• Fountains Group of Churches Safeguarding Notice

    For details of the Church Services in the Benefice
please use the Calendar, or click on the link below:

    September 2021 Church Services 

    We are rebalancing our services, to move away from the online service as our focus and introducing more services in our church buildings. Services will not be entirely as ‘normal’, but it will be good to see people returning on a regular basis. Please be prepared to wear facemarks if crowded.

    Sunday 19th September 

8.00 am           Holy Communion (BCP), Kirkby Malzeard
9.00 am           Holy Communion & Harvest, Aldfield
                        Holy Communion, Mickley
10.30 am         Holy Communion, Winksley
                        Methodist Service, Grewelthorpe
4.00 pm           All-Age Worship, Kirkby Malzeard
8.30 pm           Zoom Compline online

    If you would like to join the Zoom Service please contact Ian for the link (ian.kitchen@leeds.anglican.org).

    A Service to follow the Zoom Service will be  available to download here:  Sunday 12th September

    A Service to use at home, will be available to download here: Sunday 12th September

    Please note that the there will be no Wednesday morning services for the time being.

    The last 12 months of The Fountain magazine are now available using the menu at the top of this page.

                                    ~~o~~o~~                                                 

    Find Live Streamed Events Nearby

     

    Coronavirus (COVID-19) guidance from The Church of England - This link contain prayers, readings and links to useful resources at this difficult time. It also contains the updated guidance we are following as we move forward. 

    Please take time to follow the latest updates from the Diocese of Leeds

    Welcome

    The Fountains Benefice lies between Nidderdale and Lower Wensleydale in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty to the west of the North Yorkshire cathedral city of Ripon. Its name is taken from Fountains Abbey – a former Cistercian monastery dating back to the 12th century. Today, it is one of the largest monastic ruins in the country. 

    The benefice consists of four parishes and eight churches serving their rural communities:

    Kirkby Malzeard – St Andrew's Church
Dallowgill – Chapel of the Resurrection
Mickley – St John the Evangelist Church
Grewelthorpe – St James and the Methodist Church
Fountains: Aldfield – St Lawrence the Martyr
                   Sawley – St Michael & All Angels;            
                   Winksley – St Cuthbert & St Oswald; 
St Mary's Church, within Studley Royal park, holds occasional services

    The Fountains Benefice Ministry Team

    Priest in Charge: Revd Ian Kitchen, who joined us at the end of October 2019. He is based at The Rectory, Ringbeck Road, Kirkby Malzeard HG4 3SL. Email: ian.kitchen@leeds.anglican.org . Tel: 01765 650369.(Day off usually Friday)

    House-for-Duty Associate Priest: Revd Kathy Couchman 07435 882112 kathy.couchman@leeds.anglican.org

    Readers: Mrs Liz Jarvis 01765 620508           Mr Adrian Roberts 01765 650275

    Administrator: Isabelle Munyard Please note new hours: Thurs 9.30 am - 3.30 pm e-mail parishfountains@gmail.com. If you need information about any of the churches, services and events or would like to enquire about a baptism, confirmation, wedding or funeral, please get in touch with Isabelle.

     

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  • Weekly Reflections

    12-19th Sept 2021 Weekly Reflection.
    Reading: Mark 12.29-31
    Jesus said, ‘The first commandment is, ‘Hear O Israel; the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your mind, and with all your strength’. The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself’. There is no other commandment greater than these’.
    Reflection.
    Here’s a failure in love of neighbour: the care system in this country is finding it almost impossible at the moment to recruit staff. The care of people, especially strangers, unable to look after themselves is one of the most important and honourable things anyone can do. It might be called one of the marks of a civilised society, but that would be wrong. The command to care is a direct implication of the teachings of Jesus, and there have been plenty of so-called civilisations where it has been absent. If people are taught to focus on pursuing wealth and prestige and to put themselves first, they won’t want to work in the care system.
    But here’s another failure of love. Care work is poorly paid and the status of care workers is considered to be a low one. Medical skills are indeed respected, but not the so-called ‘unskilled’ day-to-day care of people who just need to be kept clean, comfortable and loved. Why is this? Why couldn’t we have an upside-down society in which this sort of love were given the highest status of all? A revolutionary suggestion indeed.
    As it is, we live in a society in which the care of the vulnerable does still hang on as the teachings of Jesus continue to have some influence. But this influence should never be taken for granted, and the sly, quiet voices of those who believe that some people aren’t worth caring for, or even being kept alive, are always set to become louder and more strident. It is now more than ever crucial that Christians continue to maintain to proclaim and show by example Jesus’ command to love our neighbour as ourselves.

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