On 13th November 2024 the PCCs of the benefice held a joint meeting, as required, to approve the Benefice Profile to be used in the advertising for a new rector. A copy of that profile can be viewed or downloaded from HERE. It has been sent to Archdeacon Catherine for use in the advert which will appear in the Norwich diocese "Pathways" section on the diocesan website (Vacancies - Diocese of Norwich) and which will be available to anyone looking for posts in this diocese. Catherine will create a job description and some other documents will be added to the advert, with the hope of getting these in Pathways by about 25th November.

The current intention is that applications should be received by 6th January 2025 and any applicants will visit the benefice and be interviewed on Wednesday 19th February 2025.

These are the dates being aimed at currently, but they may change.

The Christmas booklet for 2024 has now been completed and sent off to the printers. At some point fairly soon we will need volunteers to take them out around the benefice. In the meantime an electronic version of it can be read HERE

Having sent off the version of the benefice profile approved by the Ministry Team, churchwardens and AWA, we have received back a helpful list of suggested amendments from Catherine, our archdeacon. Alan Cossey, as the main link, also had a phone chat with her.

The ministry team have amended the benefice profile and the latest version has this morning (Wednesday) been sent off to Catherine for her perusal and, hopefully, passing on to Bishop Jane.

If Jane and Catherine are OK with it, our intention is to have a "Section 11" meeting on Wednesday 23rd October of the PCCs together and formally sign off the profile and to appoint parish reps to take part in the interview process. Parish reps have to be members of the PCCs and it is likely that each parish will have one such rep apart from Mattishall, which will have two reps to represent two of the three congregations there. Parish reps have to be able to truly represent their congregations. Since ASM 9.00 and 10.30 congregations are somewhat different, we are looking for two reps. There will not be a rep for the monthly Oasis congregation at ASM, two reps being the maximum per parish. However, reps, including how many, will be formally decided at that Section 11 meeting.

When the benefice profile has been approved by the joint meeting of the PCCs, we will make it generally available to everyone. We have not made it generally available so far as we are up to version 10 and it might be confusing if various versions were flying around. Please be assured, though, that the PCCs have been diligent in representing their parishes and we have taken into account the things discusses and voted for at the Vision Day in July to which everyone was invited.

A very rough timescale for the continuation of the process is as follows. Please note, though, that it may well vary, particularly if Catherine or Jane need us to make any more changes to the profile.

1) Approval of benefice profile and appointment of parish reps by the end of October.

2) The post of Rector gets advertised. The joint PCCs meeting is where this will be requested (if we decide that is what we want). It will definitely be posted at Vacancies - Diocese of Norwich and we can ask for (and pay for!) it to be posted in the Church Times. There will also be word of mouth...

3) Closing date for applications would be around 6th January 2025.

4) Interview day would be 19th February 2025.

Assuming we get at least one applicant, he/she would be shown around the benefice on that interview day, meeting people at each church (and church office), would meet with the Ministry Team, have lunch and then there would be a formal interview with, probably, Bishop Jane, Archdeacon Catherine and the parish reps.

If that interview concludes positively, an offer would be made, but no-one on the interview panel is allowed to tell anyone that. The reason for this is not to be awkward, but the applicant might not then want the job, a parish rep might object or, if all goes well, the announcement of appointment would need to be done simultaneously in their current benefice (assuming they have one) and here in ours. It would not be right for news to slip out and, say, their benefice to find out from our end that they are losing their incumbent. Note that the appointee will likely have a 3-month notice period to serve out, just like Mark M. did here. Please don't ask the parish reps how things went!

Additional bit...

So, if we find someone who wants to come here, we might be talking about a start around early June. However, if they have children in school they might want them to finish their school year ... and then holiday... so we might be taking about a start of late August or early September. At least we have got some idea of what might happen.

Dear all,

The Ministry Team (Sally, Jackie Crisp, Mel and Alan) the churchwardens (Jools, Chrissie, Rosemary, Susan, Sue, Sarah, Clarke, Su and Janet), Anne Molyneux as AWA and Mandy as Benefice Administrator, have taken the information from the benefice Vision Day in July (to which everyone was invited and a good number came to), the various PCCs' suggestions  and melded them into a draft Benefice Profile. The people mentioned above met this last Tuesday and gave it their approval (so far). Copies have now gone to all the PCCs. Jackie has been the driving force behind bringing the profile together and Heather Flint has put the document together into a suitable form (and helped the churchwardens with suggestions).

This draft profile has been sent to our Archdeacon, Catherine, for her to look at and possibly make further suggestions.

Our intention is for the various PCCs to meet on Wednesday 9th October in what is known as a Section 11 meeting to formally agree the profile and appoint parish reps to represent the benefice/parishes when we get to the point of interviewing anyone who applies and is seen as a viable Rector. Once the profile has been formally agreed by the PCCs we'll make it more widely available.

FYI, there is a sort of "holding" vacancy notice about the benefice at Vacancies - Diocese of Norwich in the Archdeaconry of Lynn section, which mentions the hope of advertising the vacancy in late autumn. We will try to get it advertised as early as possible, bearing in mind that the Section 11 meeting is on October 9th.

As spoken of elsewhere on this website, in our services and on the benefice Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/groups/matvchurch) we have been without a rector since Mark finished in May. We are currently going through the process of consulting our congregations (we had a "vision day" in July) and our PCCs (parochial church councils, one for each parish) are drawing up the information they would like to go in a combined benefice profile. The benefice ministry team has been drawing up a description of the benefice as a whole.

The ministry team is aiming to meet up with all the churchwardens later this month and have the benefice profile agreed by all the PCCs by about 9th October in consultation with our Archdeacon, Catherine, and Bishop Jane. The next step will then be to make the benefice profile available to those who may be interested in joining us. We are appreciative of Catherine's proactive role in helping us, including the posting of Mattishall and Tudd Valley as looking for a new rector even before we here in the benefice got started. Please see our benefice highlighted at Vacancies - Diocese of Norwich. This was put in place back in June.

