On Monday 11th January at 7.00pm, Rev. Kevin Maddy was Instituted and Inducted as Rector of St Stephen’s, after several years as our Priest in Charge. The service is still available to watch online.
28th February – 6th March 2020
St Stephen’s Church, Hales Drive, Canterbury, CT2 7AB
Friday 28th February, 7.30pm
Opening Service of Prayer for Christians Together in Canterbury
Three Canterbury People of Prayer:
An opportunity to experience the very different approaches to prayer of three great Christians with links to Canterbury.
Other events during the week:
| Sunday 1st March | 6.00pm–7.00pm | Choral Evensong with Meditation on St David |
| Monday 2nd March | 11.00am–12.30pm | Sacred Dance workshop by Dorothy Jerrome |
| Tuesday 3rd March | 7.30pm–9.00pm | Paying attention to God’s Creation by Rev. Kevin Maddy (first of 5 weekly Lenten sessions on ‘Caring for Creation’) |
| Wednesday 4th March | 7.30pm–9.30pm | Talk on the Langton brothers and Loretta by Mr Ken Moffat, Executive Headteacher of Simon Langton Grammar Schools, followed by Compline, sung by Canterbury Gregorian Society |
| Thursday 5th March | 7.30pm | Sensory meditation using clay led by Sally Musker |
| Friday 6th March | 4.30pm–6.00pm | Teas, sharing of experiences and closing prayer (labyrinth walk if weather permits) |
Monday 2nd – Friday 6th March
St Stephen’s Church will be open daily from 10am to 4pm for anyone to pray however they wish.
| Morning Prayer | 10.00am daily |
| Meditation with music | 3.30pm Monday to Thursday |
| Evening Prayer | 4.00pm Monday to Thursday |
Resources will be available in church for different ways to pray:
| Churchyard Prayer Walk | Leaflets in the porch |
| Praying with the Body | Leaflets in the porch |
| Stations of the Cross | Leaflets in the porch |
| Prayer Pool | Crossing – South Side |
| Praying with Creation | Manwood Chapel |
| Visitation Window Meditation | Manwood Chapel |
| Creative Prayer | North Transept |
| Prayer Cafe | North Transept |
| Lady Loretta’s Life of Prayer | Chancel |
| Praying for the World | Chancel |
All welcome – come through the week as a Lenten retreat at home, or just drop in once and try something new
Everyone is warmly welcome to celebrate Christmas with us at any of our services over the Christmas period – we look forward to meeting you!
Sunday 22nd December * The Fourth Sunday of Advent
8.00am Holy Communion
10.30am Sung Eucharist
6.00pm Carol Service
Tuesday 24th December * Christmas Eve
2.00pm Crib Service
a service for young children and families
11.30pm Midnight Mass with carols
Wednesday 25th December * Christmas Day
8.00am Holy Communion
10.30am Sung Eucharist with carols
Thursday 26th December * St Stephen’s Day
10.30am Holy Communion
Sunday 29th December * The First Sunday of Christmas
8.00am Holy Communion
10.30am Sung Eucharist with carols
On Sunday 10th November, our morning service commemorates Remembrance Sunday, with Fauré’s Requiem sung liturgically by our choir.
Everyone is warmly welcome at this special service.
You are warmly invited to our service in St Stephen’s Church, to come together with other members of our community to remember loved ones who are no longer with us.
During the service you will be welcome to light a candle and the names of loved ones will be read out. There will be times of quiet contemplation and some beautiful music sung by our choir.
Our services are always open to everyone, but if you are unable to attend in person, you can still have loved ones remembered by name.
You can ask for your loved ones to be remembered by adding their name to the list in church.
Join us for our traditional Harvest Festival at 10.30am on Sunday 6th October 2019. A service to give thanks for the harvest with worship, prayer, and music, lasting about an hour.
During the service, donations of food and toiletries will be offered for those who are less fortunate than us.
Everyone is warmly welcome.
Presented by the University of Kent, and returning to St Stephen’s after nearly 500 hundred years, John Bale’s inflammatory play about notorious King John is as controversial as ever. Join the Cultures of Performance research group as we workshop extracts from the play, bringing it back to life, along with some of the atmosphere of Reformation St Stephen’s. Featuring music, architectural projections, and some familiar faces from the community, the performance will explore how the play engages with the parish, Canterbury and Kent as they were in the 1540s and how they are today.
To coincide with this performance, the following Sunday, worship will be according to the Book of Common Prayer which has its roots in the sixteenth century, and accompanied by music by John Merbecke who published the Book of Common Prayer Noted in 1550, and by Thomas Tallis who’s compositions straddled the Reformation.
A week of opportunities to explore different approaches to prayer and spirituality in the Christian tradition.
Saturday 9th March to Sunday 17th March 2019
St Stephen’s Church
Hales Drive Canterbury
CT2 7AB
Programme
Saturday 9th March 10 30 am
Introduction to the week and the resources available
Special guest speaker Barbara Wallace,
Sunday 10th March 6pm
Service of prayer and contemplation featuring music and poetry
Monday 11th March – Friday 15th March – 9am- 4pm
The church will be open and a variety of prayer resources available, including art materials, literature and aids to contemplation.
Morning prayers at 9.00 am and evening prayers at 4.00 pm will be followed by a chance to discuss different approaches to the inner journey.
There will be an hour of shared silence between 11 am and noon ending with midday prayers.
There will be said service of Holy Communion on Wednesday at 10.15 am
A labyrinth walk, visit to a quiet garden and evening activities will be available if requested.
Sunday 17th March 4 pm
Closing tea for participants to share experiences and discuss future prayer opportunities, followed by Choral Evensong at 6.00 pm.
This is a week of opportunities. Come to as much or as little as you find helpful. You can use it as a Lenten retreat in everyday life or just drop in when it suits you. There is no charge and no need to register, but email {This email is obscured. Your must have javascript enabled to see it} for further information, to ask for any specific activity to be included, to be kept up to date with developments in the programme or to join in online. For updates see https://www.facebook.com/ststephenscanterbury/
This year there are three special services to mark the Christmas season:
On Sunday 2nd December at 6.00pm we have our Advent Carol Service where we prepare ourselves and look forward to the coming of God’s Son.
Our Service of Lessons and Carols for Christmas is on Sunday 23rd December at 6.00pm where we will hear readings, choral pieces sung by our choir, and join together to sing well-known Christmas Carols.
Finally, on Sunday 6th January we will be marking the Epiphany, when we remember the visit of the wise men.
Everyone is warmly welcome at all of our services.
Everyone is welcome to join us to prepare for and celebrate the birth of Jesus at Christmas. There are quiet said services of Holy Communion, and sung choral services with choral music sung by our choir alongside seasonal hymns for everyone to sing together.
Sunday 3rd December 2017 – Advent Sunday
8.00am Holy Communion
10.30am Sung Eucharist
6.00pm Looking for the Light – a special service for Advent Sunday
Sunday 10th and 17th December 2017
8.00am Holy Communion
10.30am Sung Eucharist
6.00pm Choral Evensong
Friday 22nd December 2017
7.30pm Traditional Service of Lessons and Carols for Christmas
Sunday 24th December 2017 – Christmas Eve
8.00am Holy Communion
10.30am Sung Eucharist
2.00pm Family Crib Service
11.30pm Midnight Mass
Monday 25th December 2017 – Christmas Day
8.00am Holy Communion
10.30am Festival Sung Eucharist with carols