Jesus Is Alive! On Easter Sunday the cross is transformed! Hallelujah – Jesus is alive, he has risen from the grave. With thanks to Sue and John Deane for decorating the cross with flowers and placing it outside the church for all to see. Happy Easter everyone.  

Church Building Project  After many twists and turns and false dawns,  a sub-committee of the Building Committee met with the architect and the contractors on Thursday 8 February. The works to be carried out have been agreed and, including VAT and fees, the total cost Is in the region of £275,000 which will be met […]

URC Minister David Coleman works as chaplain to Eco Congregations Scotland and has provided videos for each week of Lent to encourage ecological discipleship.  You can see his material here

This Sunday, worship will start at 11am (not the usual 10am). It will be an All-Age, easily accessible worship celebrating Harvest, followed by lunch and a very short ‘ideas generating’ session – come and tell us what you want your church to be and do!

Memory Worship celebrated its 1st anniversary yesterday. This is a joint venture with Rayleigh Methodist Church. A monthly short worship designed for people living with dementia and their carers followed by refreshments, chatting and crafts. 1st Tuesday of every month, 2pm at Rayleigh Methodist.

The annual Harmonie Christmas Concert will be at 3pm on Sunday 11th December. Go to the Harmonie Christmas page for booking details. Only two weeks to go!

Thursday 24th November sees the start of our Warm Space as part of the national Warm Welcome scheme and in collaboration with other Rayleigh churches. Alongside our usual Thursday morning activities, the church will be open from 10am to 1pm, for anyone to come for a hot drink, a chat, charge your phone, use our […]

The Assistant Minister, Dexter, visited Memory Worship at Wesley Methodist, Leigh on Sea, for research for the new Memory Worship in Rayleigh, which started in October. Our next Memory Worship will be in two weeks, at 2pm on Tuesday 6 December at Rayleigh Methodist Church, Eastwood Road. It will have an Advent and Christmas theme. […]

On 5 October 1972 the United Reformed Church came into being. Yesterday, along with Harvest Festival we celebrated the URC’s birthday in its jubilee year.

Memory Worship – a specially designed, short worship service followed by craft activities for people living with dementia and their carers and friends, starts at 2pm on Tuesday 6 September at Rayleigh Methodist Church. This is a joint venture between Christ Church and the Methodist Church, and will then happen every first Tuesday of the […]

Christ Church is featured briefly in the August edition of Vision Magazine on page 23. It mentions two of our latest activities to try to combat loneliness as we come out of the pandemic – our Wednesday coffee morning, and our monthly Art Club (1st Saturday of the month 10am-12pm). Both activities are free (donations […]

For the month of June, Christ Church will be hosting the District tapestry created in 1997 for the URC’s 25th anniversary. Some members of Christ Church helped create the Faith & Fellowship panel. It is good to have it on display with us for awhile.  

Our monthly Art Club created a 50th jubilee banner with 50 URC fish from the 153 fish used as a sermon illustration a few weeks ago! It is on display in the hallway and will form part of the URC 50th anniversary celebration in October.

A special service for the Queen’s 70th Jubilee and the Church 112th anniversary also celebrated the silver, golden and diamond wedding anniversaries of several church members which we weren’t able to celebrate in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic. The service was followed by a congregational lunch with cake for all the numbers – […]

At 10am on Sunday 5th June, we will have a special service to celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee, the church anniversary (112 years), Pentecost (the coming of the Holy Spirit to the early church) and several 50 and 60th wedding anniversaries of church members. All welcome!

The Concord Ladies Club celebrated the Queen’s 70th Jubilee in style with a street party style afternoon tea and a sing-a-long.

The sun shone on our new ‘coffee’ (other drinks available!) and chat morning. A number of of sat outside and we were joined by family and new people and serenaded by the musicians who practice in our church on Wednesdays. Come and join us – Every Wednesday morning, 10am – 12pm. Homemade cakes coming soon!

From 18 May, every Wednesday 10am – 12pm the church will be open for people to stop in for a drink and a chat. Feeling lonely and want to meet people in a safe space? Can’t afford a fancy coffee in town? What to linger a while without people looking at you thinking you should […]

WE ARE A DROP-OFF SITE FOR  SUPPLIES FOR UKRAINE please see our Facebook page for more details: Christ Church FB

Due to the weather, tomorrow’s Open Day and Fairtrade ‘Big Brew’ will be postponed to next Saturday, 26 February, 10am to 3pm. Come and join us next week for hot drinks and homemade cake, crafts, board games, art for sale and to learn more about the church.

We are now officially listed with The Welcome Directory welcoming people leaving prison.

Arrive early before all the wonderful craft creations and bargains are gone! Cushions, table runners, handmade cards, lavender bags, paintings, jewellery… and second-hand items – perfect for Christmas gifts. Home-made cakes and refreshments available.

A four week Advent Bible Study joint with Rayleigh Methodist Church will start on Tuesday 23 November. There will be two sessions – 2.30pm at Rayleigh Methodist and 7.30pm on Zoom (details in our News & Chat) The material can also be used for private reflection and study at home – Advent Bible Study 2021

As an Eco Church we believe strongly in re-using things and recycling, so our seasonal Poppy banners this year are made from single-use plastic bags. We also have our usual Peace banner outside made from crocheted poppies – now in its 4th year – another example of re-using things. And, we will have bags made […]

Our More Tea Vicar, Open Day event is on 18th September, 1-5pm. The church will be open for people to drop in and find out more about us and what we do. Learn about our worship, our groups, our children’s activities, and the things we are passionate about – the environment, being inclusive, supporting local, […]

Don’t forget our new Art for Fun starts at 10am this Saturday 4 Sept.

