Over the last year we have been thinking and praying about who God is calling us to be and what God is calling us to do as family of churches.   

What follows was written by the ministry team with the support of all the churchwardens.

Christ’s Call to Us

Sharing the Presence of Christ within our Communities

As benefice we are united in our desire to share God’s love by enabling the whole community to encounter the presence of Christ through all we are and do.

We aim to be a trusted witness to the teaching and truth of Jesus in our communities by:

• Providing a variety of opportunities for worship and learning that are accessible and attractive to villagers and visitors of all backgrounds, ages, stages and walks of life and that enable them to become followers of Jesus.
• Growing our witness to our younger generations including through continued work with our Church of England Primary School, and other pre-school provision and by planning for the next stage of development for our Breakfast Church. 
• Growing in our knowledge and love of God.
• Serving our communities in Christ’s name as an expression of God’s love.

We hope to do this rooted in the way we:

• Welcome and value everyone
• Encourage creativity and support each other to use our God-given gifts
• Work together as the Body of Christ in our benefice sustained by worship, prayer and Christian teaching
• Care for our environment
• Share our resources generously

In addition to these benefice-wide priorities, each of our churches continues to their own context-specific initiatives which are described below:

We will need to work with our new incumbent to discern which of these to take forward first but ideas on these initiatives include:

In Marshfield

• To maintain the strong tradition of biblical teaching, enabling new and long-term believers to grow in their faith.
• To plan for the next stage of Breakfast Church with a focus on what happens when children are too old for this service.
• To continue to build on the ministry of music whereby very large numbers of people come to sing and listen to high quality music at main Christian Festivals.
• To enable more people to engage in small groups to share and grow together and to also increase our confidence about talking about our faith with others.
• To restart School Holiday club after a one-year break in 2026.
• To continue our Eco journey and to support other churches in this work across the diocese.
• To continue to serve the elderly population with the lunch-club and also be a listening and caring presence for lone elderly residents in the village.
• To ensure that we reach out to all our residents, both existing and new, including the new housing association development.
• To continue to work in partnership with our fellow Christians at Marshfield Chapel.

In Tormarton

• To build strong links with Little Minds Nursery in a way that encourages parents and young children to engage with the church.
• To continue to develop the building so that it can be a focus for community events (e.g. providing toilet facilities)
• Appeal to villagers of all ages.

In Cold Ashton

• To enable the whole community to worship together in high-quality Christian festival events (e.g. Christmas, Easter, Patronal, Harvest/Pets).
• To share Christ’s presence in the village and with visiting walkers and continue to sustain our church building for future generations.
• To install running water and a toilet to enable better community use.

In West Littleton

• To be a focus for Book of Common Prayer services in our Benefice.
• To continue to provide two community focused fundraising events each year: the Madrigal Concert and Open Gardens event – enabling the local community to visit and worship in the church.  
• To share Christ’s presence in the village by sustaining our church building for future generations.