About Us
Saint Christopher's Cathedral Church stands as a beacon of faith in Chatham. We are a place of prayer, peace and joy to all who join us. Our community is richly diverse, with people of different ages and backgrounds coming together to worship and serve together. We welcome all individuals seeking God’s love and our doors are open to every soul seeking to welcome Jesus into their heart.
OUR CALLING
At Saint Christopher's Cathedral Church , we pursue the Glory of God through worship, ministry, giving and education. We strive to connect with Jesus Christ and to each other, in order to magnify His name. At the heart of everything we do is the understanding that we must love God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind, and to treat our neighbours as we wish to be treated ourselves.
OUR VALUES
Our congregation is fuelled by a firm belief in the teachings of our Lord, and when we are together under the holy spirit of God — we become one. We welcome you to join our community and discover His power in your life. Don’t hesitate to contact us to find out more. We are always open to visitors and new worshippers who want to come and pray among us.
GOD'S LOVE IS INCLUSIVE AND WE WELCOME EVERYONE TO OUR SERVICES AND TO OUR CATHEDRAL
All authentic ministry grows out of a response to a call from God. That call is essential, but also sometimes elusive to hear or understand. Examining your call to this ministry will help you understand both your gifts and your limits—two very important insights to help you best plan for feasible next steps. Understanding how your call in more detail will serve as a touchstone for you, some interior place you can return to, when challenges emerge.
While there will be similarities between various individuals’ calls, each one is unique. God always tailors a call to the uniqueness of the person and the particular context the person is in. God does not call for you to do the impossible or the ideal. An idealised ministry in some imagined perfect parish. It is designed for you to think about practical, feasible, realistic steps you can take to initiate or further advance the way that your parish approaches LGBTQ ministry. You can only do what your gifts, limits, and your parish context allow you to do. Everyone’s abilities, limits, and context will mean that they will take different steps along the road to developing LGBTQ ministry for their communities.
In Always Our Children, the 1997 letter to parents of lesbian and gay children, the Roman Hierarchy advised mothers and fathers to pay attention to the emotions they experienced when learning about a child’s sexual orientation. The bishops said that feelings “can contain clues that lead to a fuller discovery of God’s will for you. . . . The Christian life is a journey marked by perseverance and prayer. It is a path leading from where we are to where we know God is calling us.” So, when examining your call, notice what emotions come up for you when you think about different responses.
God often calls us to stretch ourselves a little out of our comfort zones. There’s always an element of risk in answering God’s call. To achieve something new, we may have to sacrifice something old. To respond positively to God’s call also involves becoming aware of our fears, worries, and anxieties. We shouldn’t disparage ourselves for these emotions; they are part of who we are. But we need to acknowledge these factors so that we can learn ways to work past them. While there is always risk involved in God’s call, there is also always liberation and growth if we respond to it.