For more information about the process, please ask any of the ministry team (Rev. Sally Thurgill, Alan Cossey (LLM), Jackie Crisp (LLM) and Mel Stevenson (LLM)).

Guidance for praying for the upcoming GENERAL ELECTION

There can be a lot of fear and anger around elections.  As we come into prayer now, pause for a moment and present our hearts to the Holy Spirit, asking Him to bring us into His perspective.

For I am the LORD you God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you “DO NOT FEAR; I WILL HELP YOU” Isaiah 41:13

Prayer:  LORD, I know that You are so much bigger than anything we are facing in this nation.  Thank You that You reign above it all.  As I pray today, I ask You to lead me into Your perspective of the situation, full of Your comfort, Your authority and Your hope.  Amen.

PRAY FOR PEACE

‘For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders.  And He will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.’  Isaiah 9:6

Tensions run high around elections, so let’s pray for peace to cover every part of the process:

• That the Prince of Peace would reign over the nation with His peace.
• That God would help any frustration to be channelled into productive action and conversation.
• The if there is to be an exchange of power, it should happen peacefully and with respect.

PRAYER FOR VOTERS

‘But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. ‘ James 3:17

• Pray that God would give voters ‘wisdom from heaven’ so that they can be ‘impartial and sincere’.
• That the process of voting is safe for everyone.
• That voters make decisions with Godly wisdom, led by the Holy Spirit.

PRAY FOR OUR NATION

‘For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the in the heavenly realms. ‘ Ephesians 6:12.

There are spiritual realities involved in human circumstance, and Jesus has ultimate authority over every ‘spiritual force of evil’ in our world. Let’s pray against the darkness that is enflaming fear, despair, and violence in people’s hearts:

• That where there is division, God would bring unity and respect.
• Let’s bless each political party and different group with a heart for unity and cooperation.
• That where there are lies and false narratives, God would bring revelation and truth.
• That where there is despair, God would bring hope and vision.
• Jesus is at work in our nation. Let’s pray for His vision to inspire hope in our nation.

PRAY FOR THE MEDIA

‘Get rid of bitterness, rage, and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.  Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ, God forgave you.’ Ephesians 4:31-32

Let’s pray that the media contribute to these elections in helpful ways:

• That reporting will be accurate and true.
• That the media will promote conversation rather than division.
• That there will be no ‘brawling and slander’ or malice, but rather words that speak the truth in love.
• That God will work among the media to shed light on what is hidden.

PRAY FOR THE CHURCH

‘For we are God’s handwork, created by Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do’ Ephesians 2:10

As we look to a future beyond these elections, let’s pray:

• That God establishes a government of justice and righteousness in our nation.
• That all forms of injustice and corruption are exposed and destroyed.
• That those in power actively fight against all forms of oppression and discrimination, allowing freedom to flourish.
• That mercy and compassion for all people are restored in laws, policies, and our hearts.

PRAY FOR THE FUTURE

‘I urge you to pray for all people.  Ask God to help them, intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them.  Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity’ 1 Timothy 2:1-3

Let’s pray for the leaders who are involved in this election:

• That God would bless each candidate, successful or not, with wisdom and grace.
• That God would give our political leaders a heart for unity and peace.
• That God would intervene to bring leaders who will best serve His vision for our nation into power.
• That God will raise up righteous leaders who are trustworthy, ethical, and pure of heart.

PRAY FOR JUSTICE

‘This is what the LORD Almighty says: ”Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another.  Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor.  In your hearts do not think evil of each other”   Zechariah 7:9-10

As we look to a future beyond these elections, let’s pray:

• That God establishes a government of justice and righteousness in our nation.
• That all forms of injustice and corruption are exposed and destroyed.
• That those in power actively fight against all forms of oppression and discrimination, allowing freedom to flourish.
• That mercy and compassion for all people are restored in laws, policies, and our hearts.

Prayer guidance courtesy of 24/7 Prayer 

As of Sunday 12th May, things are getting underway. When Archdeacon Catherine visited the benefice as part of her already planned "visitation" in April, she met for a short while with the churchwardens who had been already elected. All the churchwardens now elected and the Ministry Team* are going to meet with Catherine and our Rural Dean, Tim Weathersone, on Wednesday 5th June. In the meantime, Catherine will be meeting the Ministry Team on Monday 13th May.

For people who may be interested in becoming Rector of Mattishall and Tudd Valley Benefice, there is already some basic information available at www.dioceseofnorwich.org/about/about-vacancies/ Scroll down to "Upcoming Clergy Vacancies" and then to "Archeaconry of Lynn"

* What was formerly known as the Staff Team is now known as the Ministry Team, the term usually used throughout our diocese and in parish profiles used in vacancies like ours. As with many tltles it can be misunderstood, particularly as there are many in the benefice who exercise different ministries, but when you see "Ministry Team" please think "clergy and Licensed Lay Ministers (LLMs)".

We will be doing our very best to keep everyone up-to-date with things as they happen.

Mattishall appears in this BBC documentary from 1974. The small section about ASM can be seen at 5 mins 19 seconds into the documentary at https://youtu.be/EkqY-MBPTR8?t=319.

Were you one of the "little people" or even a mum then?

Dear Friends at All Saints - Mattishall,

Thank you so much for your kind gift of £704.00 to strengthen our persecuted church family around the world who are risking it all to follow Jesus. Thanks to your prayers and support, our brothers and sisters know they are not alone and can stand strong in their faith.

Among those helped is Pastor Jonathan and his church in Indonesia. On 13 May 2018, a bomb was detonated during a service, killing eight people and wounding five. Seven years earlier, the pastor attended a seminar run by Open Doors local partners to prepare believers for persecution – and he believes this helped him stand strong following the attack.

“It seemed like the seminar was prepping me for the explosion that occurred seven years later, so thank you Open Doors,” says the pastor, who adds: “I want to express my gratitude to my brothers and sisters who have prayed for my church and congregation. I can't repay your kindness. May God bless and reward you abundantly.”

May the Lord fill you with His Spirit and surround you with His love.

