Services & Events

Sunday Services

There is one congregation across the parishes of Darenth, Horton Kirby and Sutton-at-Hone, which means that our services move around the three parish churches as follows:

1st Sunday of the month: 10am Family Communion at St Mary's Horton Kirby

2nd Sunday of the month: 10am Family Communion at St Margaret's Darenth

3rd Sunday of the month: 10am Family Communion at St John's Sutton-at-Hone

4th Sunday of the month: 8.30am Holy Communion (BCP) and 10am Family Praise - venue rotates

5th Sunday of the month: 10am Cafe Communion - venue rotates

We do appreciate that this can seem a bit complicated. There is a weekly email update that includes details of the upcoming Sunday service, which is often easier than having to calculate which church is hosting the worship that week. If you contact the vicar, she can add you to the mailing list.

We seek to be an inclusive worshipping community, and so as well as covering a number of parishes, we hold a variety of styles of service.

The Eucharist (also known as Holy Communion or the Mass) is our most regular act of worship. We currently celebrate the Eucharist in three ways:

  • "Family Communion" is our majority 10am Sunday service: a traditional Eucharist with hymns accompanied by the organ, which lasts a little over an hour and is followed by refreshments
  • "Cafe Communion" is an especially relaxed Eucharist, with coffee and cake available before and after the service, and some explanation throughout the service about why we do what we do within Holy Communion
  • "Holy Communion (BCP)" is a quiet service without hymns, following traditional language of the Book of Common Prayer

Once a month we also have:

  • Family Praise, an informal, relaxed, non-Eucharistic service with lots of singing led be a small music group.

Everyone is welcome at all of our services: all ages, all backgrounds, all circumstances. We're not perfect, but we aim to be a welcoming and inclusive community, and we'd be glad to see you.

"What about children?" We mean it - all ages truly welcome. The church belongs to them as well. Our Family Praise services are designed specifically with children in mind, and tend to involve more movement and more noise! But we don't mind if little ones are chatty or can't settle at the more traditional services - we're just glad to have them there. Unfortunately we don't currently have much provision along the lines of Sunday School for older children, but do get in touch with the vicar if you want to talk it over.

 

Midweek Services

We also hold a Book of Common Prayer Eucharist on Wednesdays at 9.30am at St Margaret's Darenth. This service is very occasionally displaced by other events, so contact a churchwarden in advance to avoid disappointment if you're coming as a one-off.

"Breathing Space" is a gentle half-hour of recorded music, readings and silence, to which you can come and sit and not have to do anything. There is coffee afterwards, if you want to stay on. Breathing Space is held at 11.30am at St Margaret's Darenth on various dates; contact the vicar if you'd like to know upcoming dates.

Messy Church takes place on the 2nd Saturday in the month at Sutton Court from 2pm to 4pm (no meeting in August). For more information see our Messy Church page or contact the vicar.