Services

Advent & Christmas Services 2018

Posted by Rev David Green on November 30, 2018
Photo of a church with Christmas Trees festival

Christmas Tree Festival
1 & 2 December

This is the complete rundown of all the Advent and Christmas special events and services taking place in Offham and West Malling this year.

Sat 1 Dec and Sun 2 Dec, 12 noon till 6 pm. St Mary’s Christmas Tree Festival
St Mary’s, West Malling. Find out more on this website.

Sun 9 Dec, 5.00 pm West Malling Community Choir Christmas Concert
St Mary’s, West Malling. Find out more on the WMCC website.

Wed 12 Dec, 7.00 pm Heart of Kent Hospice Christmas Concert
St Mary’s, West Malling. Find out more on the HoKH website.

Fri 14 Dec, 7.00 pm Vox Anima Christmas Concert
St Mary’s, West Malling. Find out more on the Vox Anima website.

Christingle service at Offham

Offham Christingle (16 December)

Sun 16 Dec, 4.00 pm Christingle service, Offham
St Michael’s, Offham
An afternoon candle-lit service for all the family with carols, a family-friendly talk from our Vicar and Christingles for all the children.

Sun 16 Dec, 6.00 pm Come and Sing! Handel’s Messiah
St Mary’s, West Malling
Jamie Meaders will lead a choir of over 100 people in rehearsals from 2pm onwards with anyone welcome to sign-up to ‘Come and Sing’. £15 per singer. At 6pm, accompanied by soloists, strings and harpsichord, we will sing together the Christmas portion of Handel’s Messiah. Hallelujah!

Tue 18 Dec, 8.00 pm Carol service, Offham
St Michael’s, Offham
An evening candle-lit service of Christmas readings and carols with guest Richard King and friends leading a special guest choir to complement the congregation’s singing!

A photo of the choir from the Carol Service at Offham, 2012

Richard King and friends,
Offham Carol Service (18 December)

Wed 19 Dec, 9.30 am West Malling CEP School Christmas Service
St Mary’s, West Malling

Thu 20 Dec, 7.30 pm Carols in The King’s Arms, Offham
The King’s Arms Pub, Offham
The King’s Arms play host to an evening of carol singing with the odd glass of mulled wine in three to lubricate the vocal chords!

Sun 23 Dec, 7.00 pm Carol service, West Malling
St Mary’s, West Malling
Readings and carols telling the Christmas story. Come and take part in the pop-up choir being organised by our new Director of Music, Richard Hall, or come and be part of the congregation.

Mon 24 Dec, 3.30 pm Christingle service with nativity,
St Mary’s, West Malling
Candle-lit Crib service with a Nativity play from St Mary’s Sunday School and lots of carol singing. Christingles will be distributed at the end for children. Come early to avoid disappointment. If you miss out, you may like to come to the second service at 5 p.m (see below). Often attended by families with pre-school children but all ages are welcome.

A photo of the Nativity play from St Mary's, 2012

Christingle with Nativity, West Malling
(Christmas Eve)

Mon 24 Dec, 5.00 pm Christingle service with nativity,
St Mary’s, West Malling
A repeat of the 3.30 p.m. service. Candle-lit Crib service with a Nativity play from St Mary’s Sunday School and lots of carol singing. Christingles will be distributed at the end for children. Doors will not open until after 4.30 p.m. when the previous service concludes. Often attended by families with primary-age children but all ages are welcome.

Mon 24 Dec, 11.15 pm Midnight Communion, West Malling
St Mary’s, West Malling
The first service of Christmas Day is a traditional Midnight Mass with Carols and Holy Communion.

Tue 25 Dec, 8.00 am Holy Communion (BCP)
St Mary’s, West Malling
Traditional language, reflective and quiet Book of Common Prayer Holy Communion service.

Tue 25 Dec, 9.15 am All-Age Communion service
St Michael’s, Offham
Child-friendly Eucharist service to celebrate Christmas Day.

Tue 25 Dec, 10.00 am All-Age Communion service
St Mary’s, West Malling
Child-friendly Eucharist service to celebrate Christmas Day.

Sun 30 Dec, 10.00 am Benefice Service for first Sunday after Christmas
St Michael’s, Offham
There is no 8 am or 10.00 am service at St Mary’s, West Malling on this Sunday. Instead, we come together as one congregation for a joint Benefice service. Rev Jim Brown will be leading and we gather at St Michael’s, Offham.

Remembrance Sunday 2018

Posted by Rev David Green on November 9, 2018

A photo of the St Mary's war memorial, taken early morning 2011For each of our three communities, please find below details of the Remembrance Sunday services.

Offham, 10.00 a.m.

The Sunday service starts at the slightly later than usual time of 10.00 a.m. and will follow the pattern for Churches Together services of remembrance. Rev Jim and Rev David will both be on hand to take part in the serviec.

After the service, just before 11.00 a.m. we will make our way outside to the War Memorial for the Act of Remembrance and the two minutes silence.

The congregation will be invited to join the Minister outside the church at the War Memorial where the names of the dead will be read aloud and wreaths laid.

West Malling, 10.00 a.m.

The Sunday service at West Malling will be a service of Holy Communion, led by Canon Alan Vousden. Following the service, the congregation will make its way outside to the War Memorial for the Act of Remembrance and to observe two minutes silence at 11 o’clock.

Kings Hill, 10.30 a.m.

A special joint service takes place at 10.30 at the Running Airman Memorial on Gibson Drive with use of the Italian Market for larger crowds. Uniformed organisations will parade from the Control Tower to the Memorial for the service. Rev Matt Ross of Kings Hill Christian Fellowship and Rev Mark Montgomery of the Church of England will be leading the service.

West Malling, 2.30 p.m.