Your sister in Christ,

Henrietta Blyth

CEO, Open Doors UK and Ireland

Tori is being licensed as Assistant Curate to our benefice at All Saints, Mattishall on Tuesday 9th May in a service starting at 18:00. The Bishop of Lynn, Jane Steen, and the Archdeacon of Lynn, Catherine Dobson, will be with us. Do please come along to support Tori and her family as they start their life with us in our benefice.

There will be refreshments afterwards, so do stay for a while afterwards if you can.

Looking forward to seeing you there.

Two documents about All Saints, Welborne, have been uploaded to this website that may interest you. One is a leaflet from 2015 giving details about the church building at that time (before the Fawlty Towers project, which provided a servery and loo) and a booklet, which gives details of the inscriptions in both the church building itself and on the memorials in the churchyard.

Please click on the links above to see the items.

We will have all seen the harrowing accounts coming from southern Turkey and north-west Syria and wish to contribute financially to helping people there. There are several appeals starting to appear, including www.dec.org.uk, the organisation that coordinates responses among 15 British charities, including several Christian ones. One of ASM's mission partners is Open Doors, an organisation that helps persecuted Christians, and they have their own appeal HERE. Open Doors will be aiming to specifically help Christians there, a group that will struggle even more than other people, difficult though that is to imagine, because many Christians in Syria are desperately poor already and miss out in relief work generally.

One of ASM's prayer partners is Open Doors, an organisation that supports persecuted Christians around the world. North Korea is generally recognised as the most difficult place in the world to be a Christian. Below are some details of support given to some of those fleeing that country to China and some of the major problems that still face them there.

www.opendoorsuk.org/news/latest-news/north-korea-refugee-interview

The diocesan calendar has an article on Who Let The Dads Out?, the group for dads, other male carers and their kiddies up to and including school year 2 that a group of us run once a month at All Saints' Mattishall. If interested, do have a look at 10 December — Advent Calendar (squarespace.com). We did mention that a couple of ladies are part of the team, but that seems to have been missed out, perhaps due to lack of space or a wish to emphasise the concern of the men at ASM to help other men in their vitally important role of being fathers, spending time with their kids and getting to know other dads in a similar situation.

Please do pray for us and the dads who meet each month.

Diocesan Digital Advent Calendar 2022

Transformed by Christ: Prayerful, Pastoral, Prophetic

This coming Advent Sunday (27^th November), we move into the second year of our Diocesan Vision and so the second of our three ‘P’ words – Pastoral – becomes our focus.

To tie in with this, 2022’s diocesan digital (but downloadable) Advent Calendar explores pastoral care, each ‘window’ celebrating a different way of reaching out in loving concern. Contributors have been drawn from all over the diocese and showcase a wide range of ways of responding to many sorts of need… Running a school uniform bank, hosting refugees, visiting the lonely, and offering warm spaces to those who can’t afford to heat their homes are just a few of the 28 different examples of pastoral care which come under the spotlight... 

It's easy to subscribe at http://dofn.org/advent and then, every morning of Advent, each new calendar entry will ping into your email inbox. We hope this year’s calendar will provide a rich and inspiring way of setting out together on our journey into deepening the pastoral life of this diocese. Please encourage everyone in your faith community (and perhaps those on its fringes too?) to subscribe.

Susanna Gunner

Diocesan Adviser in Spirituality and Discipleship

Greetings to you all!

Just thought you might like to drive or walk up to the church and see St Marys Church standing proud again, with the churchyard free from all signs of ongoing building work.

It’s almost surreal after all this time!

Yes, except for the west window which is being restored and will be re-installed in February 2023, the repair work is finally complete!!!!!.

It’s a proud day for the village.

I remember that repair work officially started on March 16^th 2021, although access restrictions were imposed as far back as February 2019!

There is a Communion Service tomorrow (Sunday 9th October) and a Harvest Service on the 23^rd October,

Next month is Remembrance and then we are into Christmas.

Hope to see sometime in St Mary’s to celebrate!

Best wishes

Mike (Smith)

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned in my sermons at ASM Richard Wurmbrand, the Romanian pastor who suffered so dreadfully for being a follower of Jesus during the Communist era in his country. J. John actually has him as the subject of his most recent blog on "Heroes of the Faith" at https://canonjjohn.com/2022/07/09/heroes-of-the-faith-richard-wurmbrand/

The Easter booklet for 2022 is now available online HERE.

More details will be forthcoming soon, but North Tuddenham are having a festival the weekend of 6th to 8th May to celebrate the completion of the major (as in, major) work done on the tower of St. Mary's church there. A special edition of their magazine, "The Mardle" is available HERE.

Please do have a read and see what will be happening.

We are continuing to have problems with the repair of the church tower of St. Mary's at North Tuddenham, with the expected date of completion still uncertain. For the time being, there will be no services in the church building itself apart from during the festival weekend on 8th May.

We are hoping to have some services in the village hall and will let you know when these will be when we know ourselves.

Update on St Mary’s Church - January 2022

Firstly, I would like to thank the 60+ people who came to the special Carol Service in December despite the ongoing repairs to the tower and the impact of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 on society. Secondly, I applaud the enthusiastic cleaning team who transformed a sad-looking nave into a welcoming place again.  Feedback from attendees, including some who had never been in the before, was very positive. “Great to be back in St Mary’s!”, I heard.

As you may remember work began on the tower in March 2021 and at once the precarious state of the structure meant that the contractors had to revise their work processes to avoid an imminent collapse. “One of the worst examples of dangerous towers I’ve ever seen in decades of restoration work!”, are the words of the contractor that I will not forget.

Over the next few months, the scaffolding groundwork was prepared, and the contractors began replacing the mortar of the buttresses and strengthening them. The treasured west window with medieval stained glass was carefully removed and awaits conservation funding.

Over the months despite inclement weather in May, lack of scaffolding and the ongoing pandemic, scaffolders reached the top of the tower and work was then possible on different levels. As the repair work went higher up the walls it was evident that the tower structure was still moving. Additional ties were fixed across the tower, and it is now stabilised.

