Our Team at St. Mary's, Newport


Rev Peter Allen - Priest in Charge		Gavin Sunshine- Curate
Peter is currently part-time Priest in Charge of Newport, Widdington, Quendon, and Rickling churches as he shares his working week between his role in the parishes and Stansted Airport where he serves as Coordinating Chaplain two days a week. In his role at the churches Peter seeks to offer leadership, direction, teaching, training, and releasing of others into areas of service within the church and community. Peter has served in a number of parishes across England including rural and urban over the last thirty years as well as being chaplain in a number of different settings including professional sport, the Essex and Herts Air Ambulance, and now Stansted Airport. Peter is married to Sharon, who works as Mental Health Lead at Elm Green Preparatory School, and they have six children. Peter is a keen runner, cyclist, and walker. He enjoys a good novel and a large jigsaw, both of help to him to slow down and unwind.		Gavin joined us in July 2024. Gavin was ordained on September 8th and is now assisting as a curate.


Helen Vass- Worship Leader		Becky Monk- Worship Leader
Helen leads our All-Age services on the second Sunday of each month as well as preaching occasionally at other services. Her passion is inter-generational worship where the whole church family, the whole body of Christ, can gather and discover God together in worship, activities and prayer. When Helen is leading you will often be out of your seat doing something fun and interesting and meeting other people in the congregation. Helen moved to Widdington from Chelmsford in 2023 and is excited to be part of our Benefice. She is married to Richard and has six grown up children. She enjoys gardening, reading and is a regular at the Widdington Bingo club!		Becky leads and preaches at Morning Worship Services, as well as preaching during Communion Services throughout the Benefice. In her talks Becky likes to teach on the set passage, but also looks at how that teaching can relate to us today. She often ends with a challenging thought for the congregation! She enjoys finding different liturgy to draw together the theme of a service. Becky has been a part of St Mary's Church since she was a teenager, and is delighted to be a member of the leadership team. Becky enjoys reading, crafting and playing netball. She is also an active member of Newport Amateur Theatrical Society (NATS), and can regularly be seen treading the boards.


Matthew Fyleman - Worship Leader		Jo Cundall - Church Administrator
		Jo is the church administrator for Newport, Quendon, Rickling and Widdington churches and joined in 2022. She is the editor of the weekly Pews News and updates the website and social media pages and deals with any baptism, wedding or general enquiries before forwarding on to Peter. Jo also assists as Verger at weddings and funerals. Jo is also an animal portrait artist in her spare time and has a passion for horses and likes to cycle. She has been on the committee of the Newport Club for quite a number of years and enjoys running after her Grandson Arthur, it keeps her fit... You can visit Jo every Friday morning in the Church House, 9.00am-10.30am.

Elaine Edwards- Church Warden		David Baker- Church Warden
Elaine has been either Churchwarden or Treasurer for more years than she cares to remember during her time and has thoroughly enjoyed being part of such a great community. Life is interesting for Elaine shall we say; in fact over the years she really does not know what she would have done had she not had her faith and her church family to be beside her on her life journey. Elaine's profession is as a bookkeeper and she has a son Clive, Granddaughter Isabel (13) and Grandson Max (11), She enjoys doing crosswords, Sudoku, eating out and nice wine.		A lifelong churchman, David has served in some capacity in his home Parish of Portchester, and later in Chelmsford Cathedral: but as he continues his spiritual journey with Jesus, he is delighted to be of service to God and the community here in Newport and the Benefice. David has only recently taken on the role of Churchwarden, and is still learning its many facets; together with a new role working alongside Pete and the wonderful team as we seek to further the coming of God’s Kingdom here. David still works part time, and though a widower, he has a truly lovely family of four children and six grandchildren to fill what spare time there is.

If you need to contact the Church then please visit the Contact Us page.

Hello and welcome to our church. If you are a new visitor, we have a page for you to get to know us and learn more about planning a visit.
Click here to see more.

Visitors click here.

Planning your Visit

A Warm Hello

The following information is specifically for those planning a visit, so that you know, beforehand, what to expect on a Sunday morning.

Where and When

We meet in the Church (details here) for our Sunday Service starting at 9:30am. For your first visit, we recommend arriving 10-15 minutes early to ensure you get a parking space and find somewhere to sit before the service begins. When you arrive, you should be greeted by someone on our Welcome Team.

We serve tea, coffee, biscuits and cake after the service. It is a great way to meet people, or simply take time to find your bearings. All refreshments are free.

Accessibility: There is a portable ramp for wheelchair access as we have one step down from the porch into the church, and a sound loop for anyone who needs it. Please let one of the Welcome Team know on your arrival and they will help you to get set up. There are toilets in the Church House building next to the Church.

Our Service

The main service begins at 9.30am with a warm welcome. Then follows a time of sung worship. We typically have 2 or 3 songs lasting approximately 20 minutes. Sometimes a person might pray out loud or read a small passage from the bible. Sometimes people share things that they believe God is saying to the whole church family. This might seem strange the first time you hear it but it’s all part of our connecting with God. If it's a communion service everyone is welcome to come forward to receive the bread and wine in memory of Jesus or to receive a blessing. We then share news and notices, usually about what’s going on in the life of the church. One of our leaders will then give a sermon that is bible based and that we can apply to our everyday life. We then finish with a final worship song. Sometimes there is an opportunity to receive prayer at the end of the service.

20231231 103920

What about my kids?

We have a great programme lined up for kids of all ages:

Childrens play area in church for families and young children to use during the service. This allows parents to remain part of the service and keep young children occupied.
Sunday Club is for ages 3 to 8. The group meets in Church House during school terms. Parents are asked to drop their children off at Sunday Club and to pick them up from Church at the end of the service.
SURE is a club aimed for children aged 9 to 13. Sure meetings take place in Church House during school terms in place of the church service. At SURE we socialise, have snacks and explore stories in the bible in a fun and interesting way. On the first Sunday of the month the children remain in church for the Family Communion.
Messy Church. Messy Church is a place to have fun with crafts, paints, glue, etc. It’s a place where we learn about Jesus in a fun way.
Each Messy Church will have time for activities, where it is possible to move around and try lots of different things. We'll sing a song and have a short talk on the theme. Afterwards we'll join together for a meal.
Messy Church is not just for children, families are encouraged to take part in activities together and sit down and eat together. We also offer coffee and cake for the parents after our small service, giving you a chance to stop and chat with others. It's all very friendly.
Young people (15+ years) Stay in service.

We really value worshipping God all together as a family. At the end of the notices someone will announce that it’s time for the younger members to go to their various groups. You will need to go with your children to their groups and register them as part of our child safety policy. Whilst you are dropping your kids off at their groups, we pause to take time to chat to someone sitting near or next to us, giving folk a chance to come back before the sermon begins.

FB IMG 1695547050442

Getting Connected

Serving and Volunteering

If you want to get involved in the life of the church and help us make Sundays run smoothly, you can sign up to serve on a team.

Get in touch with us to plan your visit

If you would like to come and visit the church beforehand you are more than welcome or if you have any questions please fill out the form below.

Name:

Telephone:

Email Address:
Comments / Questions or anything you would like to say?

Next, we will contact you by email to say hello and help arrange anything necessary for your visit.

Leadership

We hope that whoever you are, you will feel at home at our church.

Best Wishes

Reverend Peter Allen

Search