The life and work of Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury under Henry VIII and unparalleled reformer of the English church, was the subject of our enlightening and fruitful seminar led by Adam Curtis, with a particular focus on the Collects that Cranmer wrote for the Book of Common Prayer (1549 and 1552). As Adam explained, … Read more …
Members of the 6.30pm congregation at St Mary’s gathered on Saturday night for a quiz that was, quite frankly, a sell-out crowd. From the start, it was clear this wasn’t going to be your average, politely-nodding-along kind of evening. The rounds were terrifically well-chosen, blending cerebral challenges with tasks that required intense focus. There was … Read more …
I’ve tried various initiatives over Lent, such as giving up various things, the 40 acts of stewardship, and reading as many Christian books as I can. My favourite is definitely reading the books. This is the second year I have done this. It is amazing how much more time to read most of us have … Read more …
Some members of the St Mary’s church family may not be aware that alongside our mission partners, we support a number of gospel organisations. As you will see from the short summaries below these organisations either aid teaching of the gospel message, or training and support for those in or entering gospel ministry work. 1. … Read more …
Recently, a merry band from St Mary’s found themselves at York Road, cheering on Maidenhead United with the English learners among Maidenhead’s local asylum seeker population, who, frankly, knew far more about football than the rest of us put together. From the moment we arrived, they were completely gripped by the action, and by the … Read more …
Over the past few weeks, we have enjoyed hearing Andy Robinson preach in our various services. Andy runs the Ministry Training Course in Oxford, which meets either all day on a Tuesday, or one Saturday morning a month. It is also possible to do the course online. Two of our church family have written to … Read more …
St Mary’s mission partner, Wayne Dixon, was recently recognised for his contributions to children’s ministry at ‘Hand in Hand’, the UK’s biggest children’s and family ministry conference hosted by Scripture Union. The Long Service Award was given to Wayne, who has been sharing Jesus with children and young people in schools in Slough, Windsor and … Read more …
During the St Mary’s Evening on 12th February, we heard from our mission partner, Angy King. Angy spoke to us through video on a very cold February evening from the 3G pitch at the SCL Stadium in Reading where she serves as chaplain to Reading FC women’s teams. She is one of three chaplains at … Read more …
In November we held a short seminar on Addiction with a visiting speaker Andrew Collins. Andrew, a practising psychiatrist for many years in Ireland, now works as the Director for Counselling Ministry at Biblical Counselling UK (BCUK). Andrew sought to give us an understanding of how Scripture speaks into this problem that so many of … Read more …
World Focus Sunday is a fantastic opportunity to learn more about our mission partners, their work and support them in prayer. The church hall was filled with a buzz of excited conversations as St Mary’s mission links and some mission partners in person spoke to us in table groups as we tucked into a ploughman’s … Read more …
