Christmas Services and Events at St Mary Kippington

November 5, 2025 Stephen Swift

Christmas Services

2025

Dear Friends,

This Christmas news article brings greetings from St Mary Kippington and is an invitation for you to join us at this special time to share in some of our activities and services as we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ - born for all.

There will be opportunities to hear the story of the birth ofJesus and sing carols together. It is a story that is still relevant for us all today.

We look forward to seeing you all at any of our services during this time and you will find a warm and friendly welcome.

May I wish you on behalf of everyone at St Mary’s a very Happy Christmas and every blessing for 2026.

Anne Bourne, Team Vicar

Brenda Ross, Churchwarden

Christmas Fair: Saturday, 22nd of November 1-4pm

Get Christmas off to a flying start! With refreshments, tombolas, a raffle and the chance to buy gifts, new and nearly new, a perfect opportunity to enjoy festive snacks and drinks with friends and family.

Nine Lessons and Carols for Christmas: 14th of December at 6pm.

A service which, through Christmas carols, choir anthems, readings from both the Old and New Testaments, with other special readings, traces the plan of God’s salvation history from the beginning of creation to the birth of Jesus. Followed by mince pies and mulled wine in the Centre.

Family Nativity Service on Christmas Eve: 24th December at 3.00pm.

The short service takes place in front of a stable scene. Children come dressed as a nativity character if they wish (eg shepherds, angels, kings) to hear again the Christmas story and enjoy singing carols together.

Midnight Communion on Christmas Eve at 11.30pm.

A service to welcome Christmas Day. A beautiful service of Christmas Holy Communion with plenty of carols, that takes us past midnight and celebrates the birth of Jesus - our Saviour.

Holy Communion (BCP) on Christmas Day at 8.00am at St Luke’s.

A said service of Holy Communion taken from the Book of Common Prayer. A peaceful and reflective beginning to Christmas Day morning.

Family Service on Christmas Day at 10.30am.

An informal, all age, inter-active service of carols, delight and praise - perhaps you would like to bring a present with you?

Parish Communion Service on 28th December at 10.30am.

After the busyness of Christmas, an opportunity to pause and reflect.

For information on the life of St Mary Kippington visit our website: www.stmaryssevenoaks.org

Christmas Fair - 22nd November 2025 - 1-4pm - Kippington Centre

October 31, 2025 Stephen Swift

Christmas Fair

Saturday 22nd November

1-4pm

Do you have any donations for the various stalls that we will be having?

Thank you all so much for the donations already gratefully received. However,

please do continue to bring any further donations to Church. Every Sunday, there

will be boxes in the Quiet Corner at the back of Church for you to put your donations

in.

The stalls that need donations are: Nearly New Items, the Raffle, the Bottle Tombola,

Jigsaws (complete ones, please), the Cake stall, the Chocolate Tombola and the

Home Produce stall (jams, chutneys, etc).

Nearer the time, we will be asking for donations of cakes and biscuits to sell

throughout the afternoon along with cups of tea and coffee as well as for the Cake

stall itself.

If you have any queries or have items you wish to donate but are unable to bring to

Church, you could talk to Avril or Brenda in Church, or contact Avril Hunter on 077

53 387 361 or via email at avrilhunter26@gmail.com.

Thank you.

New Role of Church Administrator

October 2, 2025 Stephen Swift

We are combining the roles of Church Secretary and Centre Manager into the post

of Parish Administrator since Kate is moving away and Sue is now our Lay Minister.

This will be a role of 15 hours a week based in the Office at times

convenient to the new Administrator.

If you are interested in this role or know somebody who might be, please contact

Brenda Ross for further details on 077 70 225 137, prior to advertising the position more

widely.

It would be great to have a member of our congregation in the role.

New Electoral Roll

February 7, 2025 Stephen Swift

Boring paperwork – but it is important that you read this!

New Electoral Roll

The Electoral Roll is a list of all the members of this church who are entitled to attend and vote at the Annual Parochial Church Meeting. The Electoral Roll has no other function. It holds only name and address, plus an indicator of those resident within the parish boundary. We are required to display the current Roll within the church building (ours is in the Open Corner).

Under the Church Representation Rules a new Electoral Roll must be prepared every six years. The last completely new Roll, in each parish, was in the spring of 2019 and ours has been updated each year since then. This year, I must remove the old Roll and prepare a completely new one.

