Our Church caring for God's earth

In 2021, A Rocha was a Mission focus for WBC, and this meant that not only did we give to the work of this Christian charity but we also decided to act - putting creation care into practice as a Church community. We recognise that addressing the climate emergency is a matter of Biblical stewardship of creation but also an urgent international social justice issue and increasingly a mental health issue as we see a massive rise in eco-anxiety.

But we are GOOD NEWS people and with God's help we can make a huge difference if we act now and everyone gets involved!

In May 2021 the Eco Church group met together for the first time to begin to audit how well (or badly) we are doing already, and decide on first steps...
In June 2022 we submitted our request to be awarded a Bronze Eco-Church Award and in September 2022 we found out this had been approved.
We are therefore a Bronze Eco-Church!

What is Eco Church?

"From meditation to insulation, from location to invocation, loving God and his creation should impact everything in our church lives." This is why A Rocha UK has developed Eco Church – an award scheme for churches of all denominations in England and Wales who want to demonstrate care for God’s earth. Eco Church will help us ‘go green’ in all areas of church life, from worship to buildings management, outreach to personal lifestyle of church members. And the work we do will all count towards a prestigious Bronze, Silver or Gold Eco Church Award.

The online survey we completed helped us to look at five key areas of church life:

Worship and Teaching
Management of Church Buildings
Management of Church Land
Community and Global Engagement
Lifestyle

So you can expect to see and hear a lot more about the environment in services and communications as we make changes going forward and encourage you to get on board!

We have started an Eco Church blog:

For more information contact any of the Eco Church team: Nick Gough, Marie Hooper, John Redhead, Yolande Nye, Roger Scammell or Heather Wright or email ecochurch@wallingfordbaptist.co.uk.
A Rocha climate Sunday picture

Hello and welcome to our church. If you are a new visitor, we have a page for you to get to know us and learn more about planning a visit.
Click here to see more.

Visitors click here.

Planning your Visit

A Warm Hello

The following information is specifically for those planning a visit, so that you know, beforehand, what to expect on a Sunday morning.

Where and When

We meet at the Church Building (details below) for our Sunday Service starting at 10.30am. For your first visit, we recommend arriving 10-15 minutes early to ensure you get a parking space and find somewhere to sit before the service begins. When you arrive, you should be greeted by someone on our Welcome Team.

Plan your journey:

Open Google Maps

Accessibility: There is wheelchair access, and a sound loop for anyone who needs it. Please let one of the Welcome Team know on your arrival and they will help you to get set up. There is a disabled toilet in the main foyer.

Our Service

The main service begins at 10.30am with a warm welcome from our Pastor or another member of our team. Then we have a time of sung worship, led by musicians. Sometimes a person might pray out loud or read a small passage from the Bible. Sometimes people share things that they believe God is saying to the whole church family. This might seem strange the first time you hear it but it’s all part of our connecting with God. One of our leaders will then give a sermon that is Bible based and that we can apply to our everyday life. We then finish with a final worship song.

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What about my children?

We have a great programme lined up for children of all ages:

Creche (0 months to 3 years). Children under 6 months are welcome but must be accompanied by their grown-up at all times.
Splashgang (school years R-2) and Supergang (school years 3-6) - these groups are currently combined into one.
Young people (school year 6+) are in for the first part of the service and then go to their own group

We are still transitioning our way back to 'normal' and so, on some Sundays our children will be with their parents (or other adults) for the first part of the service and then go off to their groups after 20 or 30 minutes. On other Sundays, they will be in their groups from 10.30am until the service has finished
Group activities vary depending on the age but usually there is a friendly welcome, Bible stories, praying, music, craft, fun games and free play. Please pick your children up as soon as the service finishes.

On the first Sunday of each month we usually have an "All-Age" Service where we all worship God together as a church family.

Getting Connected

Life Groups

While Sundays are a great way to meet new people, it is often in smaller gatherings that you can really get to know someone. Being part of one of our life groups allows you to make new friends, share together and support each other. We have a variety of groups that meet throughout the week, some afternoons and some evenings. Check out our Life Groups page and contact us. We can put you in touch with a life group leader who will be more than happy to invite you along to their group.

Other Ministries

We also run/support the following ministries:

Toddlers (Tuesday mornings)
Thames Street Living Room (Mondays)
Oasis - seniors fellowship
Kintsugi HOPE wellbeing groups
Kintsugi HOPE Connect Cafe (Monday evenings 5-7pm)
CAP - Christians Against Poverty
Wallingford Emergency Food Bank

Get in touch with us if you would like to know more

If you have any questions about what we do please complete this form and someone will get back to you.

Name:

Telephone:

Email Address:
Comments / Questions or anything you would like to say?

Next, we will contact you by email to say hello and help arrange anything necessary for your visit.

Leadership

Revd Simon Hudson, Senior Pastor

Simon's vision is taken from Acts 20:20 - to get the Christian message into homes on a regular basis - and so he is always willing to visit people to offer pastoral support and spiritual care. You can find his teaching via our media page and, when time allows he blogs at acts2020.wordpress.com.

We hope that whoever you are, you will feel at home at our church. We look forward to getting to know you!