We are Bemerton Church of England Parish. We are part of the Inclusive Church network and as such we welcome everybody to be part of our community. Building up community is incredibly important for us as we believe, as Christians, that we are called to serve all who live within our parish boundary. We fully believe we are all loved by God equally and are made in God’s image. We do not wish to put any obstacles in the way of God’s love for all God’s people and we believe each and every one of us are made who we are by God and we are all equal.
We have two church buildings, St Michael’s and St Andrew’s, in which worship takes place on a regular basis. Details of these can be found below. We also have the use of St John’s Place in Lower Bemerton and have a licence to hold services there including weddings and funerals. In September 2021 we hope to start using St Peter’s School Hall on St Peter’s Place for a light touch Breakfast Church.
St Michael’s Church, St Michael’s Road, Salisbury.
This is the church on the hill on Bemerton Heath. It was built in the late 1950’s and has a sculpture of the Risen Jesus on the building looking out over the Heath. We have a worship band and have a relaxed style of services in which our band plays. We are always happy to have new members join both the band and the community that gathers here. Our main service is on a Sunday morning at 10:30 and lasts between 40 minutes and 1 hour 15 minutes depending on which Sunday you attend. For information about services in Bemerton Parish please see our dedicated Prayer, Worship and Study page.
There is also St Michael’s Community Centre on site which has a community cafe and space for people to rent out on an hourly or on a sessional basis. The Community Fridge & Larder is also located here offering close to ‘use by’ and ‘best before’ food and donated food items. These are free to those who can’t afford food and also available to people who would like to make a donation. No vouchers are needed or questions asked, we simply ask you take only what you need so others can access have food to eat. If you have items of food you would like to donate to the Community Fridge please get in touch to find out what we can accept. We also have a Community Cafe which in usual times offers hot and cold drinks, cake, panini and soup.
St Andrew’s Church, Lower Bemerton
St. Andrew’s is a tiny 13th century Church, and is the final resting place of George Herbert (1593-1633), celebrated in the Church of England’s lectionary, on 27th February, as a priest and poet.
We have an 8am Book of Common Prayer(BCP) service of Holy Communion every Sunday and on the first and third Sunday of the month we have BCP Evensong at 6pm. At the moment this is mostly a said Service with a Cantor singing responses and recorded hymns. During the week we have morning prayer Tuesday to Friday at 8:30am (10am on Saturdays). There is also a BCP Communion at 10am on Fridays.
Ministry Team
Our ministry team comprises our Rector, Rev’d Kevin Martin who is assisted by a priest in the parish who has permission to officate (PTO) at services along with two retired priests with PTO, a retired Licensed Lay Minister (LLM) PTO, a lay worship leader and a number of lay pastoral assistants (LPAs). We are also very pleased to have an Ordinand (somebody who is training to be a priest) who lives in the parish and is undertaking some of her training here. You can find out more about our less shy ministry members on our meet the team page.
We are delighted to have two Church of England primary schools and a secondary school in the parish along with two other primary schools and recently a new Springfields school opening.
Safeguarding
Bemerton Parish takes its responsibilities surrounding the safeguarding of children, young people, and adults who may be at risk very seriously, and works in partnership with the Diocese of Salisbury to ensure that we work in accordance with best practice at all times.
If you have any Safeguarding questions or concerns you can contact our Parish Safeguarding Officer, Mrs Helen Pessell on 01722 333604 email helen.safeguarding.bemerton@protonmail.com
Alternatively you can contact the Salisbury Diocesan Safeguarding Officers:Mrs Suzy Futcher Suzy works 9am-5pm, Monday-Wednesday inclusive. She should be the first point of contact for urgent safeguarding advice from 8am-9pm on Mondays and Tuesdays and from 8am until 1pm on a Wednesdays (via mob 07500 664800), after which she will handover to Jem Carter as below..
Mr Jem (Jeremy) Carter Jem works 9am-5pm Tuesday-Friday inclusive, although one day a week (predominantly Tuesday) will be spent providing dedicated Safeguarding support to the Cathedral. Jem should be the first point of contact for urgent safeguarding advice from 1pm on Weds through until 5pm on a Friday. He is available on an ‘on call’ basis until 9pm on Wednesday and Thursday evenings – on mobile 07469 857888.
