Emmanuel's New Priest
Welcome to the website of Emmanuel Church. It is a time of great change for the Emmanuel community. Father Peter has left the Parish after serving for 17 years as our Priest in Charge.
At last - the news we have all been waiting for! The new Priest in Charge at Emmanuel will be Fr JONATHAN KESTER. Fr Jonathan has been Vicar of St Mary's, Ilford for the last eight years, so he has considerable experience in leading a parish. Before that, he was Chaplain to the Bishop of Edmonton, both to Bishop Brian Masters in the 1990s, and briefly also to Bishop Peter, who is still our Area Bishop. As a result, he knows this area, and many of our neighbouring priests.
Fr Jonathan is particularly interested in Christian education, and sharesthe liberal catholic ethos of Emmanuel. Although his current parish does not have its own church school, he has been involved in reaching out to three local primary schools, and working with them, and he is very much looking forward to coming to Emmanuel, where such a close relationship withour church school already exists, and working to develop even closer links between church and school.
He believes in a "ministry of hospitality", with parish and community social events, and has stressed the importance of visiting within the parish.
Fr Jonathan was the first choice (from a list of very good applicants) of everyone involved in the selection process. We are confident that he is the right person to lead Emmanuel forward, and are delighted that he accepted the post.
Fr Jonathan's last day in his current parish will be Sunday 7 September, and he will then need some time to move house and rest between parishes. Provided that the works to the Vicarage are complete (see below), we would hope to be welcoming him to Emmanuel at the end of September or very beginning of October.
Appeal for two new rooms!
This month also sees us making a crucial appeal for church funds. During the interregnum, the churchwardens have been discussing with the church authorities the possibility of our reclaiming two rooms which were originally the choir vestry and the clergy vestry of the church. When the modern Vicarage was built in 1968, these were incorporated into the Vicarage, and were until recently, Fr Peter's bedroom and his study. The church authorities have agreed to our reclaiming these rooms, on condition
that Emmanuel Church raises the funds to convert the current Vicarage garage into a replacement study. It is anticipated that this will take about £10,000 to £12,000.
The new rooms could be used for additional Sunday School rooms (so that all age-groups did not have to share one room). It might also mean we could offer the option for parents with three-year-olds to attend a "pre-Sunday School", which would considerably reduce the overcrowding and noise level in the creche. The choir could use one room for practice and storage. The rooms would also provide much cosier spaces for meetings, baptism and confirmation preparation, Christian education (see above!) and discussion etc, than the current community room. We would be able to house some of our paperwork in them, and improve the smooth running of the church. It would also mean that the Community Room was freed up for additional use by others from the community (currently personal training, baby music, alcoholics anonymous, but hopefully more in the future).
It has been calculated that if each "giving unit" or family in the church were able to give £65 a month for 3 months, this would cover the costs. Of course, we are fully aware that this may not be possible for some, but we do ask you to consider prayerfully the maximum amount that you could give for this important project. Clearly, it is important to everyone on this list that the opportunity to worship God, and to share in fellowship as members of the Body of Christ is available in this part of West Hampstead. Please, please help us therefore to increase the opportunities for God's work within the church, AND our outreach into the community, by contributing to this appeal.
With love and thanks
Emma
Our Church
The church is located at the heart of what was once the hamlet of West End, Hampstead, adjacent to the old village green. It has stood in its present location since 1898, proclaiming the love of Christ to this world.
What happens in a church?
More than you think! Quite a lot of different activities take place in the church. It is used for meetings, for parish lunches, for concerts, for recording sessions. But principally this building is a temple in which to worship God by the celebrating the liturgies of the church. Although you can appreciate its architectural design and look around its interior, a church is much more than its fabric and contents. You can only really appreciate and understand its architecture and furnishings when it is being used by a congregation gathered to offer praise and worship to God in the name of his son Jesus Christ. There is usually a said Eucharist at 8am on Sunday and, every Sunday, a Sung Eucharist at 10am, which is the principal act of public worship. The Eucharist, also known as Holy Communion, the Mass or the Lord’s Supper (they are only different names for the same act of worship), is the occasion when the Christian Church commemorates the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary, by recalling his last supper with his apostles on the night before his betrayal in the Garden of Gethsemane. Following his command: ‘Do this in remembrance of me’, we perpetuate the memory of his sacrifice of himself for the sake of the world.
Refreshments are provided after the Sung Eucharist. Services are occasionally held on Sunday evenings and on great festivals of the church that fall on weekdays. Please click on the link below or in the sidebar to see our Advent and Christmas programme of services.
