There’s always lots happening at St Michael’s

This news page is where you’ll find all the latest announcements and information about our work in the church and the community.

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Heart of the Community Gift Day 12 May 2019
This Gift Day supports the resources and buildings for St Michael's Church, as we aim ...
Annual Report for 2018
View the Annual Report for St Michael's Church for 2018 ...
Digital Bells - an appealing option
After decades of silence the sound of church bells will once again ring out across ...
Living to make a difference: Thanksgiving and Gift Day 2018
" At St Michael’s, we are privileged to be part of a vibrant, growing church. ...
Associate Vicar News
Following interviews at the end of October, we are pleased to announce that Tom Benyon ...
History Today
St Michael's were recently paid a visit by descendant of one Silas Phillips - buried ...
Church Tower
You may have noticed scaffolding around St Michael's Church this week. This has gone up, ...
New-look website for St Michael's
Welcome to the new-look St Michael's Church website. You are one of the first people ...
Living to Make a Difference - Gift Day 2017
At St Michael’s, we are privileged to be part of a vibrant, growing church. It’s ...
Revd Canon Simon Jones
Congratulations to Simon who has been installed as Honorary Canon at Bristol Cathedral. This honour is ...
Heart of the Community Project Update
As we approach our next Heart of the Community gift day, it's an opportunity to ...
Vision Night and Annual Report
Our Annual Meeting and Vision Night was held on Wednesday 19th April at 7.30pm It was a ...







This Gift Day supports the resources and buildings for St Michael’s Church, as we aim to be a Christian heart at the centre of the community.

Living to make a difference, through discipleship, outreach and service.

Supporting:

  • The completion of St Michael’s Centre
  • The refurbishment and protection of St Michael’s Church
  • Upgrading the Old School Rooms
  • Mission in the UK and beyond.

Giving Thanks

  • St Michael’s Centre continues to thrive.
  • The Gift day in May 2018 has enabled work to start on the upstairs offices.
  • During 2018, we reapid £280,185 of capital off our loans, and £32,447 of interest on those loans.
  • We serve church and community groups, local and regional charities and businesses, and many more.
  • We have hosted many invitational events.
  • In 2019 we’ve donated £100,000 towards mission initiatives.
  • We’ve invested in renewing St Michael’s Church tower.
  • We’ve resources double glazing in the Old School Rooms Coffee Shop.

One Church, One Vision

  • Our vision is Living to make a difference by being a Christian heart at the centre of the community.
  • Our vision is realised by focusing on Discipleship, Outreach and Serving Our Community.
  • To make our vision happen, we hold 2 gift days a year. One in November to support day-to-day minsitry, and one in May to support our resources and buildings.

God has told us:

Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back, lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes. For you will spread out to the right and to the left.


Isaiah 54:2-3

Our aims

  • Develop the arches corridor, giving access to large meeting rooms, storage and kitchen to support large events and complete the Auditorium.
  • Upgrade the Old School Rooms kitchen facilities.
  • Support the refurbishments of St Michael’s Church building.
  • Continue to meet our mortgage obligations, and, if possible, repay some loans early.

What we’re asking now

  • Gift day is 12 May 2019.
  • We are continuing our journey of faith with the Heart of the Community project.
  • Please pray about what you are able to give. Together we can play our part. We can make more of a different across our community and beyond.

This appeal is an invitation

If you’re not yet giving…..

Some of us haven’t been able to support our resources and building project as yet. Could now be your time to begin giving?

If you’re new to St Michael’s…..

Maybe you’ve recently joined church and not yet grasped the vision to be a Christian heart at the centre of the community. Would you consider giving towards the development of the buildings and resources to enable the vision?

If you can give more…..

Some of us are in a better financial position than wehen the Heart of the Community project began. Please pray about increasing your giving.

What next?

Please download a pledge form here,

UK taxpayers can also complete a simple GiftAid form, which means the government will donate an extra 25% on top of your giving at no cost to you or the project.

