The vision of the Benefice of Holy Innocents Great Barton and St Peter's Thurston is of a Parish Church, which cherishes and nourishes its members. We believe that God loves all of his children and that all people are made in his image. Consequently, rigid distinctions between who is or is not a member of the Church are unhelpful. We believe in a broad and central Anglican theology and spirituality, drawing on what is good in all traditions, where all Christians may feel at home.
Our primary purpose is to worship God in word and deed. We seek to deepen our spirituality and awareness of God's will and purpose, individually and corporately. This will include regularly reviewing our services. We seek to extend appropriate pastoral care to all, and to have particular regard to what more we can do with and for the young and the elderly.
We consider it to be essential to be relevant and accessible to the community in which we are set and which we serve. The Church Primary School is a particular focus for the Parish Church.
We acknowledge our stewardship of the good things, which God has provided from his bounty. We recognise our responsibilities to him and to each other to regularly review that stewardship, and also to seek to encourage the community to be responsible for its Parish Church, as we pledge to seek ways to make the Church building more suitable and practical for its users, particularly for the primary use of worship.
We joyfully acknowledge the ministry of all the baptised to shine as a light in God's world. We, therefore, aim to encourage, equip and enable each Church member to fulfil their Christian discipleship according to the gifts and skills that God has given them.
We acknowledge our responsibilities as Christians in the 21st century, as we acknowledge the privilege and joy of knowing God and belonging to his Church, and the fellowship, which the Benefice enjoy with each other.
The elderly and infirm are encouraged to continue to be involved in church family life through the receiving of Holy Communion in their homes and through an informal network of church visitors.
The Mothers’ Union remains healthy and active in both Great Barton and Thurston.
We welcome enquiries for baptism, confirmation, marriages and have a flexible policy for churchyard burials and the interment of cremated remains. In recent years we have set aside an area of our churchyard to enable “green burials” to take place.
Rev’d Ben Edwards and our Church Wardens, look forward to receiving enquiries about any aspect of church family life and welcoming you to our services.