Work on the external walls, buttresses, windows and parapets is nearly complete, and the internal staircase to the belfry is now usable again. A final check by the architect, structural engineer, contractor and the main sponsor, Historic England, is planned for early February, and if all is approved, then removal of scaffolding will begin.

Then the final pieces of the project will start - piling the foundations, securing the buttresses to the piling rods, and improving site drainage.

I am hoping that the whole project will be complete by Easter 2022, but restoration work can always throw up the unexpected.

St. Mary’s will soon sit proudly in North Tuddenham again!

Mike Smith - Fabric Officer

The recently filmed Christmas Special episode of "The Chosen" is now watchable online at https://watch.angelstudios.com/thechosen/watch?vid=S1:E0 Some of us have been watching series 1 and 2 (there should be a total of 7 series in all once finished) and a special episode featuring the birth of Jesus is now available.

The Rootham family have created a wonderful video of the carol "O come, O come, Emmanuel". Sit back and enjoy... and worship with them.

Click here

Bishop Graham has written a letter to us all asking us to continue to wear masks in services, including when we are singing, and to do lateral flow tests beforehand.

https://www.dioceseofnorwich.org/news/latest-covid-guidance-a-pastoral-letter-from-bishop-graham/

 The Christmas magazine is now available for viewing and/or downloading from the Resources section of this website or directly from HERE. Printed copies are now available for distribution around the benefice. Please do help out in their distribution if you possibly can.

Please note that though the index says that page 28 is about an East Tuddenham festival, it is actually about a North Tuddenham festival (as can be seen by turning to page 28 itself).

I have added a resource which gives details of what is needed when requesting something to be added to this website. Details can be found HERE.

Drop In restarted Thursday 23rd September in ASM, with about 27 people present.

Do join us if you can. We will be meeting in ASM itself rather than the church rooms as we think the church building is more welcoming. We will continue in ASM for at least the time being each Thursday morning, starting at 10.00 (rather than the previous time of 9.30 a.m.) and continue till 12 noon. Do come along and let us know what you think.

If you have any questions, please do contact Liz Hunton or the church office.

Audio and video recordings room the final Zoom benefice service from 11th July 2021 are now available from HERE and HERE respectively.

The audio and video recordings from this service, based on 2 Corinthians 12:2-10, are now available from HERE and HERE respectively.

The audio and video recordings of the Zoom service of 27th June 2021 are now available from HERE and HERE respectively.

The audio and video recordings of the Zoom benefice service on 20th June 2021 are now available HERE and HERE respectively.

The audio and video recordings of the service are no available HERE and HERE respectively.

The audio and video recordings of the service are now available from HERE and HERE respectively. Alan was speaking on the need for Christians to be distinctive.

The audio and video recordings of the Zoom benefice service on Trinity Sunday 2021 are available HERE and HERE. Mark both led and preached at this service.

The Mardle magazine created by North Tuddenhams is now available for download HERE.

The audio and video files for the Zoom service on 23rd May 2021, i.e. Pentecost are now available HERE and HERE respectively. Today we did not have a sermon, but Jackie interviewed Alan. 

The audio and video recordings of the Zoom benefice service, with Mel preaching, are now available from HERE and HERE respectively.

The audio and video recordings of the Zoom benefice service on 9th May 2021 are now available HERE and HERE respectively. The service included the Parker Sermon by Matthew Bullimore from Corpus Christi College in Cambridge. More details about that from Mark at the start of the recordings.

Services this Sunday are:

9:00 All Saints' Church, Welborne

10.00 Zoom benefice service (https://tinyurl.com/matv-sundays / Meeting ID 834 0140 0096 / 858873

10.30 All Saints' Church, Mattishall

So far we only have a video recording available this week, which can be found HERE. We'll update this page if we can also get an audio version. It is also available on the benefice Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/matvchurch.

Following the death of Prince Philip. All Saints Church, Mattishall will be open between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. for anyone who wishes to come in and spend time in personal prayer or otherwise spend some quiet time. Please do feel free to take advantage of this opportunity.

The audio and video are now available from HERE and HERE respectively. The service was led by Mel, who also gave the talk based on John 20:19-end and Acts 4:32-35. The service included a reflection on the life of Prince Philip.

The Roothams have created another video of a worship song. This time it is "King of Kings" and can be seen HERE. Do take a look. Enjoy it and worship with them!

The audio and video recordings for the benefice service on Easter morning are HERE and HERE respectively. This service was one of 6 services in the benefice that morning, with the other services taking place in the various churches of the benefice.

Dear all,
With the next stage of lockdown easing due on 17th May, we have only planned services up until 16th May. From the Sunday after Easter, we will be having services in 2 churches each Sunday (one at 9.00 and one at 10.30) as well as continuing with the Zoom service at 10.00. Current plans are as follows:

Please note that we intend to have the annual Parker Sermon service in All Saints, Mattishall at 18.00 on Sunday 9th May. More details on that later.

The audio and video recordings of the Zoom benefice service on Palm Sunday 2021 are now availalbe. The audio is HERE and the video is HERE. Alan was speaking about Jesus coming as king and making sure he is our king.

Everyone in the benefie should have received their Easter booklet by now, but a downloadable copy is available from HERE too.

North Tuddenham's Mardle magazine is now available for download HERE.

Services over the period Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday will be as follows:

Palm Sunday:
10:00 Online service (Zoom). We will be looking, with a bit of help from Donald Trump and Bob Dylan, at Jerusalem as king.

Maundy Thursday:
19:30 Online service “Jesus washed his disciples' feet…” (Zoom)

Good Friday:
11:00 Online Walk of Witness (Zoom)
14:00 Hour before the Cross at Yaxham

Easter Day:
09:00 Communion services at Hockering & Welborne
10:00 Online service (Zoom)
10:30 Communion services at ASM, East Tuddenham and Yaxham

All online services will use the usual connection details of:

https://tinyurl.com/matv-sundays

Meeting ID: 834 0140 0096
Password: 858873

This morning (21st March 2021) Mark led us through the last verses of Romans 15 where the apostle Paul is writing to the church in Rome. There, amongst other things, he asks them to pray for him in hse work. Mark then went on to speak of our privilege in being partnered with people overseas who are spreading the good news of Jesus Christ and focussed on Paula and Derek Finlayson.