If you would like to know more about any of the Heart of the Community project, how the money is spent, or help with ways to make one-off donations or arrange regular giving, please contact the church office.

HOTC Gift day 2019 by Laura Thomas

Download a pdf here

After decades of silence the sound of church bells will once again ring out across the village green at Stoke Gifford!

Reverend Canon Simon Jones said: ‘The installation of a digital bells system is a unique marriage of a medieval structure and 21st century technology.  We will now be able to call parishioners to worship, celebrate weddings, mark funerals and herald local and national celebrations in a quintessentially time-honoured fashion.’

Three years ago we shared that the existing bells  (one of which dates back to 1450) were unsafe.  They were beyond economic repair or renovation. Local residents were invited to hear a trial of electronically-reproduced bell sounds from the church tower.   The feedback from this trial was overwhelmingly positive.

The church authorities are taking a great interest in the project as St Michael’s is the first church in the Diocese of Bristol to install such a system.  It’s taken time to gain the various ecclesiastical permissions, to make safe and preserve the original three bells,  and to evaluate a modern, state of the art, digital sound system, which will be installed in the newly re-roofed and refurbished church tower.

Once the system is in place on 4 December, there will follow a 15-month appraisal period, after which an application can be made to retain the system permanently.

Simon added: ‘The new digital bells will be in operation in time for our annual Carols on the Green service on 8 December, when the hundreds of people who attend this popular event will be able to hear – many for the first time –  the sound of bells ringing out across The Green.’

The digital bells system will take a few days to install and commission. Over this period they will be tested at various times in order to perfect the sound and decide which of the many available peals will be appropriate for St Michael’s Church.

Among the many advantages of digital bells is that they are relatively inexpensive, easy to operate, virtually maintenance free, faithfully reproduce pre-set peals – and do not require bell ringing practice sessions!

We so thrilled to be able to have the sound of bells again!

 

” At St Michael’s, we are privileged to be part of a vibrant, growing church.  It’s encouraging to see the continued growth of our ministry and mission, both locally and overseas.  Since last year’s Gift Day, we have 4 new Life Groups, a new Youth team, new Associate Vicar starting in January 2019 and much more besides, including a repaired Church Tower. Thank you to everyone who has given their time, money and prayer support in 2018. Our November “Gift Day” is a chance for us to celebrate God’s goodness and faithfulness and to renew our commitment to living generously. How will you give in 2019 to help deliver the vision of St Michael’s?  With your support we will achieve our church’s vision and lay stronger foundations for the future.  Thank you for your generosity. “

Revd Canon Simon Jones

Our Vision
St Michael’s, Stoke Gifford is a lively, growing Anglican Church.  We share a vision of “living to make a difference” by being a “Christian heart at the centre of the community”.

Our Strategy
Discipleship: through Life Groups, Youth & Children’s groups, helping each of us grow in our friendship with Jesus.
Outreach: to creatively share the Good News of Jesus with others.
Serving the community: in a variety of ways that generate goodwill and community regeneration.

Our Investment in Ministry & Mission in 2018
Thanks to your generosity in giving your time and financial support in 2018, we have blessed many more people through evangelism and outreach.
We are thankful for our thriving ministry in Children’s, Youth and Student work; Alpha, Baptism, Marriage and Parenting Courses, Divorce Recovery Workshop; Men’s Ministry, Singleness Ministry; Over 65s; Pastoral Presence, Coffee Shop and Community Events.

 

Our Future
We have a vision for growth of our congregations and our community outreach.  We require faith, boldness and generosity in our giving according to our circumstances.  By God’s grace and our commitment we will have the resources to take hold of these opportunities.
In 2019, we’d like to increase outreach in our New Housing Areas, develop being a regional resource church and strengthen Discipleship, Outreach and Serving the Community through even more Life Groups.

Our Financial Target for 2019
In 2018, we have been blessed to receive generous lump sum gifts in addition to regular donations.
In 2019, we’d like to increase our regular monthly giving to meet our regular monthly expenditure.
We’d like to encourage everyone to join in our journey of generosity.

