Church life
St Peter's Church was founded in 1867 by members of St Paul's, Swanley Village as there was no church serving the expanding village of Hextable at the time. St Peter's is, therefore, an early missional church plant. There’s always been witness to life with Jesus since 1867 at College Road, with worship at St Paul’s since 1861 at School Lane in Swanley Village.
With a central location in the local community, there's always plenty going on! With Life-groups, Early Prayer, Thursday Fellowship, Pop In, Crafts, Children, youth and families ministry galore and lots else: there's plenty for everyone to get involved in.
St Paul's, located in Swanley Village, is a beautiful mid-nineteenth-century Victorian church set in the grounds of the picturesque glebe. It’s a wonderful setting and makes for generations of connections through baptisms, weddings and funerals. St Paul's has a more traditional feel, offering a place of quiet, contemplative, and prayerful reflection.
Congregational life
Sunday life is always life-giving and joyful. Come share in worship and growth in God together. You are so very welcome to join us. We aim to contribute well to the kingdom of God by resourcing and equipping all to follow Jesus.
08.30 at St Paul’s, Swanley Village. A simple, prayerful, spoken communion service.
10.30 at St Peter’s, Hextable. Informal Sunday celebration, led by a worship band, with teaching and separate children's and youth provision. Refreshments are served before.
18.30 every first Sunday of the month at St Peter’s, Hextable, hosts our Overflow Celebration. A lively and relaxed gathering where people from the surrounding churches join us for worship, teaching, renewal and ministry, where we seek to pursue more of the presence of God. Refreshments are served from 1800.
11.30 every first Wednesday of the month at St Paul’s, Swanley Village is a pared-back communion service with teaching and organ-led hymn singing.
Life together
Worship is central to our church family life. We passionately believe that we can all honour Jesus and experience something of His presence and life through the Holy Spirit. This blend of word and spirit matters.
We have a wide range of worship styles across our services; from the traditional style of St Paul’s to the more contemporary style at St Peter’s, aiming to provide something that will enable everyone to experience something of God's presence. We love to discover more of God’s Holy Spirit as we trace His presence and active indwelling. Prayer ministry is ministering the love and power of Jesus directly to someone, and we seek to give time, space, and priority to this. More details from our team here.
Pastoral Care
As a medium-sized church family, the best way of giving and receiving care is to belong to one of our Life Groups.
We also recognise that sometimes we need to talk to someone outside of your relationship circle. Pauline, our Pastoral Care Coordinator, will gladly arrange for listening, prayerful support for you from within our seven-person Pastoral Care Team.
Gladly direct your request by email initially: pastoralcareteam@stph.org.uk
Children and Youth
Children and Youth work are integral to our church life.
Tiny Treasures is our Parent and Carer's Toddler Group. We meet on Monday afternoons in term time at 13.30-15.00 for play, chat, crafts, singing, refreshments, stories, friends and fun!
Events for our 5-11’s
Alongside the 10.30 service at St Peter's, we run Sunday groups for children and youth. Ask about this when you arrive and your children will be guided to the best activity group to suit you and your family.
Our midweek sessional work serves babies and families, primary school and youths in drop-in sessions, in addition to Youth Alpha and more…
Bea is our Children's & Youth Mission Leader and together with others is shaping up new groups and presence in our schools, community and church spaces to serve our under-18 esp. See the weekly news sheet for more information, or pop us an email: bea@stph.org.uk
Alpha
Alpha is a simple, life-changing course: sharing big questions, live input, and good food.
We always look forward to hosting people who are considering where life, faith and Jesus connect. It’s a safe place where people come together, ask questions, and explore what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Whether you've been a Christian for a short time, or whether you're just curious and looking to find out a little bit more, this is the place to be! Alpha runs in 169 countries and has been experienced by more than 31 million people worldwide. We host these across six morning and evening sessions regularly, so gladly please register for what best suits you. For more information, email vicarjohnny@stph.org.uk We'd love to have you share in this!
Mission
Mission partnership matters to us.
We are committed to being good news locally, regionally and internationally. We’re working out what it means to live out Acts 1:8 commitment from our parish and neighbours to the ends of the earth. We have a missional partnership in Turkey, a church planting commitment in Spain, a commitment to the persecuted church, radio ministry serving unreached people groups and other compassion ministries. We're keen to work well in partnership with charities that are actively supported by our church family, and we anticipate more of this in the future!
Money
Giving away our money can feel like a challenge. Giving imitates Jesus, honours God, and helps lots of other people. Jesus gave us all He had. He gave us more than we can possibly imagine, and in patterning Him, the part we give is a way of meeting need, receiving, and making God’s blessing real and possible for others. When you’re settled in being with us at St Peter’s and St Paul's, do consider using the standing order form, and being a part of making this all possible. Your practical monthly partnership this way or through the giving opportunities would be very appreciated. All of our local giving covers the costs of all that we do in service and ministry near and far.
Prayer
Prayer is an essential part of the life of a disciple.
Our aim is to connect with God and to further discover His plans for our community, church, kingdom and the wider world.
Prayer happens in a number of ways with our Wednesday 8am gatherings, around our Sunday gatherings in our many midweek daytime & evening life groups. Come join us in one of these ways. We believe in a God who cares, moves and is active in this His world! If you would like prayer support, email us at prayforme@stph.org.uk
Weddings
Weddings with us in Hextable and Swanley Village are great!
Hosting your most special day is an absolute treat, and our vicar, Johnny has clocked up more than one-hundred-and-thirty weddings with lots already booked in for 2024 and beyond! He’d love to partner with you to ensure your day includes everything you want. More than this, to prepare you both for a life of long-lasting marriage together. Register your interest with our office@stph.org.uk with Sue, and we’d love to have an initial conversation, reserve the date for you and start planning the detail. People increasingly love to use St Paul’s as their wedding location and St Peter’s as the party and celebration venue for afters. This and all else we can work out with you.
