St Aldate's Church

St Aldate's
Address	St Aldate's, Oxford
Country	United Kingdom
Denomination	Church of England
Website	St Aldates website
Administration
Diocese	Oxford
Archdeaconry	Oxford
Deanery	Oxford
Parish	St Aldate's
Clergy
Rector	Charlie Cleverly
Vicar(s)	Gordon Hickson
Curate(s)	Alan Ramsey
Senior pastor(s)	Simon Ponsonby

St Aldates, is a vibrant Anglican church in the centre of Oxford. At the heart of the church are pastorates, which are gatherings of 20 or so people meeting together during the week - in houses across Oxford - for food, worship, Bible study, prayer and fun! We also run Alpha courses for those who are enquiring about or just getting going in the Christian faith. In everything we do, we place a high emphasis on making friends, Bible reading, worship and prayer.

History

The community at St Aldates dates back to Saxon times. It may have been one of three churches within the monastic precinct of St. Frideswide. The first major constructions, dating back to the 12th century, were the nave and chancel, the central strand of the building as it now stands. Since then the church has been extended and remodeled at various times. The original tower built during the 13th century was rebuilt in its entirety in 1873.

The south and north aisles - to the sides of the nave - were added in the 14th and 15th centuries respectively in order to accommodate the growing population of Oxford.

The modern church was developed during the nineteenth century, with a remodeling of the interior in 1832. Most notably, during the 46 year ministry of Canon Alfred Christopher, a highly regarded leader from 1859-1905, the north and south chancel aisles and the vestry were added.

Further remodeling was completed in 2002. The pews were removed to create more seating room for a growing congregation, under-floor heating, carpet, Jerusalem stone tiles, wood flooring, and a state of the art AV system with projector screens and television monitors were installed to create a modern venue for a living church.

Most noticeably, the North Wall was knocked open to create a spacious, welcoming glass vestibule that opened the church up to the main thoroughfare of StAldate’s street, opposite Christ Church. In addition, the graveyard at the front has been landscaped to open up a garden at the front of the church for tourists and passers-by.

Parish

St Aldates Church, Oxford, in the Deanery and Diocese of Oxford

The Church

As a member church of the Church of England, St Aldates is located in the Deanery and Diocese of Oxford and therefore comes under the administrative care of the Bishop of Oxford. The Church is governed locally by the Church Leadership (clergy and lay ministers) and the Parochial Church Council, in line with the Church Representation Rules as laid out in the Synodical Government Measure 0f 1969.

Services

Services are held at 10.30am, 6pm and 8.15pm on Sundays, with Holy Communion celebrated regularly at each service. The worship at each service is informal, with songs, hymns and liturgy and sermon notes displayed on video screens. Worship is led each week by a band consisting of different groups of musicians overseen by the Worship Pastor. The morning service attracts around 500-550 worshippers, including over 100 children. There is a thriving Children’s Church which meets in the Parish Centre, although the children are part of the main service for the first part. Around 500 attend the evening service. The Late Service (8.15pm) has been running since Sept 2007 and is even more informal in terms of set up with no chairs and creative lighting. 300-400 regularly attend this rapidly growing service. On Wednesday at 11.00am there is a further service of Holy Communion held in the Parish Centre. Up to 30, mainly elderly folk attend this more traditional style service which uses the Book of Common Prayer. There is an early-morning prayer meeting at 7.00am-8.00am each day of the week held in the church.