Together we can raise the additional £5000 per month (£60K p.a.) in regular giving required to pay for our exciting Ministry and Mission plans.

Our Giving
Our parish relies on the generous financial support from those who attend St. Michael’s. Giving and gratitude go together and we give out of gratitude for what we receive from God.
‘Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.’ 2 Cor 9:7

Our Challenge
Many of us faithfully and sacrificially give, even in difficult financial circumstances, to support the work of God and this Parish.
If you live in a household which is not yet contributing financially to God’s work at St. Michael’s, please prayerfully consider how you can change that.
‘Each one of us should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.’ 1Peter 4:10

Our Response

If you are not yet a regular giver to the Church, please pray about starting regular, planned giving.

If you are an existing regular giver, please prayerfully consider increasing your gift.

If you receive a windfall gift, for example, a bonus or inheritance, please consider making a lump sum gift to St Michael’s

If you are a tax payer, please take advantage of Gift Aid by signing a declaration form. This will mean an extra 25p on every £1 you give.

Our Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank you for the gift of life, love and your Son, Jesus Christ. Help us to be generous in return, and support our Parish as it seeks to serve you and proclaim the Gospel afresh to each generation.
‘Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God’. Philippians 4.6

Download a giving form

If you would like to talk to someone in confidence about giving please speak with Alison Volkmer or Rob Farrell.

Alison Volkmer  – Financial Controller

Rob Farrell – Treasurer St Michael’s PCC

 

 

Following interviews at the end of October, we are pleased to announce that Tom Benyon has been appointed as Associate Vicar at St Michael’s. Tom is currently curate at St John’s church in Peasdown, Bath. He has a background as a teacher, and during his curacy has been responsible for developing  small group ministry  at his church, and beginning a men’s ministry.

Tom says:

I grew up in North Bucks and went to school near Oxford. After my degree in English literature at Edinburgh, I went on to teach English and Drama in secondary schools in London and Hong Kong, as well as direct numerous school productions. We moved West for me to train for ordination at Trinity College, Bristol and I’m currently into my fourth year as a curate in Peasedown St John, Bath. I am married to Sara and we have three wonderful boys, Elijah (10), Zachary (8) and Raphael (5), a dog called Lottie and two chickens (!). We are thrilled to be coming to Stoke Gifford and serving amongst you at St Michael’s. We look forward to joining your church family shortly- in the meantime, have a wonderful Christmas season!

Tom and family, will be joining us in the early new year.

Please pray for them as they prepare to move and join the leadership in our Church.

Tom

St Michael’s were recently paid a visit by descendant of one Silas Phillips – buried in the church yard centuries ago.

Anita, Ian and Andrew, travelled from Manchester, Spain and Kent to visit his grave in St. Michael’s Church, and were met  Local Historian Adrian Kerton met with them and showed them Silas’s grave is one where the inscription is still mostly readable and they were able to confirm the death of him, and his wife Hannah, in 1844. They also spent some time at the Bristol records office researching the family.

The church ground was consecrated for burials  in 1718. Prior to that burials took place Winterbourne or Almondsbury.

The church yard  has been closed to burials for some years, however, we do have a memorial garden for the burial of ashes.

More information on the history of St Michael’s Church can be seen here

You may have noticed scaffolding around St Michael’s Church this week.

This has gone up, as we are carrying out  remedial work on the church tower.

The work is scheduled to be completed by the middle of August

Welcome to the new-look St Michael’s Church website

You are one of the first people to visit the new-look church website. We’ve spent over a year working on this design – which should make everything more accessible, particularly for those who use smartphones and tablets.

As with all updates – it will take us a little while to get used to the changes. We will all need to be a little patient as the new design settles in. Thank you for your understanding and care.

Menus

Hopefully everything you need can be found by clicking one of the 5 coloured menu buttons at the top of every page. Or you could try using the search button to find what you’re looking for. If you get stuck, please accept our apologies – we are continuing to make corrections and improvements all the time.

