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Starting Somewhere New This Autumn
The new Archdeacon of Barnstaple, the Venerable Verena Breed, has just started in her new role working with churches across North Devon. Verena is originally from Germany and shares this reflection about the traditional German way children are welcomed to a new school – a tradition that has been adopted by the churches where she has served in England: “I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive…
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Archbishop of Canterbury Visits Devon on First Public Trip Since Pandemic
The Archbishop of Canterbury has visited Devon to open a new pilgrimage route on his first public engagement outside London in 18 months. Justin Welby was launching the Patteson’s Way, an 8-mile circular walking route in honour of Bishop John Coleridge Patteson who grew up in Feniton, near Ottery St Mary and was killed while on a mission to share his faith in the Pacific islands of Melanesia. Monday 20 September marks the 150th anniversary…
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Devon’s New Deacons Looking Forward To “Getting Stuck In”!
Exeter Cathedral was packed on Saturday 11 September as 16 new deacons (Church of England ministers) were ordained by the Bishop of Exeter. The new reverends come from across Devon and beyond and will now start work as curates (newly qualified ministers) in churches across the county. One of them, Rev’d Patricia Brenton, will be working as a chaplain at Plymouth’s Derriford Hospital. Rev’d Gareth Harper, who will be joining the new Bay Church in…
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Archbishop to Open New Pilgrimage Route in Honour of Devon’s Melanesian Martyr
The Archbishop of Canterbury is to open a new pilgrimage route in Devon this weekend in honour of a “missionary bishop” from the county who was killed for his faith 150 years ago. The Patteson’s Way commemorates John Coleridge Patteson, the first Bishop of Melanesia. He grew up in Feniton, near Ottery St Mary, and was killed on the Pacific island of Nukapu on 20 September 1871. Today Melanesian Christians revere Patteson as a martyr…
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Ordination “a new chapter” for 16 people serving Devon with joy
This weekend, 16 people will be ordained as new ministers in the Church of England in a service at Exeter Cathedral. The nine men and seven women come from across Devon and range in age from 26 to early 60s. They have spent the last two or three years training for ordained ministry and will spend the next year as deacons, working in churches or a chaplaincy role before becoming fully-fledged priests in a year’s…
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Sherford Community Church Gets Tour of Britain off to a Good Start
Sherford Community Church made the most of being at the start line for the Devon stage of this year’s Tour of Britain cycle race by holding a bike-themed community fun afternoon the day before. The race set off from the new town of Sherford, near Plymouth, on Monday 6 September, looping through the South Hams and across Dartmoor before finishing in Exeter. The Reverend Tom Brassil, vicar of the church, which meets in the town’s…
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