The Civic Service for Remembrance Sunday will take place at 2.30 p.m. in the afternoon. A parade will make its way up the High Street from about 2pm onwards. Please note the High Street will be closed to traffic while the parade is going on.

This year we mark the centenary of the end of the First World War, and also the centenary of the beginning of the RAF with our local links to RAF West Malling. Rev David Green will also be on hand to participate in the service alongside other ecumenical guests.

After the service, wreaths will be laid at the War Memorial while the uniformed organisations form up in the road. Once again, the High Street will be closed around 3.30 p.m. in order for this to take place. This year, Rev Dave Baxter of West Malling Baptist and Rev David of St Mary’s will re-dedicate the memorial following the renovations that took place this year. In so doing, they will mirror what took place in 1921 when their predecessors first unveiled and dedicated the memorial for the people of West Malling.

More details are available in the Events section of this website.

 

 

Easter events and services 2015

Posted by Rev David Green on March 19, 2015

A photo of a chalkboard that reads 'Resurrection is making a comeback'We thought you might like to take note of the Holy Week and Easter events and services taking place in Offham, Kings Hill and West Malling.

Monday 30 March, from 3pm
Easter Experience
(for children and parents)
St Michael’s, Offham

Tuesday 31 March, from 3pm
Easter Experience
(for children and parents)
St Mary’s, West Malling

Wednesday 1 April, 7.30 p.m.
Brett Lecture 2015 with Rev David Green
“In what way, if any, did Christ ‘bear the judgement of God’ at the crucifixion?”

Thursday 2 April, 7.30 p.m.
A Seder Meal to mark Maundy Thursday
Kings Hill Vicarage, 19 Worcester Avenue, Kings Hill

Good Friday, 3 April, 9.15 am
Morning Prayer
St Michael’s, Offham

Good Friday, 3 April, 9.30 am
Morning Prayer
St Gabriel’s, Kings Hill (Discovery School main hall)

Good Friday, 3 April, 11.00 am
Churches Together Good Friday Walk of Witness
Begins at St Thomas More RC Church, Lucks Hill, West Malling

Good Friday, 3 April, 2.00 pm
Quiet Hour
St Mary’s, West Malling

Good Friday, 3 April, 3.30 pm
X-plore Easter – Children’s Easter craft activities
St Mary’s Church Centre, West Malling

Easter Sunday 5 April, 6.15 am
Easter Dawn Service
St Michael’s, Offham

Easter Sunday 5 April, 8.00 am
Book of Common Prayer Holy Communion
St Mary’s, West Malling

Easter Sunday 5 April, 9.15 am
Easter Sunday All-Age Holy Communion
St Michael’s, Offham

Easter Sunday 5 April, 9.30 am
Easter Sunday All-Age Holy Communion
St Gabriel’s, Kings Hill (Discovery School)

Easter Sunday 5 April, 11.00 am
Easter Sunday All-Age Holy Communion
St Mary’s, West Malling

Harvest 2013

Posted by Rev David Green on September 19, 2013

A photo of produce from Harvest Festival 2012 at St Mary's, West MallingThis coming Sunday is the Harvest Festival services for West Malling, Offham and Kings Hill. Family services will be taking place at West Malling and Offham with a Communion service at Kings Hill as we celebrate all of God’s goodness to us in the food we eat and all that the earth provides. This page provides some brief details for those interested in joining us for the Harvest celebrations.

Services

  • Offham Harvest Family Service, St Michael’s Church
    Sunday 22 September, 9.15 a.m. till 10.15 a.m.
  • Kings Hill Harvest Holy Communion, Discovery School
    Sunday 22 September, 9.30 a.m. till 10.45 a.m.
  • West Malling Harvest Family Service, St Mary’s Church
    Sunday 22 September, 11.00 a.m. till Noon.

Offerings

As usual, everyone is very welcome to bring a donation of food as part of their act of thanksgiving. This year, the donations will be passed on in equal shares to Pilsdon at Malling, the Kenward Trust in Yalding and the West Malling Churches’ Foodbank who do all fantastic work amongst those in need of extra help.

Non-perishable items are best as donations since they will help these worthy causes to make our gifts last longer.

 

 

David Green to be licensed as our new ‘Vicar’

Posted by Rev David Green on September 16, 2011
A photo of Rev David Green, summer 2011

Rev David Green

The Licensing and Installation of Rev’d David Green as our new Priest-in-Charge will take place on Monday 19th September at St Mary’s West Malling at 7:30 pm.

Everyone is invited to join us for this special service as we welcome David to our benefice and the beginning of his ministry here. The Rt Rev’d Brian Castle, Bishop of Tonbridge will be present to institute David whilst the Archdeacon of Tonbridge, Clive Mansell, and our Rural Dean Jim Brown will all take part in the service.

The service will be followed by a reception in the Church Centre to which all are warmly invited.

This service marks the beginning of David’s ministry amongst us. His first services will be on Sunday 25th September.

If you are thinking of coming, please note that there will be lots of people in attendance and parking is very limited near St Mary’s Church.  We recommend that if you can walk to the church, that you please do so.

If you are coming by car there is a car park behind Tesco’s, the entrance is next to The Farmhouse restaurant.  There is also another car park at the other end of the High Street, near to The Green and directly opposite The Bull public house.

Vicar or Priest-in-Charge. What’s the difference?Unlike his predecessor Canon Brian Stevenson, David’s technical title is ‘Priest-in-Charge’ rather than ‘Vicar’. The difference is nothing to do with David but to do with our parish. Because of the developing nature of Kings Hill, some parish boundaries don’t match well against the changing nature of our communities and appointing David as ‘Priest-in-Charge’ means those changes will be easier to make in the coming days. In practical terms, there are very few differences and David will effectively be our ‘Vicar’ in the things that he does and how he leads the church.