The member churches of the Church in Abingdon are:

Abingdon Baptist Church, Ock Street, OX14 5AG

https://www.abingdonbaptist.org.uk/

Abingdon Community Church, Meetings at Thameside School, Cotman Close, OX14 5NL

http://abingdoncc.org.uk/

Abingdon Vineyard Church, Meetings at Preston Road Community Centre, Midget Close, Oxon OX14 5NR

http://www.abingdonvineyard.org.uk/

All Saints Methodist Church, Appleford Drive, OX14 2AQ

https://www.allsaintsabingdon.org.uk/

Christ Church (CofE), Northcourt Road, OX14 1PL

https://cca.uk.net/

Christ Church on Long Furlong (CofE), Meetings at Long Furlong Primary School, Boulter Drive, OX14 1XP

https://www.longfurlongchurch.org.uk/

Our Lady and St Edmund (RC), Radley Road, OX14 3PL

https://www.ourladyandstedmund.org.uk

Peachcroft Christian Centre (CofE, Baptist, Methodist & URC),
Lindsay Drive, OX14 2RT

https://www.peachcroftcc.org/

RCCG Light House, Meetings at The Roysse Room, Guildhall, OX14 3JD https://www.rccglighthouseabingdon.org

Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), Meetings at the Northcourt Centre and St Ethelwold's

https://www.abingdonquakers.org.uk

St Helen's Parish Church (CofE), West St Helen's Street, OX14 5BS

https://abingdonparish.org.uk/StH

St Michael and All Angels (CofE), Park Road, OX14 1DB

https://abingdonparish.org.uk/StM

St Nicolas Church (CofE), Market Place, OX14 3NZ

https://www.abingdonparish.org.uk/StN

The Salvation Army,12 West St Helen's Street, OX14 5BL

https://www.salvationarmy.org.uk/abingdon

Trinity Church (Methodist & URC), Conduit Road, OX14 1DB

https://trinityabingdon.org.uk/wordpress/

Full details of these churches can be found in the

Where & When to Worship leaflet

The Church in Abingdon works with a number of community-based groups and projects covering a broad spectrum of activities.

35 Ock Street is a hospitality centre for the people of Abingdon as well as visitors. It aims to provide a place where anyone can find a warm welcome and friendly service, where those with problems can find people willing to listen and where there is support for families in difficulties. It also offers meeting rooms to any organisation or group whose work helps to build up the community life of the town. Although 35 Ock Street is part of the premises of Abingdon Baptist Church, the hospitality area is staffed by people drawn from nearly all the Abingdon Churches. Contact: 01235 530080 or office@35ockst.org.uk.

The Abingdon Bridge (TAB) works with young people aged 13 -25 offering accurate, unbiased, relevant information and support on a whole range of issues. All services are free and confidential. Contact: 01235 522375

Abingdon Street Pastors - Street Pastors is a worldwide network of Christian volunteers from local churches who have concern for the community and provide help as needed in neutral and reassuring ways at the point of need. Abingdon Street Pastors has been part of the night-time economy in the town centre on Saturday nights since 2011, going out from about 10 pm till everyone is safely on their way home. Contact: The Coordinator/Administrator at abingdon@streetpastors.org.uk

Archway's mission is to relieve the distress caused by loneliness. A local group meets at Abingdon Baptist Church. Contact: office@archwayfoundation.org.uk

Back to 35 Group is a joint venture between Age UK and 35 Ock Street which provides an opportunity for conversation, activities, support and fellowship for the over-50s. Contact: David Lovegrove at dandmlovegrove@btinternet.com

Christian Aid group which organises a collection during Christian Aid Week, as well as a market-place sale. Contact: Christine Hutt at christine@thehutts.co.uk.

