Welcome to St Martin’s Chipping Ongar
with St Peter’s Shelley.
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 ‘Who's Who’ page |
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Recent News
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People & Events
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| Welcome Helen |  | We are delighted to welcome Helen Gheorghiou Gould who joined us on 28th April for a placement of two months. Helen, who is a curate at St John’s Epping and who has already covered some services for us, will be involved in all areas of our parish life – taking services, going into school, visiting and attending meetings. | | Helen Gheorghiou Gould | |
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| On the evening of Holy Saturday around 20 of us met in the Church Rooms for supper (many thanks to Sue King and her team for catering and allowing for our various dietary requirements!), story-telling and the Easter Vigil. All of us took part in dramatised readings about man’s relationship with God which ranged from the story of Adam and Eve, Noah, the crossing of the Red Sea, the resurrection of the dead in Ezekiel and the Song of Joy from Zephaniah. We then gathered outside St Martin’s for the Service of Light where we lit a fire in the churchyard. From this the Paschal Candle – a symbol of Christ – was lit and, in turn, our own individual candles. |
| | The Paschal Candle was lit from the fire | | After this we entered the dark and silent church, led by our Rector, Susan Cooper, bearing the Paschal Candle which she periodically raised, as we processed to the chancel, proclaiming the words ever louder “The Light of Christ” to which we enthusiastically responded “Thanks be to God”. The Easter Candle was placed on a stand in the midst of the church where we made our Easter Acclamation and listened to the Liturgy of the Word. We then followed Susan to the Font where each one of us renewed our commitment to Christ by going to the water and making the sign of the cross with it on our foreheads followed by a joyful exchanging of the Peace. | | | We listened to the Word in the "Light of Christ"
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 | As we departed we added a flower to the bare branches of what had been the Christmas Tree in the churchyard in December converting it into a “Cross of Glory”
This was further enhanced by The One Big FamilyService Congregation who made colourful paper flowers at their service on the following Sunday |
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