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Welcome to St Martin’s Chipping Ongar with St Peter’s Shelley. |
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Welcome to our Church!
We hope you will find all the information you need on our website, whether you are thinking of visiting us, or are already a member of our church community. We strive to create places of Christian faith and worship in our two beautiful church buildings; St Martin’s in Ongar Town Centre which was built nearly 1000 years ago and St Peter’s which was built in Victorian times in the fields beyond Shelley. We love to welcome visitors, tourists and those seeking something more spiritual and if, when you have browsed the website, you would like to find out more, please contact the Rector, whose details appear in our ‘Contact Us’ page.
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Possible Link with St. Peter's, Siakago in Kenya |
 David Eldridge, the Bishop of Mbeere’s Commissary, joined us for our morning service at St. Martin’s on 28th February when he outlined what it would mean if we decided to have a formal link with the parish of St. Peter’s, Siakago in the Diocese of Mbeere in Kenya.
He explained that following the 1978 Lambeth Conference of Anglican Bishops, the Diocese of Chelmsford began its link with the Diocese of Mount Kenya East in 1979. Since then this has divided into four dioceses, one of which is Mbeere.
Siakago is different from Chipping Ongar in many ways. It is 3 hours drive from Nairobi – the unmetalled roads either dry and dusty or, in the times of (uncertain) rainfall virtually impassable. Whilst there is some piped water in the town this is only available three days each week. Cooking is done on open fires. It is far away from the tourist benefits of the renowned Game Reserves and the population survives on subsistence farming where drought and famine are constant threats. To counter this, Bishop Moses is encouraging the growth of small businesses.
At first sight, our parishes have little in common. But David reminded us of Paul’s letter to the Romans where, although we are all different, we are all members of the same Body and the Church worldwide. He also explained that while we in Essex may be significantly better off materially than the people of Mbeere, the people he had met on his travels there had many other gifts which had shaped and enhanced his life of faith.
Our Rector, Susan Cooper, thanked David and suggested that we could discuss this further at our Parish Day on 21st March. |
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