The Ironstone Churches are set in Leicestershire villages and offer a wide range of worship, services and activities for all ages.

Reverend Canon Beverley Stark, Rector, extends a warm welcome to all visitors. 

Please visit the individual web page for each church: 

• Chadwell & Wycomb
• Eastwell
• Eaton
• Goadby Marwood
• Scalford
• Stonesby
• Waltham-on-the-Wolds

ABOUT US……

The Ironstone Villages Benefice is a group of rural churches east of Melton Mowbray in the County and Diocese of Leicester. There are seven churches and they make a sort of triangle with Scalford, Stonesby and Eaton making the corners with Waltham on the Wolds, Chadwell with Wycomb, Goadby Marwood and Eastwell contained within the triangle.

Each church has a community and a life of its own. They have two Sunday services each month (apart from Chadwell the smallest church which has its own special programme) and various other events and services through the year. Each church has a church council and they along with the rest of the church congregation organise services, events, mission and ministry within their community.Please …………………………………… to find out more

We also have a common life as a group (Benefice) of churches. This includes

v      * A joint service every first Sunday in each month at 10.30a.m in one of the churches.

v      * Fellowship (Cell) groups where a group of people meet regularly for friendship, prayer and Bible study-working out just what it means to be a Christian in the 21^st century.

v      * A Benefice Council where representatives from each church can have a say in what goes on.

v      * Children’s and Youth activities so that all the local children get an opportunity to participate in a faith journey through our local church schools at Waltham and Scalford and through social, sport and learning events

v      * A special Lent, Holy Week and Easter programme

v      * Marriage Preparation (along with a neighbouring group of churches)

v      * Opportunities for Christian Holidays and training events

v      * A mission fund to help our churches reach out into the community in service and in helping people understand what Christian faith is all about.

v      * Alpha and Christianity Explored Courses.

Our strap line is:-

WELCOME, WORSHIP AND WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER!

WE BELIEVE THAT SMALL RURAL CHURCHES ARE SPECIAL AND ARE PART OF GODS PLAN FOR OUR TIME AND WE WELCOME ANYONE WHO IS ON A FAITH JOURNEY. Everyone is encouraged to join in and to offer their gifts and talents. All people are valued and ‘doing your best’ is valued greatly. Our churches should be a place where you can make new friends and blossom spiritually.

WE BELIEVE IN ONE GOD WHO IS FATHER, SON AND HOLY SPIRIT. We are Easter people who believe that Jesus died and rose again to give us freedom from sin and death and life in all its fullness. We would like people outside our churches to believe this too, but value people’s freedom to come as they are and journey in a way that is appropriate for them. Thus everyone is welcome and exploring faith further and deeper is greatly encouraged!

WE ARE FAR FROM PERFECT! Our journey is a journey towards holiness and we know that we sometimes get it wrong. Usually things get sorted out really quickly, but if they don’t we want to be able to put things right and need you to tell us what went wrong and why! Please contact the Rector or the Benefice Council Chairman (Mr Laurence Griffiths) if you need to. Every Wednesday at 9a.m in Waltham church we have a very simple Healing Service where prayers are said and candles are lit for people and situations that need the healing hand of our Lord Jesus. Our worship services also sometimes go wrong, but generally speaking we have a great time praising God and learning with each other about faith. We believe that worship should be accessible and enjoyable. We are quite good at laughter and fun so when things go a bit haywire it doesn’t matter very much.

Most of our churches are open during the day. However if you struggle to get access please contact one of the local churchwardens and they will let you know how to get in. Each church has a prayer corner or a prayer area.

FINANCE

Ancient Rural Churches are very expensive to run and to maintain. We are indebted to generous local donors in our villages who make regular, often gift aided payments to their local church because they value the church and want it to continue even if they choose not to come to our regular services.

Some of the churches have Friends Groups who run social events in their village and raise money towards the repair of the churches. The church council can then ask for a grant from the Friends group and this has proved to be immensely helpful over the years.

If you would like to help in this way contact one of your local churchwardens and they will be extremely happy to guide you!