The audio can be heard from HERE and the video recording HERE.

The last year and a bit have been hard for many, many people. Even for some of us oldies (I’m pushing 63 myself), it has been a time unlike any other we can remember. The huge change since early 2020 has been a shock to the system. Early on things were changing rapidly, but as the months wore on, so many of us became tired, so very tired. Now, there is hope that the darkest days are generally behind us, though thousands upon thousands of families have lost loved ones and many who have had Covid-19 are still struggling with ongoing symptoms. For some, such difficulties are still to come.

So where has God been in all this? For Christians, this sort of question is difficult to answer. I don’t think any Christian can honestly say they have the complete answer.

However, we do know someone who does and it is someone who has suffered immense pain and suffering himself. The bible teaches that Jesus was “in very nature God”, yet was born as a human being into this world where there was so much pain and suffering. He knew and knows what it is to suffer.

There was a state-sponsored attempt on his life as a baby, he was a refugee as a baby, he was brought up in an ordinary family in an occupied country and when he began his public ministry around the age of 30 he had “nowhere to lay his head”. He was betrayed by a close friend, arrested, beaten, scourged and then nailed to a cross to die a horrific death. On top of that was something that we struggle to understand, his abandonment by his Father. On the cross Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?!” Those words are the opening line of Psalm 22, one of the psalms that he, as a Jewish man, would have known by heart. It was this psalm, which Jesus prayed on that cross.

Yet, the day Jesus died, the day we call “Good Friday”, was followed by Easter Sunday. Jesus had died on the cross to pay for our sins (the actions and attitudes that separate us from God), to make a way back to God for us. His Father demonstrated his acceptance of what Jesus did by raising him from the dead early that Easter Sunday. There was an end to the darkness.

Those who love and follow Jesus Christ, who know his forgiveness, have a hope that God has given us. If you read the whole of Psalm 22, you will see that despite the horror of the first verses the psalmist (King David) is able to trust God through that horror and have hope. It isn’t a wishful thinking, but a hope based on the God that David knew. For Christians, things are clearer than they were for the David, who lived hundreds of years before Jesus did. For Christians we can see that Jesus conquered death and promised the same for those who turn to him.

Maybe we will get back to some sort of normality this year, but there will always be things that life will throw at us, things we can’t handle. Yet there is a God who loves you, who wants to be with you through those bad things (and in the good things too). In the relatively comfortable West, we so often ignore him, yet elsewhere in the world many people are driven by their circumstances to look at what is really important in their life. They have come to the conclusion that what matters above all else is knowing the God who loves them. Covid-19 has turned our lives upside down. May it lead to us knowing that what matters above all else is the same for us too, knowing the God who loves us, both now and for all eternity. Want to know more? Grab yourself a bible and read about what Jesus said and what Jesus did in the New Testament. Maybe you heard about some of it when you were young and in Sunday School and have distant memories of it. If you look again now and dig deep, you’ll meet the Jesus who has been through it all himself and wants you back.

The audio and video recordings of the benefice service for Mothering Sunday are available HERE and HERE respectively.

The audio & video recordings of the benefice service for the World Day of Prayer are now available. Anna English led the service along with several other ladies. The audio can be heard HERE and the video seen HERE.

The audio and video recordings of the benefice service are now available from HERE (audio) and HERE. Our them was Jesus' command to "Take up your cross". Alan Cossey was the speaker.

The audio and video recordings of the benefice service on Genesis 9 is now available. The audio file can be found HERE and the video file HERE.

The audio and video files of tonight's Ash Wednesday service can be found HERE and HERE. Andrea led in in a series of reflections.

The audio and video recordings of the service on 14th February 2021 are now available. The audio recording is HERE and the video recording is HERE.

The audio and video recordings of today's benefice service are now available. The audio recording is available from the Resources section of this website or directly from HERE and the video is available HERE.

The recording of the service from 31st January 2021 is now available as audio HERE and as video HERE.

The audio and video recordings of the benefice service of 24th January 2021 is now available. The audio can be heard HERE and the video seen HERE. As ever, there may be a slight delay on the afternoon of the recording while YouTube processes the video, but it should be available to watch from about 14:30 on 24/1/2020 onwards.

The audio and video recordings for this service, where we looked at creation and it demonstrating God's love for us, are now available. The video is HERE and the audio is HERE.

The audio and video recordings of our service are now available HERE and HERE respectively. Jackie's talk was based on John 1:1-18 and included telling us about how she became a Christian.

The AUDIO and VIDEO recording of the benefice service on Sunday 27th December are now available. We looked at the example of Joseph in Matthew 2:13-23 and how he leads us to Jesus. Please note that the 1 minute 15 seconds video clip shown during the service has not been allowed on YouTube because of copyright reasons.

North Tuddenham's Mardle magazine for January 2021 is now available either from the Resources section or directly from HERE.

The video and audio recordings are now available. The video is available from HERE and the audio from HERE or the resources section of this benefice web site.

The audio and video are now available. As usual the audio can be heard and/or downloaded from the resources section of this benefice website or directly from HERE and the video can be see HERE. 

The audio and video recordings of the benefice Zoom service on 29th November, which is the first Sunday in Advent, are now available. The audio recording can be found in the resources section of the benefice website or directly HERE. The video can be seen HERE.

The 1 hour time of information, prayer and worship spoken about in the service today (15th November 2020) has been recorded and can be seen at HERE.

The audio and video files of this service are now available. The video is available HERE and the audio file can be found on the resources section of the website or, directly, HERE.

UPDATED: The theme of this Sunday's service on Zoom at 10.00 is "The Persecuted Church". We will be sharing something of what it is like for many of our brothers and sisters in other countries, including praying for them. If you can, please would you bring a small holding cross, if you have one, or a cross of some other description to focus on during the prayer time. As ever, please do bring a bible.

