Windsor

A couple more churches following a visit to Windsor.

St. Peter & St. Andrews, Old Windsor

St. Peter and St. Andrew, Old Windsor

A quieter place with a lovely church – unfortunately locked with no indication of when it might be open outside of service times.

Website at http://www.oldwindsorchurch.org.uk has no indication of visitor times. A shame as this is a church well worth seeing.

St. John the Baptist, High Street, Windsor

St. John the Baptist, Windsor

This is a very well visited church being just along the road from Windsor Castle. There were many visitors today from many different countries. St. John’s caters well for them. Outside there is a clear sign which says that the church is open and welcomes visitors.

Welcome leaflets

Inside the porch are some more ‘Welcome’ signs and a table with leaflets on it. The usual (and very good ) Oxford Diocesan range and some simple bookmark style leaflets in no less than 23 different languages! This reflects the diversity of people who visit Windsor. There are some laminated leaflets outlining the church’s history as well as postcards and note lets to buy.

One other feature I liked was a couple of posters which say  that visitors are welcome to take photographs – a bit different from some I have seen! This is typical of the thought which has gone into providing for the many visitors to this church. There are two visitors books on the go and they had a total of 40 names for this month so far (it is only the 9th). There were a lot of people coming and going whilst I was there and not one of them signed the book … It is my conclusion, both from here and from many other churches that many are getting far more visitors than they realise.

There are four prayer stations around the church, based around Psalm 139, with an accompanying leaflet. These are very good and I saw visitors engaging with them which was nice. More churches could do with following this example as it does go down very well and also indicates that here is a living church which takes the needs of the world seriously.

There are 2 prayer request boxes and a votive stand to use – all in use.

There is much to see at St. John’s. A display of people who are members of the church, a MU display about their work, and some history items which tell the stories of various people, some famous and some less so who have been associated with the church . All good stuff.

Also worth seeing here is the wonderful painting of the Last Supper on the West wall – very impressive.

There is a website at http://www.achurchnearyou.com/benefice.php?B=27/350AR

All in all, I am impressed with St. John’s. I rate it as excellent and this is a good example of how to minister in a tourist ‘hot spot’. Well worth looking at.