Our new monthly, ‘just for fun’ Art Club will start on Saturday 4 September, 10am – 12pm. FREE, no talent or materials needed. For adults and children. Come and meet new people, have a chat, maybe do some art. There will be exercises and ideas for complete beginners and people on hand to help. Never […]

Our special, café-style, Climate Sunday service is this Sunday at 11am, followed by a vegetarian lunch. Come and hear what we can do to protect God’s Creation – modern, specially written music on creation and the environment, colouring-in, Fairtrade biscuits, social time and no sermon!! (we will watch a video Bible reflection from the URC’s […]

A reminder of our Art Exhibition this weekend. Friday August 13th, 4-7pm, Saturday 10am – 3pm and available after Sunday Worship on the 15th . Sales of art are to raise money for the church’s future building project. There is art work by the minister, Naomi, and several members of the congregation. Come and visit the […]

The URC has become a founding member of a new coalitions of over a 100 UK groups calling for kinder and fairer support of people fleeing war, persecution and violence. Read the full story on the URC website here: https://urc.org.uk/latest-news/3823-urc-joins-coalition-to-show-it-stands-together-with-refugees.html

Next week is Holy Week. There will be a five-minute, daily reflection available each day from 10am, by a different Rayleigh clergy person, via YouTube: Monday – Rev Scott Williamson, Megacentre – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3A5r9hQzL2s Tuesday – Rev Ricky Rew, Baptist https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Jvrqn4oqsY Wednesday – Rev Naomi Young-Rodas, URC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOsX1h9lVYM Thursday – Rev David Oxtoby, Holy Trinity C […]

Christ Church has joined the national register of Sight Loss Friendly Churches. If you would like to read more about their work, please visit the website.

Christ Church has formally become part of the Inclusive Church Network: Inclusive Church is a network of churches, groups and individuals uniting together around a shared vision: “We believe in inclusive Church – a church which celebrates and affirms every person and does not discriminate. We will continue to challenge the church where it continues […]

And so the final day of our church Advent Calendar! A nativity scene of course (courtesy of Traidcraft), which also featured in the Rayleigh Posadas. MERRY CHRISTMAS! A montage of the whole calendar will appear soon!

Another stellar window from one of our younger members!

Another angel for the 4th Sunday in Advent (all the Sundays have been angels)

THE HOLLY and the IVY Our connection with holly and ivy goes back before the carol we sing at Christmas, which was written in the1700’s, to our pagan/celtic origins before Christianity arrived on our shores. Not only is it used as greenery to decorate our houses but is a good source of nectar and food […]

The Rayleigh Ecumenical service of 9 Lessons and Carols is available to view from 6pm on Saturday 19th December.  This is a collaboration between various churches in Rayleigh and features a children’s slot by our very own Children’s Worker Sandy, and the Minister reading one of the readings. And our Music Group provides the going […]

Amazing how Dexter, the minister’s dog gets everywhere!!

Merry Christmas from one of our younger members

Angels for the 3rd Sunday of Advent

On our descent after a wild weather walk (scary at times) over Whernside, one of Yorkshire’s three peaks, the weather started to clear and looking northwards a glow appeared until this magical light lit the landscape. It was such a joyful sight after the storm cloud we had been in, it was the crowning glory […]

Today is Christmas Jumper Day! Sandy is wearing a Christmas Jumper to raise money for Save the Children. Please support her if you can.

Our Christmas Appeal has raised £2,838 so far, shared equally between Hopeworx and Home-Start. This is amazing, especially in these challenging times when most people have not been able to go to the church building. There is still time to donate if you would like to – please contact the Church Treasurer.

From one of our younger members!

Illumination Street Week, is declared a ‘National Calendar Campaign’ to help combat those shorter days and cloudy skies.  This is a celebration to help build relationships and create memories with neighbours and communities to cherish for years to come.  From Christmas wreaths on your front door to flamboyant bold ideas, we are calling for the […]

An angel for Sunday, Advent II

International Soil Day! Bit random, I know, but we are an Eco-Church!

Today is another ‘international’ day! And the Christmas trees are up at the church – hurrah!

Today’s Advent window.

Welcome to our church Advent Calendar. Each day we will post a calendar ‘window’ created by a church member, and put a picture in the church windows. Some of the days in December are ‘international’ days. Today is one of them – World Aids Day, so today’s window reflects that.1st

From Tuesday 1 December look here each day for the new Advent Calendar day. And in the church windows and front door. Some of the days in December are ‘international’ days and these will be reflected in the calendar. The rest is just ‘fun’ traditional Advent Calendar style. All created by members of the church.

Christ Church has been mentioned in the Dec/Jan issue of Reform the national magazine of the URC (again!). Extra points if you can find it! No prize, just a nice warm glow of satisfaction!

Join us live via our Facebook page at 10.45am this Sunday for the Remembrance Sunday Service including the two minute silence and the Last Post.

This wonderful photo was taken last night by Roger Farrow who lives near Christ Church.

Because 2020 has been such a strange and awful year for people and many more people will have slipped from just coping to really struggling, we have an extra appeal to help local people with food and gifts at Christmas. Please send donations (BACS or cheques) to the Treasurer, marked ‘Christmas Appeal’ If you prefer […]