Also, this year the Evangelical Alliance will be hosting for an evening with CSW, Release International and Open Doors of prayer and worship, featuring the latest news and prayer requests from China, India and Nigeria. Don’t miss out on this unique opportunity to unite together in prayer for our persecuted family. You can find out more details at https://www.opendoorsuk.org/resources/prayer/idop/. Note that if you want to join the event, you will need to get (free) tickets then set up an account with EventBrite (the people organising access to the event). If you need any help, please contact Alan Cossey (alan.cossey@matvchurch.uk or 01362 857904 in good time.

The recordings of the Remembrance Sunday service are now available. The audio recording can be heard from the Resources section of this web site or directly from HERE and the video recording is available from our YouTube channel HERE.

With the new lockdown now in place in England, there are restrictions on how worship can take place. Basically, we cannot hold our normal services inside our church buildings and most are reluctant to hold entire services outside due to the complexity of ensuring (= policing) social distancing, particularly if there are large numbers of people involved. For example, Mattishall normally has about a couple of hundred people involved in the first part of the service on the village green, finishing off the service inside All Saints. Mattishall Parish Council had cancelled the outside part of the service because of the problems involved in social distancing and how that would detract from the atmosphere of a respectful act of remembrance.

Before the new lockdown was announced last weekend the benefice staff team had organised local services, but on Monday afternoon started organizing a suitable Zoom service. Just after we finished the organisation, the Prime Minister announced that outside services could be held under certain stringent, documented conditions. With the problems with outside services under lockdown mentioned above we decided to proceed with the Zoom service this Remembrance Sunday as planned (apart from a short service totally outside at Yaxham, which had been the original plan there anyway).

This Sunday's Zoom Remembrance Service will include the reading of the names from all our benefice parishes who fell and thus the timing of the service is a bit more complicated than usual. We are still working out at what time we will start the service, but will let you know soon.

So, please do join us for our Remembrance Service on Zoom on Sunday and invite those you know who would normally come to Remembrance Services in our church buildings. The Zoom connection details are the usual details for each Sunday, but I have put them below anyway.

When the time of the start of the service is known we will put it on this website and email those on our distribution lists. If you are not on our distribution lists and only receive weekly email updates from this website, please check this website.

For those who join us on Sunday, please do join the Zoom meeting in plenty of time so we can try to avoid having to let people in during the actual service itself. The Zoom meeting will be open to join at least 15 minutes before the start of the service itself.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83401400096?pwd=REJTTmlPUHlveHhSbmhBQURucHJnZz09

Meeting ID: 834 0140 0096

Password: 858873

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+442034815237,,83401400096#,,1#,858873# United Kingdom

Dial by your location

        +44 203 481 5237 United Kingdom

Meeting ID: 834 0140 0096

Password: 858873

Hope to see you on Sunday.

Alan Cossey

The audio and video files of the benefice Zoom service on 1st November 2020 are now available. The audio file can be downloaded from the Resources section or listened to directly here. The video version can be watched from here.

In her talk Mel was speaking on part of Revelation chapter 7. 

Under the proposals announced by the Prime Minister on 31st October, church services are to be severely restricted for some weeks. The proposals will be voted on in Parliament before implementation, but if they are passed unamended it will mean we cannot have Remembrance Services in our churches as planned on Sunday 8th November.

There is a benefice staff meeting on Monday 2nd November and shortly after that we hope to have more information on what we intend to do on 8th November. 

Details of the government's intended lockdown rules for churches can be found at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/new-national-restrictions-from-5-november#weddings-civil-partnerships-religious-services-and-funerals

North Tuddenham's Mardle magazine is now available either from the Resources section or directly from here.

Audio recording of the talk at All Saints, Mattishall, on Bible Sunday based on Nehemiah 8.1-12. The talk can be heard here.and is very similar to the talk given earlier the same day at the service at Hockering.

Audio and video recordings of the Zoom benefice service on Sunday 18th October 2020 with Mel speaking on Matthew 22:15-22. The audio recording can be heard here and the video recording is here. Mel was speaking on the passage in Matthew's gospel where Jesus is questioned by the Pharisees and Herodians (usually enemies of each other) about paying a tax to Caesar. They had been hoping to catch him out, but Jesus turns the tables on them.

Audio and video recordings of the Zoom benefice service on Sunday 11th October 2020 with Mark speaking on Matthew 22:1-14. The audio recording can be heard here and the video recording is here.

The audio and video recordings are now available. The audio file can be found in the Resources section of the website here and the video from here. This week there is the bonus of the audio recording of the talk by Alan Cossey at All Saints', Mattishall at their 10.30 service (basically the same one given at the 9.00 service at Hockering the same day). This talk can also be found the on the Resources section or here.

The audio and video recordings are now available. The audio file can be found in the Resources section of the website here and the video from here.

If you wish to contribute by filling a shoe box, donating items towards a shoe box or helping towards the £5 suggested delivery fee per box, then please let me know via the Church Office (contact@matvchurch.uk or telephone 01362 858873 during office hours). Spare boxes are available with the 2020 leaflets. Many thanks and blessings - Mandy x

Janet Guy, churchwarden at East Tuddenham, has asked that people be informed that she "will be collecting shoe boxes for Blythswood again this year. it is probably the only parcel the children will receive and at this difficult time it will be more important than ever. If you would like to fill a box please get them to me by the middle of October, if you are not able to fill a box but would like to contribute either money towards transport costs, or just a few items towards filling a box, that would be really helpful."

Boxes can be left her my porch 7 Mattishall Road East Tuddenham or at Alan and Sue Cossey's at 4 Mill Road, Mattishall. Please mark clearly what they are.

For more information please check the Blythswood website at https://blythswood.org/

We will be continuing with Zoom benefice services for the foreseeable future, but are now starting to have two services in our church buildings as well. Over the coming weeks, services there will be held as below. There will be continue to be restrictions on what we can do in the services. Please let your friends know who are not on Facebook, email or the internet generally.

We will send out details about the postponed ASM informal evening service when we have more details.

