Welcome to St. Helen's
Thank you for visiting St. Helen’s church web site and a very warm welcome from the ministry team.
St. Helen’s is at the heart of the local community. We offer a variety of forms of worship on Sundays, to help us cater for everyone. During the week we normally have morning prayer on Wednesdays and Thursdays, although due to current Covid restrictions this is currently Wednesday only at 10:00am by Zoom.
St. Helen's Online
Our building may not be fully open but we are still gathering for worship every Sunday. At 10:00am we have an online service using Zoom. We will continue to run the 12:00pm service in church when permitted. Everyone is welcome at either (or both!) services. To join us, contact Revd Elaine: ebielby@ebielby.karoo.co.uk
If you haven't yet signed up with zoom, you can do so here. There are various computer apps available for zoom: there is one for Windows, one for Apple devices, and one for Android devices. Please note that you do not need to pay to use Zoom.
Parochial Church Council - Annual Report 2020/21
The annual Parochial Church Council report for 2020/21 is now available for download here.
Welton and Melton Gardens Festival 2021
We are hopeful that the Gardens Festival and Duck Race will go ahead this year. We are planning on holding this popular event on Sunday 27th June. More information is available here. If you would like to see last year’s virtual events again, the 2020 Virtual Gardens Festival and Virtual Duck Race pages are still available!
Thy Kingdom Come
In recent years, the 10 days between Ascension Day and Pentecost have been marked by a global wave of prayer called ‘Thy Kingdom Come’. This year this will be from 13 to 23 May. We will be taking part in this again this year, in a similar way to last year. Beginning with the service on the evening of Ascension Day, there will be an act of worship every day up to and including Pentecost. Where there is an existing service eg on Friday mornings and Wednesday, that will be the service for that day. When we would not normally have a service (Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday), then we plan to have Night Prayer – similar to Holy Week. There will also be materials and an app from the Church of England – more details to follow.
The video below presents the history of this global wave of prayer.
Thy Kingdom Come Services
At St Helen’s we are marking ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ by holding a service every day between 13 and 23 May – some are our regular services but on days when we would not normally have a service, then we will have Night Prayer at 7.30pm, using the order from the New Zealand Prayer Book that we used during Holy Week.
- Thursday 13 May – Ascension Day – Howden Minster at 7.30pm or St Helen’s Online by Zoom link.
- Friday 14 May – 8.30am regular Friday service. Contact Mike D.
- Saturday 15 May – 7.30pm Night Prayer – Thy Kingdom Come Zoom link
- Sunday 16 May – regular Sunday services at 10am online and 12pm in church (BCP Matins)
- Monday 17 May – 7.30pm Night Prayer – Thy Kingdom Come Zoom link
- Tuesday 18 May – 7.30pm Night Prayer – Thy Kingdom Come Zoom link
- Wednesday 19 May – 10am regular Wednesday service
- Thursday 20 May – 7.30pm Night Prayer – Thy Kingdom Come link
- Friday 21 May – 8.30am regular Friday service. Contact Mike D.
- Saturday 22 May – 7.30pm Night Prayer – Thy Kingdom Come Zoom link
- Sunday 23 May – regular Sunday services at 10am online and 12pm in church (Holy Communion)
Thy Kingdom Come Zoom Link
Time: For Night Prayer on Sat 15, Mon 17, Tues 18, Thurs 20 & Sat 22 May at 7.30pm
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89859036108?pwd=dGtVZjF3TkI5T0tyeGYvK0w0M3BuZz09
Meeting ID: 898 5903 6108
Passcode: 292884
Sunday 30th May
Please join us online at 10:00am by Zoom. Please use the usual Sunday Zoom details.
The service in church at 12:00pm will be Holy Communion.
Messy Church
Our next Messy by Zoom is Saturday 19th June at 10 am.
Centering Prayer App
Centering prayer is a contemplative form of prayer. The app very helpfully allows you to choose an opening prayer, a beginning sound, set the length of time you would like to pray, an ending sound and an ending prayer. There is a choice at each step, which you can set up beforehand, then you simply start the app. The app is available from the Apple App Store and Google play for Android.
'Dear England' Course
We will be running another short online course based on Archbishop Stephen’s book, ‘Dear England: Finding Hope, Taking Heart and Changing the World’. The sessions will take place on Tuesday evenings from 1 June to 6 July, by Zoom and run from 7.30pm to 9pm.
If you haven’t read the book yet, it is available from Amazon.
More details to follow. Everyone welcome!
Time to Pray App and Podcast
Time to Pray presents everything you need for Prayer During the Day and Night Prayer in Contemporary form (Common Worship). It is available as an app (with integrated audio) or as a podcast. You can download the app from the Apple App Store and Google play for Android.
Daily Prayer Apps
If you don’t already have the Church of England’s Daily Prayer app on your smartphone or tablet, you can download them by clicking on either the Android or Apple logos here.
Smart Speaker Apps
The Church of England has created smart speaker apps for Google Home and Amazon Alexa. For details click here.
Coronavirus (COVID-19)
CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) – UPDATE 1 December 2020
We continue to follow Church of England and government guidance and law in all areas of our mission and ministry.
From 3 December 2020, churches are allowed to open, in a Covid-secure way, for acts of worship and private prayer and we will return to the pattern of services and prayer times offered prior to the second national lockdown. Regular worship includes:
-Sunday 10am St Helen’s Online (by Zoom), including virtual choir
-Sunday 12pm Service in Church
-Wednesday 10am Midweek Service (by Zoom)
-Thursday 10am to 12pm Church open for individual private prayer.
-3rd Saturday of the month 10am Messy Church at Home (by Zoom)
Services at 12pm on Sundays follow the pattern of Holy Communion on 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th Sundays and BCP Matins on 3rd Sunday. Services will be shorter than normal. At this time, we are still not allowed to sing in church or serve refreshments after the service.
Occasional services, for example over Christmas, will be advertised locally and on our website www.sthelenswm.org or Facebook: www.facebook.com/StHelensWelton/
Within the church building, certain conditions apply in order to maintain a Covid secure environment, in accordance with government guidance, If you have any symptoms of Covid-19, please do not come to the church but stay at home and seek advice. The government mandates that everyone over the age of 11 should wear a face covering in church unless medically exempt. Everyone is asked to use hand sanitiser on entering and leaving the church and to follow the directions of the welcomer on duty. Everyone entering the church will be asked for their name and contact details for NHS Test and Trace. This information will be kept for 28 days and will not be used for any other purpose.
Specific guidance on weddings and funerals is available. If you have booked, or would like to book, a wedding, or are enquiring about a funeral, please contact the Vicar, Revd Canon Elaine Bielby on 01482 666677 or by email.
We encourage you to join in ‘Daily Prayer’ from the Church of England, which can be found here. You can also download the Daily Prayer app for your mobile device free of charge.
If you would like to speak to someone about a spiritual or pastoral concern, please contact Revd Elaine – details above.
Spiritual Communion (for use when it is not possible to join in Holy Communion) details can be found here. A selection of prayers and a short service for worship at home can be found here.
God bless you all
Elaine
Last updated 15/05/2021 ASM