Churches Together in Charlbury

Welcome to the community page for Churches Together in Charlbury

We aim to encourage shared worship and prayer, learning, service and evangelism, with each church sharing with others the treasures of its tradition.

Membership is open to any church in Charlbury whose parent body is a full member church of the body known as "Churches Together in England". 

Churches Together in England is the national body set up by the churches in 1990, and has partner bodies in Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Churches Together in Britain and Ireland is the successor body to the British Council of Churches, and co-ordinates the work of the four nations.

Churches Together in England is 'A visible sign of the Churches' commitment as they seek a deepening of their communion with Christ and with one another, and proclaim the Gospel together by common witness and service. Its strength comes from people from different traditions finding new ways to work and worship together'. You are welcome to join us on the journey.

There are five churches in Charlbury and all are represented on the Churches Together in Charlbury Committee which meets every two months to discuss and coordinate activities as well as to support each other. The Chairmanship rotates around the churches.

Baptist Church www.charlbury.info/community
Methodist Church www.charlbury.info/community
St Mary's Church of England Church www.charlbury.info/community
St Teresa's Roman Catholic Church www.charlbury.info/community
Quakers www.charlbury.info/community

There are five United Services a year: in January for Christian Unity, in March for the World Day of Prayer, in May for Christian Aid Week, in August at the end of the Holiday Club and in October for One World Week. The five churches take it in turns to lead these services.

Churches Together in Charlbury organises a variety of events during the year. In Lent we host a bread and soup lunch in a different church each week. We also arrange a series of talks on a subject of general interest. Since 2010 we have explored 'Art and Faith', 'Spiritual Heroes', 'Pilgrimage' and 'Modern Prophets' among other themes. Unfortuately our 2020 series 'How Science expands Theology' was interrupted by the coronavirus lockdown. 

In May we organise a Christian Aid Week House to House collection, raising money to help people in the world's poorest countries. The focus now is on helping them to adapt to climate change.

At the beginning of the summer holidays we hold the Holiday Club for young children and in September we take part in the Street Fair with a 'home made and home grown' stall.

Since March 2020 we have been limited in what we could do. In 2021 we were not been able to arrange Lent lunches or Lent talks but we have held a 'delivery-only' house to house collection for Christian Aid, a summer Holiday Club and a stall at the Street Fair.

We also held a united service on the theme 'God's Good Earth' and AGM in October - the first AGM for 2 years. At the AGM Marjorie Glasgow spoke about climate change and what we can do to mitigate it's damaging effects. She outlined four steps we can take in Charlbury to make a difference:

• Know our own carbon footprint.

• Use whatever services are available to reduce our footprint.

• Be active in reducing our community’s footprint.

• Be aware of potential climate emergencies, prepare for such

emergencies, be prepared to help the vulnerable in our community.

UP-COMING EVENTS

Three of our churches are regular drop off points for the North Oxfordshire Community Foodbank. Donations of store cupboard food (with a 6-month use by date) are welcomed for distribution to families in need within our area. There is a donation point at the Baptist Church, the Methodist Church and St Mary's Church. However, food parcel collections need to be made from Charlbury Baptist Church. 

Church members support Cornerstone set up by St Mary's in the Corner House to provide practical support to families and individuals in financial and other difficulties and to share surplus food and recycle other items including books and toys.

In addition before Christmas, Churches Together in Charlbury organises a Reverse Advent Calendar where, rather than receiving gifts, individuals and families contribute food and other useful items which are given to The Porch in Oxford to help homeless and other vulnerable people attending the day centre there.

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