Baptisms, Weddings and Funerals

Can I have my baby baptised at St Mary's?

Yes. We would encourage you to have your children baptised at St Mary's. If you live outside of the parish we would also encourage you to consider your local church as it enables you and baby to establish the friendships and contacts that are so important at this stage.

At the baptism of your baby you, as parents, are making a public decision to start him/her on the journey of faith, asking for the church's support. You will be asked to declare publicly on behalf of your child that you believe in God and that you will bring your child up to follow Jesus.

We also offer a service of blessing and thanksgiving for the gift of your baby. Baptism can follow at a later date if either you or your child wants to make a commitment of faith.

Can I be baptised at St Mary's?

We regularly baptise adults by full immersion. Beforehand, we would love to invite you to come along to an Alpha Course if you haven't already. Baptism is an amazing act of obedience, a public declaration of your faith in Jesus, a symbol of dying to your old life, and a resurrection into the new.

Can I get married at St Mary's?

The Church of England has an extensive website (www.yourchurchwedding.org) where you will find answers to most of your questions regarding marriage. These guidelines will have been adapted by individual churches to suit their own particular style and we encourage you to call us for further information about being married here at St Mary's.

All couples wishing to get married at St Mary's are expected to attend our marriage preparation course. The course is completely free and is designed to help couples think about their wedding and married life, as well as provide an opportunity to meet our clergy and other couples in a relaxed and informal atmosphere.

Please contact us for more information.

Can I hold a funeral at St Mary's?

The Church of England has an extensive website (https://churchofenglandfunerals.org/) where you will find answers to most of your questions regarding funerals. If you would like one of the team at St Mary's to take a funeral, please tell your funeral director in the first instance who will make all the necessary arrangements. Church of England funerals can be lead by a vicar, a retired vicar (who has the Bishop’s permission to do so) or a licensed lay minister. All of them are specially trained and have lots of experience in taking funerals.

Sometimes the place where the person organising the funeral lives and the place where your loved one spent most of their life might be different from the place where they died. Older people move into residential care or sheltered housing in later life, but their ‘home town’ might still be the place where they wanted to have a funeral. If this is the ase, and you would like the funeral to be at St Mary's, it’s best to first contact the Church Office who will be able to help you.

Hello and welcome to our church. If you are a new visitor, we have a page for you to get to know us and learn more about planning a visit.
Click here to see more.

Visitors click here.

Planning your Visit

A Warm Hello

We're glad you're here! This page will give you some helpful information about practicalities and what to expect at our Sunday services.

St Mary’s is a Church of England charismatic evangelical church. Our vision is to see every person and every place saturated with God. We long to see revival and the transformation of our community, as people encounter God and discover the adventure of His kingdom.

Where and When

We have three Sunday services.

Holy Communion - 8:45am
Morning Celebration - Informal service - 10:30am
Contemporary Service - 5pm

For your first visit, we recommend arriving 10-15 minutes early to ensure you get a parking space and find somewhere to sit before the service begins. When you arrive, you should be greeted by someone on our Host Team who will help you find your seats. The Host team will also be able to help you with any questions or concerns you may have about your visit.

NB: There is no dress code at St Mary’s. Come as you are. We are informal.

Plan your journey:

Open Google Maps

Our car park is open for use to those using the St Marys grounds. Public car parks and road-side parking is available in the nearby streets. Loughton Tube Station is only a 7 minute walk away. Just walk up Station Road and turn right when you get to the High Road. Contact us using the form below for more details on parking.

Accessibility: There is wheelchair access, and a sound loop for anyone who needs it. Please let one of the Host Team know on your arrival and they will help you to get set up. There are two accessible toilets available on site.

Our Services

Our informal family services begin with a warm welcome from one of our team members. Then follows a time of worship, ordinarily led by our band. Sometimes a person might pray out loud or read a small passage from the bible. Sometimes people share things that they believe God is saying to the whole church family. This might seem strange the first time you hear it but it’s all part of our connecting with God. We then share news and notices, usually about what’s going on in the life of the church. One of our leaders will then give a sermon that is bible-based and that we can apply to our everyday life. We then finish with a final worship song. Sometimes there is an opportunity to receive prayer at the end of the service.

Main church worship

What about my kids?

If you have children with you, they are very welcome among us. At St Mary's church every Sunday at our Morning Celebration at 10:30am the children are signed in before church and parents given a card at the registration desk in the Smith room before joining in with some worship songs with the whole congregation, then going into their own groups. There are no Ignite groups at the 8:45am or 5pm services. The children and the youth start in the main service with the rest of the church family. There are no groups during August while a number of the team are taking holidays and we adapt our 10:30am service to 'Encounter for Everyone' services which are slightly shorter than normal.

Kindling (Age 0-4yrs) is more than a supervised creche, our team will spend time reading Bible stories, playing worship songs and also providing craft activities for the older children.
Sparklers (Reception-Year 2) enjoy high energy worship songs, one of the great stories of faith told in an age-appropriate and interactive way, and a chance to respond through play, craft, prayer and creativity. This group follows current early years government guidelines which includes no social distancing.
Blaze (Years 3-6) spend a good amount of time exploring a Biblical topic or famous Bible character and what we can learn from them. There is also some free time to form friendships, for creative reflection/ expression, as well as having some fun group games.

There is also a youth group at the 10:30am service for young people in Years 7-13.

Please pick your children up as soon as the service finishes.

Getting Connected

Life Groups

While Sundays are a great way to meet new people, it is often in smaller gatherings that you can really get to know someone. Being part of one of our small groups allows you to make new friends, share together and support each other. We have a variety of groups that meet throughout the week, some afternoons and some evenings. Check out our Life Groups and see if there’s one that you could join, or we can put you in touch with a Life Group leader who will be more than happy to invite you along to their group.

Serving and Volunteering

If you want to get involved in the life of the church and help us make Sundays run smoothly, you can sign up to serve on a team.

Other Ministries

We also run the following ministries:

Café Hope
Coffee Club
Hope Suppers
Connect sessions

Get in touch with us to plan your visit

If you would like to come and visit the church beforehand you are more than welcome! Get in touch and we can arrange a time that suits you.

Name:

Telephone:

Email Address:
Comments / Questions or anything you would like to say?

Next, we will contact you by email to say hello and help arrange anything necessary for your visit.

Leadership


Malcolm Macdonald
Lead Vicar

We hope that whoever you are, you will feel at home at our church.

Best Wishes

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