Praying for the Diocese with Bishop Martin

As a Diocese, we are marking the 'Thy Kingdom Come' campaign with a series of events from the 21st May through to the 31st May.

On the eve of the Feast of the Ascension which falls this Thursday 21^st May, the Bishop will explain, in a video message to the Diocese, why these ten important days can deepen our prayer life together especially in these challenging times. Each day from the 22nd May - 29th May  Bishop Martin invites you to join him in prayer. He will be offering a short daily Novena prayer for the diocese from his chapel in Chichester.

An Ascension Day service is being led by the Dean, The Very Revd Stephen Waine and a Pentecost service will be led by Bishop Martin, both at 10am. 

All services will be available to view from our website. There will also be a reminder on our social media platforms prior to the services commencing.

Ascension Day Facebook Live Q&A session with Archbishop Justin Welby

A recent Tearfund study revealed that 1 in 20 people, who have never prayed before, are turning to prayer during Lockdown amongst other findings.

So what is prayer and how do we get started? This  Q & A with Archbishop Justin Welby, offers an opportunity to hear from him re. his own prayer life and to ask him question on prayer. Tune into their Facebook page to be involved.

Lambeth Palace has also produced a series of easily downloadable music, prayers and short Thy Kingdom Come reflections from Archbishop Dr John Sentamu and Archbishop Justin Welby designed to be included in your own online Pentecost Service. 

These are available for clergy to download now here. 

Further Thy Kingdom Come - Prayer and Care resources

Thy Kingdom Come is a worldwide prayer movement that invites Christians around the world to pray from Ascension to Pentecost. Since its launch in 2016 by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, Christians from 172 countries and 65 denominations have taken part in praying for friends and family to come to faith in Jesus Christ.

Here are some ideas on how you can still get involved!

You can also read about Thy Kingdome Come in the latest issue of Faith in Sussex (page 22)

Revd Robert Coates on BBC Sussex discussing how churches have adapted in Lockdown and continue to serve their communities

Hear from Revd Robert Coates for the 60 second sermon at the weekend and discussing how the lockdown has enabled churches to think differently and continue to serve their faith communities. Listen here

May Camp 2020 LIVE

Saturday 23rd May - Sunday 24th May 2020

Starting from 10.30am on Saturday morning join May Camp from your home! Dan Jenkins and the May Camp team have some fantastic seminars and events lined up for your youth including: 
- The normal morning and evening meetings and worship
- Quizzes and challenges 
- Looking after your mental health
- Covid-19 impact 
- Q&A Session
- Sharing your faith

A full schedule can be found on the May Camp website 

Make sure to encourage your youth to follow May Camp on Instagram and Facebook. 

The Blessing UK

We are delighted to recognise some faces and voices from across the Diocese featured in this music video, uniting the country together. If you have not seen this yet, you can watch it above.

Church Building Work Advice During Corona Virus

The Church Buildings Council have recently issued a new version of their guidance note on “Securing and caring for your church buildings during the Covid-19 pandemic: advice for incumbents, churchwardens and PCC members” and have also issued a further guidance note for clergy on “Access to church buildings during lockdown: advice for incumbents”.

These guidance notes contain a lot of helpful information about maintaining church buildings during the current lockdown.

Read more here