Home Groups
St Mary’s offers several different Home group options each week:
Monday Mums
‘Monday Mums’ is a women’s group run by Gail Birch (07875 028671, gailembirch@gmail.com) and Sue Pouncey (07866 487911, susan@dacgp.plus.com) which meets every Monday at 12:30pm for Bible study and a simple, bring-and-share lunch.
We have been meeting at various locations in Woodchester for the last 30 years and although some of us have been there from the start (!!) it is always wonderful to welcome new members. This year we are kicking off with “Great prayers of the Bible” by Jennifer Oldroyd to take us up to Lent, after which we will be following the benefice Lent Course. Members tend to take it in turns to lead, but there is no pressure to do that. The group is a safe place to grow in spirituality and faith and provides a great opportunity to ask questions and seek the views of others. The meeting typically finishes about 2:30pm each week with a time of prayer.
Some Monday Mums members also tend to get involved in many other aspects of church life including our Women's weekends, Lunch with friends, Christmas craft evenings and Messy church. All this organising is greatly helped by our WhatsApp group which also helps us to chat and share issues as life goes on during the week… It is a very supportive group.
Come and join us one Monday and see for yourself.
Prayer Group
The St Mary’s Prayer Group meets every Wednesday evening from 7.30-8.30 pm at various locations in Woodchester. Contact Gail Birch (07875 028671, gailembirch@gmail.com) for details.
Prayer group meetings typically involve 4-10 people depending on who’s around. We typically start with coffee or tea and briefly share our individual and wider concerns before praying together, in our hearts or out loud as we are comfortable. All group discussion is treated as strictly confidential.
Prayer group also uses WhatsApp to simplify communication and share urgent prayer requests promptly.
As Christians, we are all encouraged to pray and we would love to see you. If you feel you would like to be involved, please contact Gail to make sure you come to the right house!
Bible Study Group (whole Benefice)
Held on Tuesday nights during term times, from 7.30pm to 8.45pm the group is run by Peter Gee 07796 180317, peter@pendragonuk.net. Meetings are held via Zoom so that the group can potentially include people from all three churches within the benefice and those who are housebound or sick. It is also nice during the cold winter months to meet from the comfort of your own living room. The format of the evenings is a few minutes of chatting (bring your own drink and snack), reading a Bible passage and allowing God to speak to us, and into our hearts and lives, then discussing the passage together, and finally finishing off the evening with a time of prayer together.
You don’t have to take any part in the evenings, you can literally just come and listen and even turn your camera off if you don’t want to be seen on screen.
This group is open to all people of all ages and it is designed to be easily accessible for everyone, so please do feel free to join us at any point, or just to come and go as you feel comfortable.
If you wish please contact Peter (details above) for further information.
“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path” (Psalm 119:105)
Bible Study Group (St.Mary’s)
The St. Mary’s Thursday evening Bible Study Group meets by Zoom every Thursday at 7.30pm (with breaks during popular holiday times) and is run by Andrew Pemberton (07973 187923, andrew.pemberton@btinternet.com).
We usually follow a course or series of Bible studies, perhaps focusing on one book of the Bible or a theme which reappears in different Bible passages.
We will then have a time of prayer and brief informal discussion of how we are all getting on with life’s challenges! There are generally 4-10 of us online and meetings last for up to 90 minutes.
We would love to see you there. Please contact Andrew (details above) if you would like to join or listen in online.