Farewell to Dennis

Sunday 9th June 2024 was a marvellous celebration of Dennis’ time as our Rector.  The Parish came together to create a memorable send-off and so many people came and contributed to the special day.  It was a fitting tribute to Dennis’ wonderful leadership with us. The morning joint All-Parish Service at St. Nicholas’ Church was exceptional, and weaved together so many different styles of worship. The Church was full, the volume high and the warmth palpable. The afternoon Farewell Tea Party was very well attended, with cream teas, cakes, tea, music, crafts and presentations of cards, gifts and many warm words of thanks to Dennis and Helen.

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Our Parish now Supports Azalea

Azalea means beautiful and dignified in ancient Greek and its mission is to empower and facilitate sustainable transformation in the lives of the men, women and neighbourhoods impacted by sex trafficking through several different projects. Sex trafficking is when an individual is coerced, forced, or manipulated into providing sexual access or services to a ‘punter’ often through threats of, or acts of, violence from a perpetrator.  So what work does Azalea do?

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Ecochurch: Taking Action for Future Generations

The Church of England wants churches to take a stand on the ecological challenges we face. The diocese is encouraging all of us to better support our church as stewards of God’s creation.

We can do this by participating in Ecochurch, which is an award scheme that recognises the work done by churches to care for the Earth. Churches complete a survey covering a wide range of questions such as how well they are caring for the wildlife in their churchyards or how environmentally friendly their church buildings are. Depending on the answers given by each church, they can work towards an award, and All Saints Church and St. Mary’s Churches already have Bronze Awards. We are not doing this just as a box-ticking exercise to get an award. The award scheme is a means of motivating us as a church to bring about ecological change in our daily lives.

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Cornelia’s gives £6000 to charities

CORNELIA’S is delighted to announce that it is able to distribute £6,000 to the
following charities. This is a fantastic amount which will hopefully be well received by
the charities. A huge thank you to all customers and volunteers.
• £500 Citizen’s Advice Bureau (Harpenden)
• £1,000 The 267 Project
• £500 JUMP
• £500 STEP
• £1,000 Open Door (St Albans)
• £500 Orphans Know More
• £500 Rennie Grove Hospice
• £1,000 MIND in Mid Herts
• £500 Mercy Ships

Reverend Canon Dr Dennis Stamps – Rector

Dennis was born near Chicago in the USA. However he regards California as his childhood home. He with his wife Helen moved to the UK in 1984 in order to do PhD studies in theology at the University of Durham. Dennis trained for ministry at Westcott House Cambridge and following his curacy was involved in theological education at the Queen’s Foundation teaching New Testament and serving as Dean and Principal. He came to St Albans diocese in 2002 as Ministry Development Officer and Residentiary Canon at the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban. [Nationally on behalf of the Church of England he is a Senior Inspector of theological colleges and courses and serves on several Ministry Division committees. He remains involved with the St Albans Centre for Christian Studies.] Dennis has particular commitment to Ecumenism, adult theological education, and research and writing on the New Testament. Leisure includes the seaside, walking, a good film and listening to music (mostly classical).

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