Our Story
There’s a great history to our shared life in these neighbouring communities, and we believe our future’s going to be even more glorious! At St Peter’s and St Paul’s, we’ve always been a part of the Anglican church with charismatic and evangelical distinctives.
We are passionate about Word and Spirit, action, and service. We’re low-church, big-hearted people with a commitment to our local community!
Our three parish priorities emerging from the pandemic:
Word, prayer & discipleship as essential patterns: equipping.
Serving children, youth & families: emerging generations.
Living faithfully & generously with others: evangelism & witness.
We’re in a new season of life and mission, fully devoted to ‘renew and refresh’ across church life for the health and future God would have us know. We’ve begun a patient process of exploring how we will better serve the challenges and possibilities of our time and culture. We’re asking God to provide in the people, the pounds and the projects God is signposting for us.
Some of the ground we’ve covered already is captured in Johnny’s pastoral letters. We’re settling on the detail on the detail of what will be the focus of our shared church life and are excited about where God will lead us. Community consultations and church conversations before the pandemic were vital to this information gathering, and we’re reflecting on our priorities as we come out of the pandemic months together. This is all part of our calling to 'love God, grow family and increase hope!'
Jesus is the reason and motivation for all we do. We seek to be faithful to God’s Word and led by the Holy Spirit. Our goal is to grow as disciples and to call many more into that great adventure. Jesus was full of grace, truth and generosity. We’re still growing into what that means.
Our community matters. Our neighbours, streets and villages are not by accident. There is purpose and possibility in everything. We seek to honour all people. We aim to grow and show grace to everyone. We long for more and more of God’s kingdom to break out in Hextable and Swanley Village. That would be enough…
At St Peter’s and St Paul’s, we’re excited to be part of the New Wine Network as it connects with our history of renewal and the ongoing life of the Holy Spirit.
New Wine is a movement of churches working together with a vision to see this nation transformed through Christians experiencing the joy of worshipping God, the freedom of following Jesus, the power of being filled with the Spirit and working out what this means through loving and serving our communities.
Safeguarding
We’re committed to everyone’s well-being and seek to establish safe and caring spaces for all. Whilst safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility, the PCC has appointed Debbie as Parish Safeguarding Officer with David, Bea and Johnny meeting regularly to give priority to our shared practice and safeguarding culture in church life. All paid workers and volunteers are safely recruited with training and support provided. We fully endorse and implement the Church of England's safeguarding policies and procedures. For more information, see our diocesan safeguarding website.
