Today is Advent Sunday - the start of the new church year, the start of the lead up to Christmas, the time to focus on the first and second arrivals of Christ.  Today, our focus is particularly on the second coming.  Jesus, said we cannot know the timing, but we can live so we are always ready.

The Sunday before Advent is traditionally known as Stir-up Sunday from the words of the prayer set for the day, "Stir up your people ..."  It is taken as a reminder to prepare the Christmas pudding.  Wendy took a creative look at this tradtion considering the pudding ingredients and what they might symbolise in our common life together, ably helped by two of the young people mixing the ingredients before us.

Come back during Lent, for a taste of the resulting pudding!

Today, we continue with a report on the Kondoa trip from Helen and Julia.  The team dealt with spiritual and physical challenges, but through it all God's faithfulness was sure.

This week Ian and Andrew shared first part of our Kenya and Tanzania Mission update. On 5th October, a mission team from St Stephens travelled to Kenya and Tanzania for teaching and outreach with the Anglican dioceses of Mombasa and Kondoa. The trip, part of an ongoing partnership with the young and growing Kondoa Diocese, involved long travel, cross-cultural encounters, and powerful ministry experiences. The team led seminars on being filled with the Holy Spirit, forgiveness, healing, and overcoming ties to witchcraft, seeing lives transformed through prayer and renewal. The mission highlighted the vitality of the African church, the deep hunger for the gospel, and the shared joy of partnership in God’s work across nations. Stay tuned for Part 2 next week, when Julia and Helen will share their experiences from this remarkable journey.

Today, we welcomed back our mission team from Kondoa and heard brief impressions of the trip.  Tony preached on the Word of God being near to us and ever speaking.