Mission

Mission Support

St. Stephen’s Church and members of the congregation practically and prayerfully support a variety of missions in the UK and abroad, covering a wide spectrum of needs. We particularly support missions and charities where we have personal links with those in the mission field.

We occasionally invite speakers to speak to the congregation, so that we can be more knowledgeable about the needs of the world, caring as Christ cares about people’s physical, emotional and spiritual well-being.

In the past we have supported The Bible Society, Seaview refuge, and CMS with a one-off yearly donation. We also held an annual Toy Service (Pre-Covid) and collected toys/gifts/cash for Family Support Work.

Throughout the year St Stephen’s supports Foodbank, Tear Fund and Potters Village.

We regularly give donations to the local Foodbank, there are food collection containers in the church, and outside the Vicarage front door. Donations of tins/packets of food and non-perishable items are needed, as well as toiletries such as toothpaste and shampoo etc. The donations are then collected up and taken to the Foodbank main depot in Bexhill. The church hall meeting room is also a small storage point. There are a number of items currently needed; stocks are often running low on long life milk cartons, tinned vegetables, tinned fruit, tinned meat, soup etc.

(Please don’t donate any out-of-date items, or any alcohol, cigarettes, vapes, medicines etc)

(Photo of the Harvest collection, which takes place in October)

There is a collection box for Tearfund in the church. Donations are welcome by cash or cheque.

In 2006 our Vicar at the time visited the Muhabura Diocese in Uganda, following which the PCC decided to support the Potter’s Village Child Crisis Centre in Kisoro.

Donations are welcome by cash or cheque, there are also sponsor forms; please speak to ken Hillocks at a Sunday morning Service for more information. Look out for updates and Potter’s Village newsletters!

(Previous Potter’s Village newsletter below)

St Stephen’s has an annual collection for Christian Aid, we sometimes do this through envelopes, or holding a tea party- usually in May. For the last two years we were in a Parishioner, Sam's, garden in Newlands Avenue. This year we raised over £400.

For more information please speak to Wendy Gubby at a Sunday morning service. Look out for updates and notices of when Christian Aid week will be taking place.

We stand with Ukraine at this sad time and pray for the people involved in the conflict. Approx £300 was raised from a collection in Church and sent to the appeal fund. There was also a book sale in aid of Ukraine Refugees in Bexhill.

We pray for the people of Turkey and Syria and have collected donations for the earthquake appeal. There are disaster fund envelopes at the back of church available for ongoing donations.

The mission of the wider Church is also supported, there are sometimes appeals and initiatives from The Diocese of Chichester, our local Deanery, or CTIB (Churches together in Bexhill)

The Wider Church

St Stephen's Church is a member of the CTIB (Churches Together in Bexhill) This includes Churches of all denominations, there are various things organised throughout the year, such as singing hymns together on the seafront, or during Christmas lights ceremony. There are several prayer boxes situated in local shops that can be used for folks to post their prayers and concerns- these are then collected by CTIB members and brought into the relevant Churches for prayer.

St Stephen’s is part of the Bexhill and Battle Deanery, a group of churches linked together geographically. The Deanery has a synod made up of clergy and lay members who meet together 4 -6 times a year. The Bexhill and Battle Deanery is one of eight Deaneries within the Lewes and Hastings Arch-deaconry, which in turn is one of the three archdeaconries that make up Diocese of Chichester. Chichester is our Cathedral city and the seat of the Bishop. The Diocese of Chichester is one diocese of the forty-four within the Church of England.

There is a PMC (Parish Ministry Cost) for the mission of the church of England, and to support the Clergy, training of new Clergy, housing, pensions, Diocesan support staff and offices, admin etc, this is part of our fundraising and mission, to raise our pledged amount towards the PMC fees required.