Feedback

If there’s anything you particularly like, or dislike about the new layout and navigation – we’d love to hear from you. Similarly, if anything appears to be not working, do let us know.

Please contact us with any comment using the feedback form below.

Between us we’ll work to make the website clear, accessible, welcoming and informative for as many people as possible.

Thank you.

Feedback form

Advantages of the new website design

Accessibility

The underlying principle of the update to the website is to get more of the right communications, to more people, in more ways.

In the last year we have had 14,000 visitors to our website with 60% of visitors accessing the website from a mobile phone or tablet.

Responsive layout design. A major feature of the updated website is that the design is now fully responsive and will optimise the website layout to the size of the screen you are viewing it on. Making content more readable, especially on mobile phones.

Responsive text size. The website now fully responds to browsers that have adjusted the font size setting, so if you like your font size a little larger (or smaller) the website now obliges on all pages.

Menu structure. The menus have been simplified and consolidated to the top bar of the website with 5 coloured menu buttons. You will find everything you need from one of these 5 menus. The menu structure also responds to the size of the screen you are viewing it on and optimises the experience.

It’s fast. The updated website uses the very latest website scripting standards which are claimed to be 30% faster than the predecessor. So you will benefit as a visitor with faster web page load times, which means you get to see the information you came to find quicker.

Flexibility

Maintenance. The updated website has been built with flexibility in mind, to allow the structure of menus, headers and footers to all be updated from the admin panel without having to be web scripting ninja. You will notice that some things (e.g. church services) appear on more than one menu. This is not a mistake and is intentional to help visitors find things and it just highlights the flexibility we have with the new menu structure.

Home page. The front home page has a “priority 9” grid for the most important current communications headlines and links. This is easy to change and adapt to make the home page more dynamic and more effective in communicating key messages.

ChurchSuite. All of the events for the church that are created in ChurchSuite are now automatically imported into the website, to allow the latest events to be shown dynamically in web pages. Check out the Rhythms of Grace page under the ‘When’ section, where you can see the dates for the next events. This no longer has to be manually entered and is automatically pulled through from ChurchSuite and displayed.

 Security

The site is more secure. The updated website has been built with security in mind. Using the very latest web scripting standards, which have security at the core, combined with back-end security measures to ensure that our databases and files remain safe. This has been combined with SSL/ HTTPS encryption for the entire site so your interaction with the site is secure. Check out your address bar for the padlock sign.

Backups. The updated website has a robust backup approach to ensure that should something go wrong then the site can be up and running again with minimal downtime.

Removal of personal data. No emails or personal details are stored on website, with all correspondence now managed through contact forms. Rotas have also now been removed from the website and all rotas should now be accessed via login to ChurchSuite or through email.

It was free!

One of the best things about the updated site is that it has not cost the church anything! It has been developed entirely in-house by an enthusiastic bunch of volunteers who have a heart for communicating the good news of God’s work at St Michael’s to everyone who visits this site.

Thank you for reading and don’t forget to send us any feedback using the form above.

St Michael’s Web Team

At St Michael’s, we are privileged to be part of a vibrant, growing church. It’s encouraging to see the continued growth of our ministry and mission, both locally and overseas.  Thank you to everyone who has given their time, money and prayer support in 2017.  Looking ahead to 2018, there’s a sense that God is drawing more people in.  This will bring both challenges and opportunities for us all. Our November “Gift Day” is a chance for us to celebrate God’s goodness and faithfulness and to renew our commitment to living generously.  How will you give in 2018 to help deliver the vision of St Michael’s?   With your support we will achieve our church’s vision and lay stronger foundations for the future.  Thank you for your generosity.

Simon Jones

Our Vision

St Michael’s, Stoke Gifford is a lively, growing Anglican Church.  We share a vision of “living to make a difference” by being a “Christian heart at the centre of the community”.

Our Strategy

Discipleship: through Life Groups, Youth & Children’s groups, helping each of us grow in our friendship with Jesus.

Outreach: to creatively share the Good News of Jesus with others.

Serving the community: in a variety of ways that generate goodwill and community regeneration.

