Welcome to the Hethel Church Web Pages

Hethel Church - building, people and events

Hethel Church is a bit off the beaten track, up a cul-de-sac from the west end of Bracon Ash, where School Road meets Cranes Lane. The building is old (parts of it getting on for 1000 years) but in excellent condition, with an unusual 17th century alabaster monument at one end - the beautifully carved effigies of the members of the Branthwaite family.

It's a place of peace where many come to rest, relax, pray, sit and think, or listen for the voice of God. There are a number of footpaths nearby as well as Hethel Old Thorn (Norfolk Wildlife Trust), so it's a good place to mix indoor and outdoor 'space'.

On the second Sunday of each month at 8.30am, the people of Hethel Church meet to worship the living God and to share bread and wine in remembrance of Jesus. Recognising that we are all different, we also put on a number of occasional activities to help people meet with God (lectures, quiet afternoons, a service of remembrance for the bereaved, short reflective services at the end of other activities...).

We believe that God is worshipped in many ways, not just in one-hour slots on a Sunday. So we celebrate and enjoy creation and run events connected with the countryside around us. Norfolk Wildlife Trust volunteers help us manage the churchyard so that orchids and other wildflowers flourish in summer. NWT also led a walk to the ancient wood half a mile away as well as putting on an educational event for children. Oh, and we had a Dawn Chorus walk leaving at 4am in May 2009.

Likewise we value the arts and all things that are beautiful, for example our unusual chamber organ has recently been refurbished, we participated in the 2008 Art Alive in Norfolk Churches festival and we put on a much-enjoyed concert by Cawston (brass) Band in a local barn.

And we believe that following Jesus means finding God's way in all areas of living. So we are concerned to protect the environment, try to engage fully with local/community issues and are working through both personal and church responses to climate care.

We take the line that strangers are friends we have not yet met and we go out of our way to make newcomers welcome (whilst respecting their possible need to be ‘let be’). Please join us at any of our events, or just enjoy the church building on your own in whatever way blesses you. There are prayer cards and a book in which to write requests, displays, and books to borrow.

Special events planned for 2010 include

• Quiet Space – on Tuesdays when the library van calls, the church will have someone present, prayer cards available, candles lit, simple refreshments laid on. Come and be still, read, pray, just ‘be’: 10am to 12.30pm on 20 April, 11 May, 1 and 22 June, 13 July, 3 and 24 August, 14 September.
• Sunday 30 May, Songs of Praise with the dedication of a new hand-crafted frontal for the altar table. Tea at 4.30 (so you can admire the frontal), service at 5.15pm.
• Murder in Hethel: Richard Wilson, churchwarden and Emeritus Professor of History at UEA, will explore all the local intrigue (sex, violence, class war...) about the 1849 Stanfield Hall murders. Saturday 17 July at 7.30pm. Suggested donation £5; wine will be served.
• Faith in Wartime: Sunday 8 August all day, in conjunction with Norfolk Open Churches Week and the 389 Bomb Group USAAF Memorial Exhibition about half a mile away. We are hoping to involve today′s USAF Chaplaincy Service in an exhibition in the church, a guided walk over to the Memorial Exhibition and a short closing “act of worship for a summer′s afternoon”.
• Churchyard mowing to improve the wildflower and orchid habitat: Sundays 22 August, 29 August, 5 September 2010, 2.00pm
• Harvest Festival: service at 11am on Sunday 26 September, Harvest Lunch at Hill Farm, Hethel at 12.30pm.

To book or to find out more about any of these events, please call
Peter or Cathy Nicholls (01508 570557)
Richard or Marian Wilson (01508 570551)

Our Location

Church Lane
Hethel
Norfolk
NR14 8HE

Our Facilities

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