers. The Church of England is part of the Anglican Communion, a worldwide family of churches of over 70 million people in 38 Provinces spreading across 161 countries.

Prayer and Study

Spending time with God , alone and with others is essential to our Christian faith and we offer a number of opportunities where you are invited to deepen your relationship with God in prayer for the world. Similarly, coming together to deepen our knowledge and understanding of God through studying the scriptures, history and context of Jesus life and mission deepens our commitment to being followers of Jesus. We offer a variety of opportunities to learn together and apply our faith to daily life.

Prayer

Morning Prayer in the Celtic Tradition Daily at 8.30am on Zoom.

 Evening Prayer is said at St James Church Avebury at 5pm on some week days.

A gentle time of readings, reflection, prayer and silence with occasional lively discussion using the rich resources of the Northumbria and Iona community and the writings of John O Donoghue, David Adams and others.
Please check church porch for further details.

Meditation (TAIZÉ) Service
At Christchurch East Kennett fortnightly
“A brief respite from everyday pressures – a time of peace, calm and silent reflection”
Every fortnight on a Wednesday evening at East Kennett Church from 6.30 to 7pm: a chance to just sit quietly and relax and enjoy the silence and the peace by candlelight, with a background of occasional singing and some words of wisdom.

Diocese of Salisbury Daily Prayer guides for Autumn and Lent are used widely to enable us to pray at home or in small groups. These are made available at service at the start of lent or Advent and are also available online from www.salisbury.anglican.org

Study

Talking Tuesdays @ The Rectory 
MONTHLY
Talk, Learn , Pray – Lively debate, group chosen topics, good refreshments and enjoyable company
A broad range of topics on offer – recent sessions included ‘Why Jerusalem? Why Bethlehem? Why then and not now?’; ‘ The history of the Magi’; ‘ In the footsteps of St Paul’; ‘ Christian response to war and remembrance’; ‘ The social and religious context of Jesus Mission and Ministry’; ‘Reincarnation and Resurrection’.
Usually the third Tuesday of the month – for next sessions see the editions section of Upper Kennet News

Lent Groups and Autumn Groups

Usually 4 weeks duration between Ash Wednesday and Palm Sunday on a particular topic and all sessions are designed to be ‘ stand alone’- open to those who wish to attend all or just some of the sessions. ‘Journey in Faith’ – a range of people share their experiences of journeying in faith in small groups leading to group discussion for next sessions see the editions section of Upper Kennet News 

Deanery Learning events, Death Café and other learning sessions take place regularly and are always advertised in the Upper Kennet News and the Broad Hinton, Uffcott and Winterbourne Basset Local New

“A local network of churches inspiring and leading local mission” A Deanery is a grouping of parishes, headed by a Rural Dean (the priest in charge of the Deanery) and Lay Chair (the non-ordained equivalent). There are 19 deaneries in the diocese of Salisbury. Deanery representatives meet regularly to discuss parish business. Links to main contacts, latest news and documents are listed below.

Our churches are a part of the Marlborough deanery led by Roger Powell. Together the deaneries form part of the Salisbury Diocese.

The Anglican Diocese of Salisbury is the seventh largest in area in the Church of England, extending over 2000 square miles, with a population of about 932,000. Within this diocese there is wide diversity in geography between the many urban areas and the deeply rural ones.

The diocese includes 95% of Dorset, 75% of the unitary authority of Wiltshire, the unitary authority of Poole, 40% of the unitary authority of Bournemouth, a small part of west Hampshire and one parish in Devon.

As a Diocese we want:

  • A thriving Christian presence in every community and a continued commitment to the parish system
  • To grow church membership by 10% over the next 10 years
  • To increase vocations to ordained ministry by 60% over the next 10 years