Church Twinning Group which makes ecumenical church links with churches in the twin towns of Abingdon and the Vale of the White Horse: Argentan, Schongau, St Niklaas, Lucca and Colmar. It plans one visit from a twinned town and one visit to a different twin town each year. Reports of recent visits can be found under 'Publications and Dates for the Diary' - CiA-supported task groups: additional information. Contact: Eileen Bontempelli at epkbontempelli@gmail.com

Desire work with young people within youth groups and schools across Abingdon, and encourage cross-town events and youth work projects. Desire also brings together youth leaders, meeting regularly to pray, encourage and help one another, and to organise joint worship and evangelistic events. Contact: Keith Dunnett at keith@cca.uk.net.

Prayer Spaces in Schools enables children and young people to explore faith and spirituality from a broadly Christian perspective in a safe, creative and interactive way. Contact: Contact Heather Hughes at heather.hughes@cca.uk.net

World Day of Prayer is a worldwide movement that comes together each year to observe a common day of prayer. Each year people from a different country are chosen to write the service. Contact: Debra Mcknight at dhmcknight@aol.com

There are many opportunities to get involved with the Church in Abingdon depending on your interests and talents.

35 Ock Street

The Cafe at 35 Ock Street is open six days a week, 10.30 am - 2 pm Monday - Friday and 10.30 am - 12.30 pm on Saturday, serving light lunches and refreshments. Would you be prepared to join our loyal band of cake makers to make a cake every one or two months, on a day of your choice. If so, I would love to hear from you. Please contact Rosemary Brown on 01235 529261 or at rosemary.annbrown70@gmail.com. Volunteers are also needed in the cafe for catering and washing up. For more information, please contact Stephen Bodey on 01235 527828.

The Abingdon Bridge

The Abingdon Bridge is a well-regarded Abingdon charity that supports young people aged 13-25. We are currently looking for more volunteers to act as a receptionist at our new premises at 3 Market Place, Abingdon. As we have a bank of volunteers, you may only do a slot once a week or fortnightly or monthly. Currently, our opening hours are Monday to Thursday 2-7 pm and Friday 2-6 pm, subject to change as we follow current government COVID guidelines. The work is not onerous and mainly involves buzzing clients in and showing them to the waiting room, but this is a vital role that supports the counsellors. If you are interested or would like further information, please contact Sandy Kruger at sandy@theabingdonbridge.org.uk. Volunteers will be DBS checked.

Abingdon Street Pastors - helping to make the community a safe place

Street Pastors is a worldwide network of Christian volunteers from local churches who have concern for the community and provide help as needed in neutral and reassuring ways at the point of need. Abingdon Street Pastors has been part of the night-time economy in the town centre on Saturday nights since 2011, going out from about 10 pm till everyone is safely on their way home. We work in close collaboration with the police, the local council and other local groups and bodies. We would love to have more volunteers working with us - either as Street Pastors out on the street or as Prayer Pastors who stay and pray at our base during a shift. If you feel that this is something close to your heart and would like to give it a try, please contact the Coordinator Debra Mcknight at abingdon@streetpastors.org.uk.

Abingdon Passion Play

The Abingdon Passion Play Committee is a small interdenominational group whose aim is to continue the production of an Abingdon Passion Play, with the next one fixed provisionally for June 2024. We are in urgent need of new members from local churches within the Church in Abingdon who are helpful, enthusiastic and full of suggestions, as well as a Publicity Officer. If you would like to find out more or would like to get involved, please contact John Clare at johnclare.blunsdon@gmail.com.

Christian Forum

This Christian witness continues to be published monthly in the Abingdon Round & About magazine, distributed freely around Abingdon residents. If you would like to submit an article (not time sensitive) of no more than 300 words on any subject with a Christian message, please send to the CiA Administrator at dhmcknight@aol.com.

Christian Aid

Ever since the establishment of the Church in Abingdon, there has been a local Christian Aid task group which has continued the work of the Christian Aid Committee in the town for well over 50 years. Sadly, this task group is about to lose over half of its members and now needs new volunteers to join to enable the work of Christian Aid in Abingdon to continue as effectively as it has in the past. If you, or your church, are interested in finding out more about what being part of the task group involves, please contact Christine Hutt at christine@thehutts.co.uk.