Our Investment in Ministry & Mission in 2017

Thank you to all our amazing staff and volunteers we have reached and blessed many more people in 2017: Children’s Ministry at Sunday Club, Beehive, Saplings, Messy Church and St. Michael’s School; Youth & Student Ministry through Youth Club, Uganda Mission Trip, Youth Retreat, Abbeywood & Bradley Stoke Schools and UWE; Alpha, Baptism Preparation, Marriage and Parenting Courses, Divorce Recovery Workshop; Over 65s Ministry lunches, teas and Osbourne Court; Pastoral presence offering a ‘listening ear’; Prayer Opportunities and 24/7 prayer weeks and a new “Sacred Space”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Future

We have a vision for growth of our congregations and our community outreach.  We require faith, boldness and generosity in our giving according to our circumstances.  By God’s grace and our commitment we will have the resources to lay hold of these opportunities.

In 2018, we’d like to see more young people come to know God through our Children’s, Youth & Student Ministries.  We are excited about our outreach Youth Club, Soul Survivor camp and Hope Bristol.  We’d like to start “Make Lunch” to provide lunch for children, who might otherwise not eat a hot meal, in the school holidays.  We’d like to provide better ongoing support for those who’ve experienced Alpha.  We’d like to offer parenting courses to parents of children of all ages.  We’d like to expand our Over 65s ministry to provide wider opportunities for engagement. We’d like to strengthen our pastoral ministry through “Listening” training.  We’d like to develop an ‘us-together’ culture of ‘Welcome and Hospitality’.

Our Financial Target for 2018

To maintain and develop our ministry in line with our Vision, we need to raise additional income of £60,000 in 2018.  This is an extra £5000, £4000 + 25% Gift Aid of £1000 per month in regular giving.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Giving

We receive no financial support from local or national government or the Church of England including the Bristol Diocese.  Our parish relies on the generous financial support from those who attend St. Michael’s. Giving and gratitude go together and we give out of gratitude for what we receive from God.

‘Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.’ 2 Cor 9:7

 

Our Challenge

Many of us faithfully and sacrificially give, even in difficult financial circumstances, to support the work of God and this Parish. 

If you live in a household which is not yet contributing financially to God’s work at St. Michael’s, please prayerfully consider how you can change that.

‘Each one of us should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.’ 1Peter 4:10 

Our Response

  • If you are not yet a regular giver to the Church, please pray about starting regular, planned giving.
  • If you are an existing regular giver, please prayerfully consider increasing your gift.
  • If you receive a windfall gift, for example, a bonus or inheritance, please consider making a lump sum gift to St. Michael’s.
  • If you are a tax payer, please take advantage of Gift Aid by signing a declaration form. This will mean an extra 25p on every £1.00 you give.
  • Click here to download a  Response form 

Our Prayer

Loving Father, you have made us your people, richly provided us with good gifts and called us to live for you. May gratitude be in our hearts, may generosity be in our hands, may justice and righteousness guide our feet and may the life of your kingdom and the joy of heaven be found among us.

‘Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God’. Philippians 4.6

 

 

Congratulations to Simon who has been installed as Honorary Canon at Bristol Cathedral.

This honour is a recognition of Si’s work as Rector and Area Dean, as well as leader of the Heart of the Community Project.

Si was installed alongside 5 others from across the Diocese, and all were well supported within the congregation.

Si said  “A huge ‘thank you’ to everyone at St Michael’s who came to the Cathedral on Sunday. I felt very loved and supported by you all. It was a privilege to be installed as a Canon at Bristol Cathedral and an on-going joy to lead St Michael’s.”

 

Photos by Chris Dobson

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we approach our next Heart of the Community gift day, it’s an opportunity to remember why it all started, what has been achieved so far, and look at the plans for the future.

The latest update can be read here

Our Annual Meeting and Vision Night was held on Wednesday 19th April at 7.30pm

It was a great chance to look back together at the past year of life at St Michael’s, and  forward to the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.  

You can download a copy of the Annual Report here