The Benefice of St. Bartholomew
Welcome to the website for the Benefice of St Bartholomew
- Details
- Written by Tony Gowers
The Benefice of St Bartholomew covers almost 30 square miles in the south west corner of Wiltshire. The Benefice is located in the Diocese of Salisbury and includes the following Church of England parishes: Donhead St Mary with Charlton, Donhead St Andrew, East Knoyle, Semley and Sedgehill.
Most of the Benefice lies within the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty with its exceptional landscapes and superb scenery.
This website will tell you about our six Churches: St. John the Baptist Church in Charlton, St. Andrew's Church in Donhead St. Andrew, St Mary's Church in Donhead St. Mary, St. Mary's Church in East Knoyle, St. Catherine's Church in Sedgehill and St Leonard's Church in Semley.
The site also describes:
- The services and events which have been arranged for the whole Benefice.
- The activities organised for children and younger people in the Benefice.
You can also find us on Facebook - www.facebook.com/beneficeofstbartholomew
If you have an item that you would like to be included on this website or have suggestions on how we can improve the site, please click here.
Latest News And Forthcoming Services & Events
'Cake in a Crisis' Coffee Morning, Charlton - 24th November 2018
- Details
- Written by Tony Gowers
Cake in a Crisis
Saturday 24”‘ November
10.00 am to 12 noon
at
St John's Church, Charlton
Come and treat yourself to Coffee and Cake
and help us to raise funds for
‘Crisis at Christmas’
Christmas Gifts - Cake Stall
Organised by Donhead St Mary with Charlton PCC
*** NEW *** The Text This Week
- Details
- Written by The Rev'd Richard Warhurst
Bible study in the Rectory, Semley - “The Text This Week”
On Thursdays at 7:30pm, during term-time.
The first session is on 20th September 2018 - everyone is welcome.
The idea is that we will explore the text for the coming Sunday (over a glass of wine or cup of tea...)
Come each week - drop in - come when you're reading - it's up to you !
*** NEW *** Messy Church - Semley
- Details
- Written by The Rev'd Richard Warhurst
Activities - Songs - Food
Crafts - Games - Stories
We are starting a
new Messy Church on the fourth Saturday of the month
at Semley Primary School.
The first session will be on Satuday 22nd September 2018 from 11.00 am to 2.00 pm.
** Lunch provided **
We will need volunteers of all ages please!
Please get behind this new venture.
Please make sure that local families are aware that it is happening.
If you are interested in helping, please contact the Rectory on 01747 830174
From the Rector - November 2018
- Details
- Written by The Rev'd Richard Warhurst
Dear Friends,
As the season of Harvest draws to a close you may well be feeling harvested-out! It's been the time of reflecting on abundance and that we are blessed with plenty.
And now in to November; a time of remembering in the church year.
The period from All Saints to Advent is a time when we are reminded of the fact that 'no Christian is solitary’. All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day are days when we reflect on this sense of belonging and remembering.
On All Saints, we celebrate men and women in whose lives the Church as a whole has seen God at work. God's work of grace can be seen in the ordinary and extraordinary.
The services where we commemorate the faithful departed are a more local and personal way of remembering those whom we have loved and are no longer with us. They allow us to remember those whom we have known more directly, those saints in our lives who have nurtured us, who gave us life, and made us who we are.
Then we move to Remembrance Sunday, where we explore further the theme of memory, both corporate and individual, as we confront issues of war and peace, loss and self-giving, memory and forgetting.
This year marks the centenary of the Armistice to the First World War. Full peace would be declared months later in 1919 with the Treaty of Versailles. However, within 20 years, despite it supposedly being the war to end all wars, Europe and the rest of the world would be plunged into turmoil once again.
The two minutes silence at the eleventh hour, on the eleventh day of the eleventh month gives us pause for thought. We will give thanks for those who sacrificed their lives for the hope of a world in which freedom and justice reigned. We will take stock of the cost in deaths and lives shattered that war will always demand. We will pray for peace. Peace in our hearts and homes, and peace for all the world. 100 years after the guns fell silent and battle-hardened men wept at the waste of lives, we will mark the occasion in acts of remembrance across the Benefice.
So, November - a time of remembering, of reflecting, of moving towards a renewed hope as we prepare to celebrate the birth of God's son. A birth not announced in best BBC English on Radio 4, but by angels, to an unmarried teenager and her carpenter boyfriend. An announcement. made for each one of us, God so loved the world that he sent his only Son to save us. That's worth remembering.
Yours,
Richard
Prayer Cycle and Prayer of the Month - November 2018
- Details
- Written by The Rev'd June Lane
Please keep the prayer requests coming to Julia (tel: 01747 829166), The Rev’d June (tel: 01747 828427), Theresa (tel: 101747 829188), or the Rev’d Richard (tel: 01747 830174). There are many of us in need of that extra help and comfort that comes from knowing someone is praying for us.
Prayer Of The Month
This little Prayer is adapted from one written by a Christian living in New Guinea. It is a simple but heartfelt prayer which is well worth making our own.
Dear Heavenly Father, as Advent approaches we should all try the key to our heart's door. The hinges may have gathered some rust during the year.
Now is just the time to oil those hinges so that my heart's door may open more easily when Jesus comes knocking at Christmas time.
Dear Heavenly Father, please oil the hinges of my heart's door that it may swing open gently and easily and really welcome the coming of Your Son, Jesus.
Amen
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