Date: 17 May 2026
Time: 11am
Venue: St Stephen’s Church, North Mundham
The 2026 APCM will be held after a joint service with St Leodegar’s Church, Hunston and St Stephen’s Church, North Mundham.
You are most welcome to join us for church and the meeting afterwards.
If you have any comments or questions about the documentation included in this email, please contact Helen Alexander (Chair) or Tony Atkins (Secretary).
Commissioning of Authorised Lay Ministers
at the Chichester Cathedral
on Saturday 9 May 2026 at 11am
Over 100 people from churches in the Diocese of Chichester will be commissioned as Authorised Lay Ministers (ALMs) by Bishop Ruth during a special service in the Cathedral on this coming Saturday, 9th May, marking one of the largest year groups ever to complete their skills-based training since the programme’s inception in 2019.
Clare Leppard, from St Stephen’s Church, is one of the ALM’s commissioned on Saturday. You are welcome to come and support her by attending the service!
On Sunday 10 May, Clare will be leading a Service for Rogationtide in St Stephen’s Church from 9:30 till 10am.
Revd Roger Pullen took our Morning Praise service today. We had 14 members of the congregation attend today. The sermon focused on Eastertide themes (Acts 7 and John 14). We looked at transitioning from Easter joy into daily discipleship, focusing on trust, the comfort of Jesus, and living with hope amidst world challenges.
Revd David Nason covered all 3 of today’s readings. Stephen was the first martyr because he kept talking about Jesus and the new way, so much so that we was willing to lose his life. Church is not buildings, but ‘living stones’ – not a club but a way of life, a new way. Jesus promised that He is going ahead of us to prepare a place for us in His Father’s house.
If you want to read these texts, again: Acts 7:55-60; 1 Peter 2:2-10, John 14:1-14
Sunday School looked at God’s wonderful creations. They created galaxy bottles with paint, glitter and cotton wool, drew pictures and planted sunflower seeds.
We were very happy to welcome Revd Stephen Everard and his wife Jane back to St Stephen’s! Today is Good Shepherd Sunday. Today’s readings were not random, but chosen to for this day. The Acts reading is about the early church, with no structure but describing how the Christians lived. The Peter reading talks about suffering and enduring it, bringing us back to the Good Shepherd. In the Gospel reading in John, Jesus calls himself both the Good Shepherd and the gate to the sheepfold (which would have meant literally laying across the entry to protect the sheep). How do we respond to these readings? We should learn to recognise Jesus’ voice, by living much like the early Christians: gathering together in His name, listening to God’s word, breaking bread together and being generous and openhearted.
Little Gems looked at the story of how Peter met Jesus “I met Jesus on the beach”.
Revd Philip Meader took our Holy Communion service. We focused on John 10:1-10, which reminds us how Jesus is the Good Shepherd who calls us by name. Terry Hoad led the prayers, Marjorie Coward did readings, and Joanne Hutchinson served. We had 14 people attend today.
Today’s Morning Praise service was led by Revd Roger Pullen and focussed on Jesus appearing to two of his followers on the road to Emmaus. It was explained to us that calling Jesus the Lamb of God is a fitting title and we were reminded how Jesus came back to earth after Easter to prove that He is indeed God’s Son.
Revd Roger Pullen led the Holy Communion service. He spoke about the scripture where Jesus appears to the disciples on the road to Emmaus. He talked about the fact that there were two types of kingdoms and powers in play at the time:
The Roman Emperor, seeing himself as a lion or a hawk and wanting to exercise control. He would be riding a war horse.
Jesus, on the other hand, is known as the Lamb of God. He has compassion and wants reconciliation rather than control. He entered Jerusalem on a donkey.
Sunday School was on today. The children made bookmarks. They had lots of fun.
Please note that Café Connect will be closed on 7 May 2026 due to the election.
Revd Roger Pullen led today’s service. He looked at the story of Thomas, doubting that Jesus was resurrected. Thomas was being honest in his doubt. He questioned, which is not a bad thing. Having faith does not mean one should not think. Faith is like muscles – you have to exercise it or it’ll grow weaker.
Naomi played for us after St Stephen’s Church with a great choice of worship songs. It was a wonderful service with a good, powerful message from Revd Roger Pullen. Freshly baked Easter biscuits from Chef Sue followed after the service.
The Hour at the Cross, led by Revd Wyn Jones was very moving. He looked at the Cross through the eyes of 3 characters: Caiaphas, Simon of Cyrene and the Roman Centurion in charge of the crucifixion. By giving background to the persons and some dramatisation, the passion story was made very real. Revd Anne Holderness then read the passion from John 18 and 19. Jesus laid down his life for us today. It is not just a story from the past, but very relevant to our lives today. Have you accepted Christ as your Saviour?
The Easter Sunday service was led by Revd Wyn Jones. His sermon was on the Resurrection of Christ. The members of the congregation dressed the cross with flowers.
The children had an Easter Egg hunt, they also made an Easter Garden.
Out of curiosity I called in at the new build site, previously known as Lowlands, when it was a glasshouse nursery off the road between North Mundham and Hunston. As it is in sight of our church, and I had followed the planning application reports, I was interested in finding out what names had been applied to the roadways
Way back, when the Parish Council had been hearing applications, I had been asked to suggest names based on the history of our area. Delighted, I found that the entrance from the main road is called “Merricks” Way, which is taken from the family of that name farmers of a large estate based round Runcton Manor in the late 18th and early 19th century, of which a Richard, was a churchwarden at St Stephen’s Church.
The second family name is that of “Fairs”, a family at the other end of the social scale, led by the vicar’s coachman, but after emigration to Perth in Australia in the early 20th century his son, Jimmy born in North Mundham, had accidentally shot his sister dead when he was just 16 years old. He managed to join the army and fought on the Somme in France, but was killed while carrying out heroic colleague rescues from no man’s land. This surname is used several times.
The third name of historic note is “Moat”, based on the small stretch of remaining water evident from the Church estate history back in the 9th-ish century and is close to the southern rear of the housing site. Although I can’t claim any credit, another name is “Blackberry”. I wonder what names will be given to the second phase of housing roads due to be built next year behind Hawthorn Grove nearer to church year!
Have a look at the churches’ website at the bottom for more information about Stephen’s Church history.
David Coward
