Welcome
The Four Church Benefice is a group of village churches in South Cambridgeshire comprising of St Mary’s Fowlmere, St Laurence’s Foxton, All Saints Shepreth and St George’s Thriplow.
We aim to reach out to every member of our community offering them occasions to meet with God within our worship and life together, to take opportunities to explore their faith and to receive support and help during the milestones on life’s journey.
Our Rector Revd. Angela Melaniphy is available to all members of the community. Please don’t hesitate to contact Revd Angela either, through the website or, by email rector@thefourchurchbenefice.org or telephone 01763 208195 should you need pastoral support or would like her to pray for anything that is concerning you.
Please continue to look after yourselves and STAY SAFE and let us know if you need any spiritual or practical support. We are gradually opening up our churches but still have networks of people providing help where needed and we can put you in touch with the right people to support you.
Support our Churches During Covid-19
Church services
We are delighted that we will now slowly be able to reintroduce more normal worship patterns in our four churches
On Sunday Mornings there will now be a 9.30 am Service and an 11.00 am Service at two of our churches, each church hosting a service every two weeks.The 9.30 service will be recorded and streamed for you to view as soon after 11.30 am as possible.
You will find resources on the Worship section of the website to join in the online worship or to bring with you to church as we are currently not using service or hymn books and using paper copies of the services..
Because we are still observing social distancing there is limited capacity and we encourage you to come to the service fortnightly in your own village and watch the recording in other weeks. You will find details of the services and who to contact to book a place in the Calendar section of the website.
If you would like to attend the Holy Communion Service at St Laurence’s, Foxton at 9.30 am on Sunday 6th September please contact Mrs Jean McCombie on 01223 502368 or jeanmccombie@hotmail.com to reserve your space.
If you want to attend the All Age Worship Service at St Mary’s, Fowlmere at 11.00 am on Sunday 6th September please contact Mrs Liz Nottage on 01763 209181 or liz@nottageagriculture.co.uk to reserve your space. As space is limited we should be grateful if you book a space that you would attend the services. See the calendar for full details
The 9.30 service will be uploaded onto YouTube and you will find a link below (below Future Services at the bottom of the page) and on popup after 11.30 am 6th September
The current Church of England Advice on the Wearing of Face Coverings is that they should be worn in places of worship so we should be grateful if you would observe this guidance
St Mary’s Fowlmere, St Laurence, Foxton and St George’s Thriplow are all now open during the day for private prayer. Please go to the calendar section of the website for details of opening times and the required social distancing advice.
Future Services
Sunday 20th September
9.30 am at St Laurence’s, Foxton ; Holy Communion *
11.00 am at St Mary’s, Fowlmere ; Holy Communion
Sunday 27th September
9.30 am at St George’s, Thriplow; Harvest Holy Communion *
11.00 am at All Saints’, Shepreth; Harvest All Age Worship
Sunday 4th October
9.30 am at St Laurence’s, Foxton ; Harvest Holy Communion*
11.00 am at St Mary’s, Fowlmere ; Harvest Holy Communion
* Shows recorded services
See here for the link to the recording of Holy Communion at St George’s, Thriplow on Sunday 13th September
View from the Rectory
12th May
Erik helping with the technology!
In my sermon on Sunday I was talking about how adaptable we are as human beings. When we become ill or something goes wrong we are extremely good at compensating in the way we do things and in learning new skills.
This has never been more apparent than during the past two months. We have all had to learn new ways of behaving, new ways of thinking and new ways of communicating.
After the first panic when people rushed out and bought as much toilet paper, flour and alcohol as they could we have, in the main, adapted very well. People are mostly obeying the social distancing rules. We are finding new ways of amusing ourselves and keeping ourselves occupied and we have, above all, learned new ways of communicating.
Having always lived on my own and been used to working from home I adapted quite well too lock down without the stress that many people initially felt. But after six or seven weeks I realised that was I was missing most of all was seeing people’s faces. The telephone is a wonderful tool but video conferencing and face time have been a marvelous gift. When my mother had her 87th birthday I decided to buy her a Facebook Portal that allows her to speak face to face with me and my siblings and her grandchildren. This has made such a difference to her.
The other day when I rang, my mother turned the portal on and I spoke from the screen into the room. Her cat Bertie, who had been sitting on her lap jumped up at the sound of my voice and began to pat my face on the screen. Even our pets are adapting to new ways of communicating!
I think we have had a tendency to be negative about social media and there are aspects of it that can be harmful but the use of technology has been such a gift to us in recent months. We have been able to live stream worship on YouTube, join meetings on zoom, and even play music at graveside services via a blue tooth speaker. My technical skills have improved by leaps and bounds and I am so grateful for these new ways of communicating and feeling that although we are staying at home we are still part of a community.
View the previous ‘view from the Rectory’ updates here:
What's Going On?
Getting married in the Four Church Benefice
Some good reasons for getting married in the church:
- A wedding is one of life’s greatest moments
- A time of solemn commitment as well as good wishes, feasting and joy
- A public and life-long covenant, declared and celebrated in the presence of God and before witnesses
