St Matthew's Church Stretton Home

"Sharing the love of Jesus with all through friendship, prayer & service"

Welcome to St Matthew's Church, Stretton!

Our church building is on Stretton Road, just opposite the Park Royal Hotel. We are part of the Church of England Diocese of Chester and our parish covers Stretton and parts of Appleton. We are linked to St Cross Church, Appleton Thorn, just down the road.
Sunday services are usually held at 9.00 AM, 10.30 AM, and 6.30 PM. (These times vary occasionally, so please check weekly notices or contact us to check.) We also have a midweek communion service on Thursdays at 10.30 AM. If you want to call in to have a look at the church, the best time is usually on a Wednesday morning when we are open for coffee.
On Friday afternoons, we hold our Praise & Play service. This is aimed at children not yet at school and their parents and other carers. You can expect singing, a bible story, craft activities and a drink and a snack.
We have a church school, Stretton St Matthew's Church of England Primary. The school holds services in church each half-term and the church provides a weekly assembly. For details of admissions, please see the school’s website.

Notices

Benefice Notices

Notices

11th April

Sunday Worship
Huge thanks to everybody who prepared for, took part in, and supported our Easter worship. I hope that we will be able to continue with the pattern we used on Easter Day, with 'in person' services at St Cross at 9.30AM and St Matthew's at 10.45AM. The 10.45AM service will also be livestreamed on Facebook for those who wish to participate online. For streamed events, if you wish to join via Zoom (rather than Facebook), please let me know. I can send you a link which means you can join the service without having to sign into Facebook....

magazine picture — Produced by Laura Booth

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Posted 9^th Apr 2021

Parish News

Church Magazine

April 2021

Reflect, Support, Hope
I am writing this on 23 March 2021, the anniversary of the first UK coronavirus lockdown. It's a day that has been designated a National Day of Reflection. The idea was proposed by the charity Marie Curie and has been supported by the Church of England and many other organisations. They have chosen three words to set the tone for the day:

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Posted 9^th Apr 2021

Walking to Jerusalem by Easter
Jerusalem to London
"the return journey"

Return Journey

Walking to Jerusalem by Easter

April 2021

How many of you have rediscovered walking over the past year? Whether that be walking the dog, daily exercise during lockdown, or keep fit exercise. This is for those who do a short daily walk, or a 6 mile hike at the weekend, or just the occasional stroll.

Whilst we can not collectively walk together, a virtual walk has been created for us, as a way of being together whilst apart. During the 100 days between Christmas Day and Easter Sunday (4^th April), the intention is to collectively virtually walk to Jerusalem – a distance of 6,077 km or about 3,800 miles. We are inviting people to join in and make this a community achievement.

The route starts at the lychgate of St Matthew's Church, Stretton goes via London, Bruges, Cologne, Marburg, Bamburg, Munich, Graz, Zagreb, Sarajevo, Thessaloniki, Istanbul, Ephesus, Xanthos, Adana, Aleppo, Damascus, across the River Jordan (!) and finally to Jerusalem. The church is providing some weekly Reflections on Facebook along the way.

To join the group, send a request to

walking@stmatthewschurchstretton.org.uk

with details of your connection with the church or the village, and we can then send you an invite to join the group.

Then whenever you go on a walk, log your distance (in km, miles or steps) in the app, and then add that distance to our group walk. We will send some instructions, and provide support.

If you can not/don’t want to use the app, you can still join in by letting us know the distance walked, and we can add your contribution to the walk.

There will be no regular commitment to walk, but you can follow our progress in the app. We will regularly give updates on the group’s progress. At the turn of the year we were just south of Lichfield.

All are welcome to join the St. Matthew’s Easter Walk.

If you have any questions please either e-mail to

walking@stmatthewschurchstretton.org.uk

or contact us. Stephen and Catherine Edwards

Posted 11^th Apr 2021

The Big Welcome

Big Welcome Project

2021

Our Big Welcome Project is underway. The pews at the back of church have been removed and a wooden floor laid down. This has given us the space we need for our church to be a welcoming place for the whole community.

The next stage will be to put in a kitchen – a much needed facility as we come back to share our lives together after the separation of recent months. The area will not only be available for church services – Praise and Play, refreshments, coffee mornings and small groups - but also for wider community use. We welcome ideas and suggestions about potential groups or activities. This is a really exciting development in the life of the church which will place it at the heart of our community

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Posted 11^th Apr 2021

Easter 2

Risen Christ,
for whom no door is locked, no entrance barred:
open the doors of our hearts,
that we may seek the good of others
and walk the joyful road of sacrifice and peace,
to the praise of God the Father.
Amen.

St Matthew's Church