If you wish to have your name entered on the new Roll you need to ‘apply for enrolment’, which means you fill out a form.

You are eligible to apply if:

• You are baptised

• You are aged 16 or over

• Either - you live within the parish boundary.

Or - you live outside the parish boundary and have ‘habitually attended’ this church for at least 6 months.

The parish of St Mary Kippington roughly covers the area bounded by Oakhill Road to the east, Oak Lane to the south, Brittens Lane to the west, and London Road to the north. If you live outside this area you are classed as ‘non-resident’ and must fulfil the attendance requirement.

You must be on the Electoral Roll if :

• You are a member of the PCC, or you wish to stand for election

• You are a Sidesperson, or are willing to become one

• You wish to attend and vote at the Annual Parochial Church Meeting, which will be on Sunday 4th May this year.

However, it is no longer necessary to be on the Electoral Roll if you wish to get married at this church.

To comply with the rules, I must receive all applications no later than Palm Sunday (13th APRIL).

If you miss this deadline you cannot have your name added to the Roll until after the Annual Meeting.Forms are now available in church and will be throughout February, March & April. It will help me enormously if you do not leave this until the last minute! You can return the forms in any of the following ways:

Put the completed form in the ‘A’ pigeon hole in church
Put in into my post box at home, 14 Kippington Road
Email it to me at zoe.g.anderson@gmail.com

If you wish to download the electoral role form, please visit the following website:

https://www.parishresources.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Application-for-Enrolment-Electoral-Roll-2013.pdf

Zoe Anderson (tel. 01732 779649)

Church Electoral Roll Officer

Message from the PCC concerning the Interregnum at St Mary's Kippington

January 8, 2025 Stephen Swift

Re Interregnum

As promised, here are the latest developments.

We now have the details of the process for the re-organisation of the Benefice .

As you know, the Benefice of the three Churches has not been successful and is being dissolved. This involves certain legal procedures and a decision has been made by the Diocese that St Mary the Virgin will no longer be part of the Benefice.

The Churches have been put in suspension. Being in suspension means that during this period of discussion and decisions as to the future of the three churches and the outcome for us, we are not permitted to advertise for a vicar. This applies to each of the three churches.

In brief-

The reorganisation will go through 6 stages of discussion and approval of draft proposals.

The first of these will be a meeting of the PCC of each Church, with the Archdeacon, with whom we discuss the way forward for our Church and put forward and discuss the various possibilities for the future. Our meeting is on the 27th January.

Draft proposals are then discussed and amended at each stage and approved by the Diocese Mission and Pastoral Committee and a final proposal is then drawn up.

This will be placed on Church doors and announcements will be made in Church over a period of several weeks. If approved the scheme will take effect. If objections are raised, discussions continue.

This process could take up to 6 months depending on objections being raised.

The PCC would be pleased to hear from you about your ideas for the future of our Church and we will incorporate them in our discussions with the Archdeacon.

Please contact me or members of the PCC if you have ideas you wish us to discuss.

I will keep you updated at every stage.

Brenda Ross Church Warden

Christmas Services 2024

December 11, 2024 Stephen Swift

Christmas Services 2024

Dear Friends.

This message brings greetings from St Mary Kippington and is an invitation for you to join us at this special time to share in some of our activities and services as we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ - bom for all.

There will be opportunities to hear the story of the birth of Jesus and sing carols together. It is a story that is still relevant for us all today. We look forward to seeing you all at any of our services during this time and you will find a warm and friendly welcome.

May I wish you on behalf of everyone at St Mary's a very Happy Christmas and every blessing for 2025.

Anne Bourne, Team Vicar

Nine Lessons and Carols for Christmas:

15th of December at 6pm.

A service which, through Christmas carols, choir anthems, readings from both the Old and New Testaments, with other special readings, traces the plan of God's salvation history from the beginning of creation to the birth of Jesus. Followed by mince pies and mulled wine in the Centre.

Family Nativity Service on Christmas Eve:

24th December at 3.00 pm.

Midnight Communion on Christmas Eve at 11.30pm.

A service to welcome Christmas Day. A beautiful service of Christmas Holy Communion with plenty of carols, that takes us past midnight and celebrates the birth of Jesus - our Saviour,