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Easter Fun for Everyone

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Easter Fun for Everyone

Poster for Easter Fun for Everyone event in Thanington. Colourful Eggs on green grass with blue sky and fluffy clouds above. Church logo.

Back by popular demand …

Easter Fun for Everyone will take place on Saturday 19th April, 2 – 4:30pm.

Join us for Easter crafts and an Easter egg hunt for the kids. There will be stalls and a chance to explore the churchyard together. Enjoy cakes and drinks and the chance to chat in our beautiful church setting. It all starts at 2pm and at 4pm we will come together for a short act of worship to celebrate Easter. This will be planned with people of all ages in mind and all are welcome.

The event is FREE entry but you can make a donation to the church using our card reader or with a cash donation. There will be a small charge for the tombola and to buy items from the stalls

Step-free access into the church is available through the hall at the back of the church.

See you there!

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Past, present, future

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Past, present and future

Vision image - dandelion

If someone asked you what it’s like to be part of Thanington Parish Church, what would you say?

 

Some of us home in on the warm welcome we have received or which we offer, or the sense of community which makes it feel like being part of a wider family. Others emphasise being connected to the past, through our historic church building and the faithful worship and service which has been offered here down the centuries. We can value the past and learn from the past, as for example we will do in our All Saints Day and  Remembrance Sunday services this month. But we cannot live in the past.

 

We can only live in the present. Right now we are a small but growing church, in a varied and changing parish with a growing population. St Nicholas is a listed building which requires some repairs, some improvements to the facilities and some redecoration, to help us offer a warm welcome. We are being encouraged to worship God wholeheartedly, to pray faithfully and to follow the way of Jesus in our everyday lives. We do all this with the help of God’s Spirit.  We can’t do everything, but we do what we can with what we have, trusting God to bless and multiply what we offer.

 

But we must also look to the future – God’s future. We pray ‘your kingdom come, your will be done.’  I believe that future involves the church growing in faith, hope and love; continuing to grow in number and grow younger (on average!); growing new leaders and new worshipping communities to serve the people of Thanington.

 

We  sum this up in a simple vision statement:

We are Thanington Parish Church:

A community of worship, welcome and witness to Christ,

who are learning from the past, living in the present and looking to God’s future.

 

I’ll be sharing more about this in future posts. But if you’re reading this and want to find out more or get involved, just get in touch for more info.

 

Rev Nick White (vicar)

 

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You loved your lychgate !

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You've loved your lychgate !

Vicar standing in front of lychgate

After a huge community effort we are now pleased to say the rebuilding of the Lychgate is complete. Thank you to all who sponsored a tile, and to grant funders who made this possible. As a church we have been so aware of the importance of this local landmark to many people, who were baptized, married or had a funeral of a loved one here.

 

Lychgates are historic parts of some churchyards; for some they mark the entrance into consecrated ground. In reality they served a practical use in the past: corpses for burial were often waiting here until the time came for the funeral. The shelter proved an important spot to wait with loved ones; hence the seating underneath.

 

Now that the work is complete, we will be having a Grand Re-Opening of the Lychgate on Sat 30 March at 2pm, as part of our Easter Fun for Everyone event. Everyone is welcome and we will be joined by Archdeacon Will Adam and Councillor Roben Franklin, who will be helping us mark the occasion with style.

 

The Easter Fun for Everyone event will continue until 4pm with crafts, an Easter egg hunt, story trail, refreshments, stalls and a chance to try ringing the church bells. We look forward to seeing you there.

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All Age Service moving to 4pm

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All age service moving to 4pm

All-Age-Service-2024-1024x512

The time of the All Age Service at St Nicholas Church is changing. It will move from 10am to 4pm on the first Sunday of the month. This change was agreed by the PCC (Parochial Church Council) and announced on Sunday 3rd December. It will take place from January 2024.

Why? Our monthly Messy Church started in September on Sundays at 4pm, drawing in lots of local families. Sunday at 4pm seems to be a good time for families in Thanington to come together.

We want to create a more regular time for these children, young people and their parents/carers to get together at St Nicholas. So, from January, on the 1st Sunday of the month at 4pm will be the All Age Service. And on the 3rd Sunday of the month at 4pm it will be Messy Church. Both are planned with families in mind.

For those who prefer the morning, there will continue to be a 10am service every Sunday at St Nicholas Church. This will usually be a service of Holy Communion. But on the first Sunday of the month it will be a Service of the Word.

We hope that these simple changes will help more and more people to worship in a style which helps them to feel at home in church, to connect with God, and to grow in faith.

Both our 10am congregation and our 4pm congregation are growing. God is re-building the church here in Thanington. Come and be part of it !

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Hello from Christa

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Hi! I’m Christa, the new curate with the parish of Thanington, St Nicholas and St Faith.

I’m delighted to be here, along with my husband Jon, who is a business consultant. We have two daughters, who are at school in Canterbury, and loving it! We have moved from London where I served with a network of five churches in the East End: the main one was St John at Hackney. I got to see there how God is breathing fresh life into His Church.

One of my passions is creativity: I like to write, create, & I love a good party! I am looking forward to serving the vision of Thanington Parish Church to reach families in the area with God’s love. Messy Church is a great creative space for this and I am excited to be part of the team making that happen once a month. In September we ran it for the first time and welcomed 35 children with their parents/carers into church.

I am also doing a short placement with the Chaplaincy at University of Kent. Canterbury is buzzing with students so I am thrilled to be able to come alongside them.

I love building people up, so in particular, if you are at a bit of a crossroads in life, I would love to meet up with you and see how God might want to encourage you, too!

Every Blessing,

Christa.

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