The video and audio recordings of the online benefice service of 13th September 2020 are now available. The audio recording can be found in the Resources section or directly HERE. The video can be watched on our YouTube channel HERE.

The first full series (Trusting the Gospels) is now available to listen to online HERE.  The people involved are Andrew Ollerton, who led The Course, which many of us (50+) in the benefice have taken part in, as well as staff from Tyndale House, headed up by Peter J. Williams, who, again, some of us have heard speak in videos.

If you want to learn more about why the gospels are trustworthy, particularly if you want to tell other people, this is a short series well worth checking out.

If you have any questions, do please contact Alan Cossey (see the Who's Who page on this benefice web site for details).

The audio and video recordings of the service, in which Sally preached on Jonah chapter 3, are now available. The audio recording can be found in the Resources section of this website or directly from here. The video can be viewed at here.

The audio and video recordings of the service, in which Andrea preached on Revelation, are now available. The audio recording can be found in the Resources section of this website or directly from here. The video can be viewed at here.

The September 2020 edition of The Mardle from North Tuddenham is now available from the Resources section of this website or directly from here.

The audio recording of the service has been uploaded to the Resources section of this website and can be accessed directly from here. The video of the service can be accessed from our YouTube channel here.

Mark was preaching on Philippians 4:2-9.

The audio recording of the service has been uploaded to the Resources section of this website and can be accessed directly from here. The video of the service can be accessed from our YouTube channel here.

The August edition of North Tuddenham's Mardle magazine is now available form the Resources section of this website.

Do join us for worship together this Sunday, 2nd August. We are having two benefice services again with Welborne hosting our "physical" service and there again being a Zoom service. Joyce Turner will leading and preaching at the service at Welborne. Alan Cossey will be preaching in the Zoom service, which can be accessed in the usual manner using the link here or starting Zoom and entering a meeting ID of 834 0140 0096 with a password of 858873. Both services start at 10.00.

For the Welborne service there will be some things you will need to do to keep yourself and everyone else involved safe. Part of this is that you are strongly encouraged to wear a face covering (there will be disposable ones available at the service).

For the Zoom service, please ensure you have joined before 10.00.

We look forward to seeing you at one of the services.

There is a new audio series on Trusting the Gospels by Andrew Ollerton (from The Bible Course which over 50 of us have done in the benefice) and Peter J. Williams from Tyndale House in Cambridge, which covers material similar to Peter Williams excellent, 140-page book "Can we trust the Gospels?" which came out earlier this year. Both Andrew Ollerton and Peter Williams know their stuff and, importantly, how to put it across in a way that the ordinary man or woman can understand. If you are interested in knowing why we should trust the Gospels (that should be all of us), then do have a listen to the first episode. You can hear it online at https://trustingthebible.buzzsprout.com/.../4327502... and you can download the actual audio file from https://www.buzzsprout.com/.../4327502-trusting-the...

PS Peter J. Williams doesn't include the "J." in his name, because he is a poser, but to distinguish himself from at least two other UK Christian leaders called, "Peter Williams".

The video of the service and audio of Jackie Crisp's talk on Philippians 2:19-30 are now available. The video can be seen at on our YouTube channel here and the audio file can be listened to or downloaded from the Resources section of this website or directly from here.

This morning Betty Trinder preached on Philippians 2:12-18 as part of our series on Philippians, with Sally Thurgill leading the service. Thank you, Betty, for joining us just ahead of your retirement.

The audio recording can be heard from the Resources section of this website or directly from here. There will also be a video recording available on your YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0vlLiqkyImh3iiloD4Mm9w/videos

Recordings of the benefice service of 12th July 2020 are now available. The audio recording can be listened to or downloaded from the Resources section of this website or directly from here. There is also a video recording which can be seen at our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnDTnsmgMdk Andrea was our preacher speaking on Philippians 2:5-11.

The video is also on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/matvchurch/

The audio recording of today's online benefice service is now available from the Resources section of this website or, more directly, from here. Sally Thurgill gave her talk based on Philippians 1.1-11 as the first main talk in our series on Paul's letter to the Philippians. The video of the entire service is now available at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0vlLiqkyImh3iiloD4Mm9w (minus the music while we sort out copyright problems).

North Tuddenham's monthly Mardle magazine for July 2020 is now available from the Resources section of this website or directly from here.

The audio recording of today's online benefice service is now available from the Resources section of this website or, more directly, from here. Sally Thurgill gave her talk based on Philippians 1.1-11 as the first main talk in our series on Paul's letter to the Philippians.

North Tuddenham's Mardle magazine for June 2020 is now available from the resources section of this website or from clicking here.

We now have a YouTube channel where we are starting to add some videos. To get to it, please either go to www.youtube.com and search on "Mattishall and Tudd Valley" or go directly to https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0vlLiqkyImh3iiloD4Mm9w. If you want to be notified when new videos get added, please subscribe there to our channel.

Please do take a look and let us know what you think.

The audio recording of our benefice service on 7th June 2020 is now available. Paula Finlayson gave her testimony and Derek Finlayson was the preacher.

The audio recording of our benefice service from 31st May 2020, which was Pentecost, is available from here. The preacher was Alan.

The audio recording from our service on 24th May 2020 at the start of "Thy Kingdom Come" is available for listening to direcly or for download from here. Sally is the preacher.

Hi everyone,

During this time of lockdown many of us who are able to have been taking extra walks around our communities.  This prompted me to draw up a village trail for Mattishall.  It is designed for adults alone or adults accompanied by children so nothing too taxing! Just for fun!

If you would like to participate you can download the form from the resources section of the benefice website here or fill it in online, e.g. on a smartphone, here. In addition to these, feel free to pick up a paper copy from my home -  4 Mill Road, Mattishall (Turn right off the main Dereham Rd just past Mattishall News going towards Dereham). Such a copy can be collected at any reasonable time! The closing date for completion is 30^th June and small prize awaits the winner.  Hope you enjoy.