Church Twinning

Our committee would welcome new members from any of the interdenominational churches of the Church in Abingdon. Committee members enjoy meeting Christians from other countries as well as discussing ecumenism. We plan visits to Abingdon from a twin town annually, as well as arrange and take part in these visits. We also organize an away visit to a twin town each year. The twin towns are Argentan and Colmar (France), Lucca (Italy), Sint Niklaas (Belgium) and Schongau (Germany). There are only four committee meetings a year, plus an informal planning meeting for any visit here. If you are interested in this outreach, contact Eileen Bontempelli on 01235 526331 or at epkbontempelli@gmail.com.

The Sanctuary

"The Sanctuary" is a weekly community day at the Salvation Army which is open to all every Wednesday from 10 am to 12 noon from 18 August 2021. "The Sanctuary" will be a place where anyone can come for support and friendship, and there will be activities for all to share - crafts, puzzles, gardening to name a few. If you have a gift you would like to share with others or would like to be involved in some other way, please pop into 12 West St Helen Street (OX14 5BL) and speak to Alexandra Devine, or call on 01235 523568.

Trinity Learning - supporting children and young people to learn new skills

Volunteer with us in school or from home:

• Our Thinking Books project involves mentoring young children through shared reading and discussion of carefully chosen books over 10 sessions for around an hour a week. This project helps children to develop empathy by reflecting on their own and other people's feelings. There are notes to accompany each book and volunteers receive initial training and regular follow-up sessions.

• Kingfisher Singing Group visits Kingfisher School weekly on a Wednesday morning for an hour in term time to sing simple songs, nursery rhymes and other fun songs for children who have serious disabilities.
  
  
• Board of Trustees - people from a wide range of backgrounds with an equally wide variety of skills and experiences are needed to join as trustees. All new trustees are supported with a through induction and relevant ongoing learning opportunities. To find out more, visit https://trinitylearning.org.uk/trustees/.

• Socially distanced volunteering - help tidy up a school garden or crochet tiny teddy bears for our child bereavement packs.
  

If you are interested in helping out with any of these rewarding projects you need to be over 18, willing to volunteer regularly - usually 1-2 hours/week in term time - preferably have some experience of working with children and be willing to undertake a DBS. For more information or an informal chat, please contact Nicola at nic.trinitylearning@gmail.com.

CiA News

This is the monthly newsletter for the Church in Abingdon (CiA).

Christian Focus

This contains articles, poems, puzzles written by members of Abingdon churches on various topics, including local issues. It is published quarterly but due to the pandemic and the cessation of church services and activities, it has not been published since 2021 and is currently undergoing a reorganisation.

Annual Reports

The Church in Abingdon meets once a year usually in February for its AGM and produces an Annual Report.

CiA-supported task groups: additional information

Dates for 2024

Alpha - details of events and courses

Two Alpha courses will be starting in September: one at St Edmunds Roman Catholic Church and one at Christ Church, Abingdon. You are warmly invited to come along to the launch night on 24 September 2024 at 7 pm (St Edmunds) or 25 September 2024 at 7.30 pm (Christ Church) for dinner and a taste of what Alpha is like. Both of these courses will run on Wednesday evenings until the first week of December.

For more information about Alpha at St Edmunds or Christ Church, please feel free to get in touch with Andrew Gilmour (andrew.gilmour@cca.uk.net).

For further information about Alpha, go to https://alpha.org/

The Abingdon Food Bank

Abingdon Food Bank needs your support more than ever now, with the increasing cost of living adversely affecting those already struggling to make ends meet. A typical food parcel might contain: cereal, soup, pasta, rice, tinned tomatoes/pasta sauce, lentils, beans and pulses, tinned meat, tinned vegetables, tea/coffee, tinned fruit, biscuits, UHT milk, fruit juice. Also toiletries, nappies and household cleaning items. Food can be taken to either Preston Road Food Bank or Christ Church Food Bank. Some supermarkets also have collection baskets.