Celebrating our 10th anniversary....
On 13-Jan-2008, The Church in Great Notley marked its 10th anniversary with a service of Holy Communion, on the Festival of the Baptism of Christ. This special service was celebrated at the Community Centre, where our Minister, the Reverend Mike Shrubsole was joined by the Ven. Annette Cooper Archdeacon of Colchester and the Reverend Bernard Arnold. This photograph shows Mike, Annette & Bernard joined by some of our founding members, around a beautiful ‘birthday’ cake specially prepared for the celebration.
Please click on the individual photographs on this page to view a larger version
The last ten years have seen many changes, not only in the venue for our acts of worship but also in the family of the Church. Inevitably, over the years many of our good friends have moved away or are now with the Lord. But always there is a strong sense of, fellowship, love & community which has guided us through the ups and downs of each year.
From Here...
And so The Church in Great Notley began to take shape some 10 years ago, when a number of our founder members were engaged in Christian activity in the new Great Notley village. The official founding of the Church can be dated to the first meeting of our Church's Steering Group, when ecumenical representatives of all our partner denominations first met and agreed to go forward together. This meeting took place on 13th Jan 1998.
“St Portacabin’s” (now pulled down and the space used as a car park for the Cricketers!) became the focal point for our Sunday worship. Dodging the leaks in the roof, and occasional damage inflicted by vandals, we shared wonderful times of fellowship in the rabbit warren that was the portacabin! Val Spouge was asked to be the Lay Preacher and in turn she, together with other members, set up Junior Church. In fact, Junior Church’s earliest members are still part of our church and are members of our youth group, Buzz.
Via Here.....
On 29th September 2002 we held our last Service in St Portacabin’s. The younger members in particular were sad when the time came to leave and to make the short move over to our current, albeit temporary, home in the Community Centre. Of course, it didn’t take long for that joyous spirit to return and fill the side room in the Community Centre which served as our place of worship for a short while.
Our numbers have increased so much that, in order to accommodate our ever growing congregation, we now hire the Main Hall of the Community Centre! In August 2005,we welcomed the Reverend Mike Shrubsole when he was appointed as Minister for both the Church in Great Notley and Christ Church in Coggeshall.
To Here
We look forward to the time when we will be able to share a new purpose-built church, not only for worship but also to serve the needs of our thriving local community – a base from which we can show the love of Jesus in word and action so that others may come to know him as Lord and Saviour.
Here we can see the architect's impressions of what our new Church building will look like together with a site plan showing the location of our new Church.
Please click on each image for an enlarged view.
Whilst we already own the land for our building and we need additional funding to progress with its construction. The Friends of the Church in Great Notley is a fund-raising organisation assisting with the erection and future maintenance of a new church at the heart of the village to provide a spiritual and community hub for the benefit of the whole of the parish.
For more information about the The Friends of the Church in Great Notley and how you can help please visit our Friends page or contact the Treasurer of The Friends of the Church in Great Notley at