Our Mission Locally
Our Mission locally is expressed through…
Our Church Services: These seek to offer a variety of different styles for different needs and aim to be as inclusive as possible. Our 9.30 ‘Sssh-Free service’ and its children’s groups particularly seek to reach new children and young families with the love of God but our hope is that all our services will increasingly be shaped by this missionary impulse.
Christ Church Primary School: Founded and partly funded by Christ Church and St John’s, our school seeks to provide a distinctively Christian ethos and educational experience for both its pupils and staff. There are very close links between the churches and school, including weekly assemblies taken by the clergy of Christ Church and St John’s. End of term services at Christ Church reinforce this ethos.
Inclusive Church Groups: These seek to welcome and incorporate new members alongside those who already belong to Christ Church. You can find out more about our current groups through the "What's On" menu links.
The Grapevine: Run by Sarah Parker, the Grapevine is a free lunch that takes place at 1.00 pm at Christ Church on the first Sunday of every month. Welcoming those on the margins, the Grapevine seeks to help people find community and make good friendships.
The Night Shelter: Organised by Kingston Church’s Action on Homelessness in partnership with local churches, the Night Shelter offers a meal and bed for the night to people who are homeless between December and March. Christ Church hosts this shelter on Thursday evenings to Friday mornings in December and January.
External Youth Work: Christ Church is a very strong supporter of the Oxygen Youth Project and its work of meeting young people within the borough of Kingston with the love of Jesus Christ. This support is expressed both financially and through the close involvement of members of Christ Church in its running.
Funeral Ministry: Another important part of our mission locally is the taking of funerals by our clergy, who seek to share God’s love and the church’s support and care to those who are bereaved.
Hosting Community Groups: As part of our service to the community we make our buildings available to non-church community groups. Among the groups that regularly hire our buildingsat present are the Library Circle, the Blind Club and a choir run by ‘The University of the Third Age’. Our buildings are also used by several schools, especially at Christmas for their Carol Services. We see this as an important part of our mission.
Churches Together in New Malden (CTiNM) is a grouping of the New Malden churches who co-operate with each other inter-denominationally both at clergy and lay level. The churches include New Malden Baptist Church, New Malden United Reformed Church, New Malden Methodist Church, St Joseph’s (RC) Church, St James (C of E) Church, St John the Divine (C of E) Church, and Christ Church.
Across the year events are organized to mark the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Women’s’ World Day of Prayer and Lent. We also join together in the Walk of Witness on Good Friday and the Remembrance Service in November and take part in Malden Fortnight. Alongside these we provide a Christmas card to many households in New Malden detailing the Christmas services and co-ordinate banners for the main Christian festivals.
CTiNM Meetings for the Church’s representatives are held across the year and the clergy meet regularly to support each other and to discuss local issues.
Malden Care Scheme: Along with the other churches in New Malden and the local Rotary Club Christ Church sponsors the Malden Care Scheme. This is a voluntary way of making life easier for those without other help through the provision of transport for urgent appointments and at other times of particular need.