Welcome
to Purse Caundle, Stalbridge, Stock Gaylard (Kings Stag), and Stourton Caundle
The
Church of England serving these local communities
Christians believe that the world and everything in it is created by a loving God who gives meaning and purpose to each person. No one has ever seen God, and no one is able to fully understand God. But we believe we know what God is like through the life and teaching of Jesus of Nazareth.
Jesus was born in about 4 B.C. in Bethlehem and grew up in Nazareth, both places being in present-day Israel. He learned a trade as a carpenter-builder. At the age of 30 he became a teacher for three years, until he was executed as a common criminal, probably in A.D. 30 in Jerusalem.
Against all the expectations of his friends, he rose from death, and this one thing compelled his followers to tell people far and wide about him.
His followers formed a community known as the Church. Its task was to continue the work he had begun. We believe that Jesus is the Saviour (Messiah) foretold in the Jewish ancient writings and therefore we believe that the Church has a vital role in the unfolding purpose of God.
We become members of this community through the ceremony of Baptism whereby we are “born again” into a new relationship with God through Jesus.
Jesus taught people to think of God as a loving Father - he creates us, loves us, protects us, provides for our needs and guides us through life. He is love. Jesus taught us to speak to him in prayer as “Our Father”.
Jesus said that whoever saw him had seen the Father. He is the human expression of God, showing God’s will for peace and healing and goodness by his actions, and supremely showing God’s love for the world by his death on the cross.
Jesus wants his followers to know that God is with them always. We call this continued presence his “Holy Spirit”. God inspires us through his Spirit and gives us various spiritual gifts.
Christians use the Jewish scriptures, believing that they reach fulfilment in the coming of Jesus into the world. We accept some of the writings of the early Christians also as scriptural - the accounts by his friends of his teaching, death and resurrection, and letter written to members of the first churches. We believe that God’s Holy Spirit inspired the writers of scripture.
We believe that by dying on the cross Jesus has won for us forgiveness from the effects of sin. We hope that beyond this life, therefore, we shall be in the presence of God and be united with our loved ones, and that we shall find our fulfilment as human beings in the heavenly life of eternity.
Millions of people go to Church every week - but why? Some people go to Church because they’ve brought up to go, and they have never stopped. Others go because they’ve made a decision to start belonging to a Church community.
The Church community is a kind of family, which tries hard to share its problems and excitements. Everyone is cared for, however young or old, weak or strong. People come to Church to thank God and to ask for his guidance by praying. People who belong to a Church can really draw close to God. And when people praise God, and pray like Jesus said, their relationships with God deepen and they begin to find out new things. People who go to Church are on a journey of discovery - a journey which can and does change their lives.
You too could belong to a Church, and by joining you could be making one of the most important steps in your life.
If you want to explore further topics found in this document, you could try the following web sites of the host churches. Each can lead you to a church near where you live.
The Church of England http://www.churchofengland.org
The Methodist Church http://www.methodist.org.uk
The Roman Catholic Church http://www.catholic-ew.org.uk
If you would like a contact in the Blackmore Vale here in Dorset, do email William.