St. Mary’s, Netherbury

St. Mary’s, Netherbury

This church is also part of the Beaminster Team – http://www.beaminsterteam.org/ is the website with a bit of information but nothing specific regarding visitors.

St. Mary’s is another Small Pilgrim Places Network church and a lot of effort has gone into creating a special place for those who visit. The sign outside just gives details of the Sunday services but there is a SPPN poster in the porch to welcome people to this special place.

Inside, I found a very peaceful church with some good features. For sale there are guides, tea towels, notelets and preserves. Some SPPN leaflets are available and refreshments are provided for visitors with a kettle and things to make drinks – donations are invited for these. A really good touch that I haven’t seen in many places.

There is a good area for children and their work is displayed. Some second hand books are for sale too and another Living Churchyard display. This really is a beautifully kept church with gleaming brass work.  A Bible was left open – an important feature as this is what visitors expect to see. What sets this church apart is the care given to minister to visitors spiritual needs. On the font are two simple notices – see the pictures here.

Nothing clever but very effective – any church could do something like this! There was also a prayer for visitors on the table by the door – again the picture shows it. 12 people in the visitor’s book for July.

These show a real care for those who visit this wonderful place. Also there is a ‘Prayer pool’ a simple and effective alternative to a votive stand. It had been used. If you click on the photo it will enlarge so that you can read the text.

There is a good prayer area as well with some laminated prayers to guide people – we can’t assume that everyone knows how to pray and guidance is never wasted. There are also some prayers in a folder. All these plus the visitor ‘helps’ make this a very good church for this study. I am very impressed with The Small Pilgrim Places Network which deserves greater attention and more churches (an other places ) to join up – see http://www.smallpilgrimplaces.org/

Prayers for people on the altar