Eco Church

A Rocha UK has a free online Eco Church survey and supporting resources, to equip churches to express care for God’s world in our worship and teaching, management of church buildings and land, engagement with our local community and global campaigns, and in the personal lifestyles of our congregation.

St Mark’s Church, Holbrook won a Silver Eco Church Award in 2018, in recognition of our efforts to demonstrate love for our neighbour and care for God’s creation through every aspect of our church life.

We are working towards a Gold Eco Church Award. Anyone can use the free Eco Church resources to quickly see why and how to undertake recommended actions, explore longer reads and case studies.

St Mark’s PCC has unanimously agreed to aim to take St Mark’s to net zero carbon emissions by 2030 and to recognise the current climate and ecological emergency.

The Climate Emergency Toolkit is our step-by-step guide, see our blog and Plan of Action.

St Mark’s Environmental Guidance – we take environmental concerns into account in all aspects of our church life, including our worship, teaching, mission, pastoral, youth and children’s work, training, administration, and charitable giving. St Mark’s aims to take the practical steps necessary to realise the Church of England’s fifth mark of mission, which is “to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and to sustain and renew the life of the earth”.

St Mark’s Land Management Plan Summary is based on the Eco Church land survey questions and resources.

Fairtrade - St Mark’s has recommitted as a Fairtrade Place of Worship to use Fairtrade tea, coffee and sugar for all our services and meetings, and to help promote Fairtrade.

Horsham Eco Churches - work together on projects which benefit our community, share ideas and support each other. The webpage information includes links to recordings from St Mark’s Treasure, Safeguard and Care for Creation Conference in 2022.

Holbrook Community Orchard – join our team of church and community volunteers.

Help us journey to a Gold Award

Recycle at St Mark’s - join the Holbrook Wombles and help us sort the recycling!
Creation Care - free online questionnaire for households and ideas for next steps towards a bronze, silver or gold Creation Care certificate.
Wild Christian - explore practical ways to enjoy, nurture and defend God’s creation, in your homes and communities and through campaigning.
Lifestyle Audit - help us to review our personal approach to care of God’s creation, by completing this short survey.
Together We Can - climate change can seem overwhelming but together we can do simple things to help the planet and reduce our bills.
Help a Team - Eco Team, Gardening Team or Holbrook Wombles. More information from Karen Park.

Further Information

St Mark’s Eco Church News - read our latest news.

Contact St Mark’s Eco Church Champion Karen Park

Prayer for the climate

At a Café Praise service held at St Mark's, we considered urgent prayer as a topic. Those present collaboratively created a prayer for our current climate emergency which can be found here.

Five Marks of Mission sermon series

TREASURE - strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the Earth.

A recording of the sermon and Eco Church presentation at St Mark's on 17 July 2022.

A recording of the Eco Church presentation at St Mark's on 01 October 2023.

New to St Marks?
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New to St Marks? Click Here

Planning your Visit

New to church?

First of all, a very warm welcome to St Mark's! We're really glad you're thinking of coming and hope you'll find a real home and community with us.

The heart of what we do is our faith in God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We come together on Sundays to praise our Lord through singing and prayer and to learn more about Him through exploring the Bible. As a body of believers, we seek to live out our faith by helping and serving other people however we can.

Sunday services

At 8:30am we have a Holy Communion service with formal structure, liturgy and organ music from the Church of England tradition.
At 10:30am we have an informal service with a contemporary music group, a flexible structure, in-depth Bible teaching and Holy Communion once a month.
At 7:00pm on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of each month (except August and December) there is an informal Café Praise service.

Where?

The church is located at the corner of North Heath Lane and St Mark's Lane. The address is St Mark's Lane, Horsham, West Sussex RH12 5PU. There is a car park immediately adjacent to the church in St Mark's Lane which you are welcome to use.

We meet in the church building for our Sunday services. For your first visit, we recommend arriving a little early to ensure you get a parking space and find somewhere to sit before the service begins. When you arrive, you will be greeted by someone on our Welcome Team who will be able to help you. Do make yourself known to us!

Plan your journey

For SatNav directions, the church postcode is RH12 5PU. Open Google Maps to plan your journey.
The number 200 bus run by Metrobus stops at Amundsen Road, near to the church.
The nearest train station is Littlehaven, which is 15 minutes walk away.

Accessibility

St Mark's church and hall are fully wheelchair-accessible with level access from our car park which includes several disabled parking bays. We have toilet facilities for wheelchair users in the church and hall. An induction loop (T loop) is fitted in the church for hearing aid users.

Youth and Children

Children’s groups take place on most Sunday mornings during our 10:30am service and are available for children from pre-school to Year 11.

Children stay with their parent or adult at the start of the service for the welcome and songs. We really value worshipping God all together as a family. The leader will announce when it’s time for the younger members to go to their various groups. You will need to go with your children to their groups and register them as part of our child safety policy. Go to the back of the church and there will be someone there to show you the way.

Mini-Marks is also held monthly on a Wednesday from 12:45pm-3:00pm. It's a relaxed friendly event, for all under 5s with their parents, grandparents and carers, including a buffet lunch.

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Prayer

Prayer requests can be put in the prayer request box on the welcome table, or if urgent please email the church office.
Prayer ministry is offered both during and after our 10:30am Sunday morning service.
Momentum is our fortnightly meeting of prayer and reflection on Mondays from 8:00-9:00pm, when we pray for our church and community.

Pastoral Support

If you are unwell, lonely, bereaved or just finding life a bit too much to handle, we have a team of people always ready to listen and support you.

What else is on?

Home Groups: a number of different groups meet throughout the week.
Holbrook Heart is our café open from 10:00am-12:00pm every Tuesday and also once a month on the 4th Saturday
Alpha is a course for people wishing to explore the Christian faith.
Various social events take place throughout the year.

Local community

Serving our community is one of our top priorities and we do this in a variety of ways. We host an annual fun day on the church lawns and hold various special services throughout the year, to which everyone is welcome. In addition, we support the local foodbank and night shelter as well as being committed to caring for the environment through our Eco Church team.

If you would like to come and visit the church beforehand you are more than welcome! Get in touch and we can arrange a time that suits you.

Name:

Telephone:

Email Address:
Comments / Questions or anything you would like to say?

Next, we will contact you by email to say hello and help arrange anything necessary for your visit.

Leadership


Vicar		Associate Vicar
Tim Stilwell		Simon Shorey

You will be assured of a warm welcome at our active and growing church which serves the communities of Holbrook and Mowbray. We hope that, whoever you are, you will feel at home here.

Best wishes
Tim & Simon