What is our church’s most urgent need?

What is our church’s most urgent need? How would you answer this question? Do we need more moral purity and integrity among our leadership? Do we need a fresh commitment to biblical truth? More zeal in evangelism? More generous giving? More desire to follow Jesus in every area of our lives? I’ve recently been re-reading … Read more …

Ministry Training Course

The Ministry Training Course (MTC) at St Ebbes, Oxford, is “simply the best day of the week!”, chorused Marcela and Sze Ting when I asked them for a pithy quote for this blog. They then hurriedly added “after the Lord’s Day, of course,” and erupted into the ever-present laughter one hears around the church grounds … Read more …

The Sanctity of Life

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27)   Like many of us, I was deeply saddened by two votes in Parliament last week which tragically undermine the value of human life. On Tuesday 17th June MPs voted by … Read more …

Book Sunday (June 2025)

This Sunday we will be selling a few books that all come highly recommended. Our focus as a church this year is to seek to grow in prayerfulness, so we will be selling books to help us with this:   ‘The Valley of Vision’ – a collection of Puritan Prayers edited by Arthur Bennett The … Read more …

Mission Partner Update: Jo Clifford

St Mary’s Mission Partner Jo Clifford, who works with Wycliffe Bible Translators and SIL International, joined the most recent St Mary’s Evening on Zoom and talked through what has been a busy year so far, travelling to conferences across three continents and culminating in a new role. At the start of 2025 Jo looked ahead … Read more …

Explorers Time Away

From Monday 26th – Friday 30th May 17 children and 9 adults went on the Explorers Time Away! This is our annual week away for children in Years 5 and 6 (10-11 year olds) which takes place at a Christian activity centre in the Cotswolds called ‘Adventure Plus’. This year we went on an Egyptian … Read more …

Pop-Up Theology Session One

A gospel powerful and unbound: enduring the test of time (… if we pass on its treasures) “Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.” (2 Timothy 1:14) I am a lover of words, a love apparent in my early childhood and remaining with me today. … Read more …

Update from St Mary’s White Waltham

Praise We have much to be thankful for at White Waltham Church over the last term. We are encouraged to welcome a small number of newcomers, the promise of a baptism in the autumn and to see faith growing in our church family. Our links with the local schools saw a good number of Year … Read more …

Introducing New Warden … Andy Fielding

Hello and thank you for appointing me as church warden for St Mary’s. It’s very humbling to know I have a formal role to play in serving us as a church, as we seek to serve Jesus our Saviour. We have two church wardens and I’ll be serving alongside Lindsay Reisser-Weston. Thanks to Anthony Kan, our previous church warden, who helped … Read more …

Our move to Sydney

Our imminent relocation to Australia comes almost 21 years after I arrived as the first curate at St Mary’s for a number of years, and just one year into Will Stileman becoming vicar. The move that Debbie and I made to Singapore towards the end of 2008, as Crosslinks Mission Partners, was less tumultuous than … Read more …