God bless

Sue Cossey

Please note that as we expand our use of Zoom for services and meetings we are having to alter some of our connection details. The new connection details for our services are as below. Connection details for home groups and other meetings will be sent by email to those due to take part in them.

Morning Prayer Mon-Fri and Informal Prayer Sat
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83513925378?pwd=QnZEK0lQTmF3ZEQycTJQb21LV1JQUT09
Meeting ID: 835 1392 5378
Password: 858873

Sunday Morning Services
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83401400096?pwd=REJTTmlPUHlveHhSbmhBQURucHJnZz09 
Meeting ID: 834 0140 0096
Password: 858873

To join a Sunday morning service by phone, please ring one of the following numbers. When prompted,
* enter the meeting ID followed by #,
* when prompted for a participant ID just enter #,
* then finally when prompted enter the password followed by #

0203 481 5237
0203 481 5240
0131 460 1196
0203 051 2874

The church building may be closed but the Church, the people, are still there for everyone.

If you have something you would like to give thanks to God for, or to ask Him something, let us know and we would be privileged to pray for you.

If you don’t wish to provide details, that’s fine too.  All requests are confidential if you wish them to be.

To let us know:

Email – contact@matvchurch.uk

Phone – 01362 858873 and leave a message if you wish and the office is closed.

Post – in the post box to the office which is adjacent to the Drs surgery.  The address is Church Office, Church Rooms, Dereham Road, Mattishall. NR20 3QA

Sara and Jonathan Rootham have very kindly produced three more songs of worship for us. These can be seen as follows:

• Praise is rising (with intro)
• The splendour of the king
• If faith can move the mountains

We hope you enjoy them.

Mid Norfolk Foodbank

Can you help?

Foodbanks are now feeding many families with basic essential foods.

A collection of non-perishable, non-alcoholic items can be donated at 4 Mill Road, Mattishall.  Please leave your bagged items on the doorstep and ring the bell to alert us a package has been left.

All items will be donated to the above foodbank on a weekly basis. All donations will be greatly appreciated and much needed.

         Many thanks.

Despite the problems at Zoom which stopped some of our people from seeing the service, we have managed to produce an audio file of the entire service. This can be played at or downloaded from the Resources section of this benefice website or directly from here.

We also have two videos available, the interview Mark had with our speaker, Andrew Davison, which we showed at the start of the service and a video of Andrew giving his sermon. These can both be seen here.

The audio recording of the benefice service online from Sunday 3rd May 2020 is now available. Please see the resources section of this website. Mel Stevenson was the preacher.

Apologies. There is no recording available from the service on 26th April 2020 due to a technical problem with Alan Cossey's PC. The PC has now been fixed so should be OK for 3rd May.

Please note that the day of the week that weekly email updates are sent out from the benefice website will be changed from Fridays to Saturdays from w/c 4th May 2020. This is because we are doing fewer things on Saturdays that people need reminding about and it is more important that they are reminded about the Sunday service near enough to the service date to not then forget!

The Rootham family have been continuing to put their time together to good use. Another wonderful song from them using a song written by Graham Kendrick and based on the start of Psalm 25. https://youtu.be/MKLRKaqgtao

Do you know your Exile from your Exodus, your Jeremiah from your Job? Ever wondered what was going on during the time of that Old Testament reading that you didn’t really understand in church? Should we trust the bible? Why is this or that reading actually in the bible? Does it all seem to fit together or do the readings you read or hear seem totally unrelated and confusing?

Bible Society has created a course to help us understand and appreciate our bibles better. A couple of years ago, we ran it in a number of people’s homes and around 50 people took part overall. A new version of the course is now available and can be streamed to our homes for us to watch without having to meet together physically. Since so many people are restricted to their homes, it seems an ideal time to run it over the next few weeks.

The course consists of 8 sessions, each with 2 x 20 minute videos to watch together as well as time to discuss things together with one person leading the sessions. To enable us to chat together we will probably also use Zoom (as we have been doing on Sundays, but in a simpler fashion) and we will probably run one session per week.

To find out more details, please either contact Alan Cossey (01362 857904 or alan.cossey@matvchurch.uk) and / or have a look at the course website at https://www.biblesociety.org.uk/explore-the-bible/the-bible-course/ where you can see a couple of short videos describing the course as well as being able to watch the video of the first session in its entirety (36 minutes = 2 x 18 minutes). The only cost is for a manual for each person which goes with the course and which is really very helpful both during the course and afterwards and costs £4.99 each (corrected from £3.99), which we can order it for you.

Hope you can join us.

Alan Cossey

The Archbishop of Canterbury has created a short series on prayer. See www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/exploring-prayer for details. Also, Norwich Diocese is now running a series of podcasts. See www.dioceseofnorwich.org/news/podcast-sunday-hope/ for details.

While cooped up together the Rootham family from ASM have created a video of a new song from Hillsong for us. It should bring a smile to your face and, if you take the words on board, encourage you.

As people say, "Enjoy."

https://youtu.be/vp0mAngt8tc

I don’t normally plug stuff, but Hodder are offering the “NIV Audio Bible read by David Suchet” until Monday April 6^th only for your Android device or iPhone/iPad (not for any Windows machines, it appears though). If you go to

https://tinyurl.com/sff2eqq

you will find a link for downloading it from Apple’s App Store or Google Play (for Android devices). When you install it, you can download all the audio files. I don’t have an Apple device, but on an Android device there is an icon at the top right which looks like a speaker. Tapping on that gives you the option to “Install all audio”. If you use that option, you will be able to hear David Suchet reading whichever verses you want to hear even when you have no internet connect. Do be aware though that the total size of all those files is 1.54GB so you will need that amount of spare space on your device and, if you don’t have fibre broadband, it will take a while to download.

On the Android version (at least on my phone), starting the reading at whatever point you want is a bit strange. You have to find the starting verse first then double-tap on it and then say whether you want to “Play from here” (with no end set) or “Play verse” to play just that verse. Once underway though, a “pause button” appears in the bottom navigation bar, which allows you to pause (and then restart) the playing.

Happy to try and help if anyone gets stuck.

Alan (contact details on "Who's Who" page)