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New Year Wassail Asks for God’s Blessing on Dartmoor Farming Communities
The New Year was marked on Dartmoor with a community Wassail and Epiphany Carols event held on a working farm. Epiphany takes place on 6 January and is the time when Christians remember the visit of the Wise Men to the infant Jesus. The event on 1 January took place in a barn at Newcombe Farm, near Scorriton. It was hosted by farmer Cyril Pearse, and organised by the Ashburton and Moorland Mission Community. There…
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Devon Church to Host Ukrainian Orthodox Christmas Celebration
A group of Ukrainian women and children living in Devon are planning a Ukrainian Christmas service at one of the county’s most picturesque churches. St Michael de Rupe, on Brentor, is part of the Tavy Mission Community and the first church on the Devon Pilgrim Archangel’s Way. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church celebrates Christmas on 7 January. St Michael is the patron saint of Kyiv, which is why the church of St Michael de Rupe has special significance for…
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New Year Honour for Torbay’s Rev’d Nathan Kiyaga
A vicar from Devon has been made a medallist of the Order of the British Empire in the 2023 New Year’s Honours for services to the community in Devon and Cornwall. Rev’d Nathan Kiyaga is Torbay Area Dean and Chaplain to St Cuthbert Mayne Church of England and Roman Catholic Secondary School. He is also Chair of the Devon and Cornwall Community Scrutiny Panel, which works with Devon and Cornwall Police to build trust and…
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Bishop of Plymouth New Year Message
A year ago, as I prepared my first sermon for 2022, I wanted to encourage people and offer them hope. I wanted to say that 2022 was bound to be better than 2021, especially with all the false starts of the long-anticipated end to Covid restrictions. But I didn’t want to give false hope, and, with hindsight, it really would have been false hope, given the war in Ukraine and the current cost of living…
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Bishop of Exeter Christmas Message 2022
Churches and other organisations across Devon are showing God’s love in action this Christmas by offering a helping hand to those of us for whom the cost-of-living crisis is all too real. I recently visited St Disen’s church, in Bradninch, near Cullompton. Every Wednesday it is offering a warm welcome space in its community hall between 9am and 3pm. The volunteer team serves home-made soup, hot drinks and cake. There is free Wi-Fi, magazines and…
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Christmas Confirmations for Students from Devon Primary School
Five pupils from St David’s Primary School in Exeter were confirmed in a service led by the Bishop of Crediton, the Rt Rev’d Jackie Searle, on the 18 December. The pupils have been connected to the church through the outreach work of St David’s Church Exeter and St Michael’s Mount Dinham. Both churches have been working closely with St David’s Primary School to connect families in the local community with church. They have created a…
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