St Mary’s is one of six churches within the benefice of Overton which was formed in 2023, along with Laverstoke, North Waltham, Steventon, Deane and Ashe. The benefice has named 2026 as a ‘Year of Connection’ to further grow their connections with God, with each other and with the community.
On most Sunday mornings there are now new faces at St Mary’s in Overton and Rector Revd James Russell says he is noticing a gentle growth of people coming to the church: “I think all six churches are starting to feel the benefit of being part of something bigger. St Mary’s, Overton, is the biggest church and village by a long way but I think the other churches are now starting to feel more part of that. We’ve had some very good Fifth Sunday joint services and people are now coming from the other churches for our children’s work as well. There is lots of energy, lots of people doing good things and we’re seeing new people coming in most weeks.”
The church has a growing group of children and families. A Breakfast Church service, held once a month, started at the end of the Covid pandemic, at which the congregation share food and fellowship before worshipping together. It’s been particularly popular with new families especially those with primary aged children.
Laura and Neil Armstrong started coming to the church 5 years ago and regularly attend with their 7 year old daughter. Laura said, “I think the community is what made us stay. It just felt right when we came to the church and I think that sense of community has grown. Our daughter enjoys coming along as well. She’s the one who asks to come to church most weeks, so it’s brilliant.”
Mike Smith is one of the churchwardens and moved to the village in 2020. He said, “We had our wedding here and both children were christened here. We just love it as part of the community. We’re able to be involved as much as we can be as parents, because of the great set-up here for the children. Last Breakfast Church, I hardly saw them. They were off meeting their various friends and other members of the church community. It’s amazing that they see lots of people of different ages and stages and backgrounds and can chat to them.”
Beyond Sunday services, St Mary’s hosts special events for children and families. The annual Light party, at the end of October, welcomed over 90 children from across the benefice. During Christmas, families and school pupils enjoyed a festive trail around the church, using posters with QR codes to explore the different stages of the nativity story.
The benefice is now looking to appoint a children and families minister. Voluntary children’s workers Ginnie and Chris Cates say they have seen more young families join the church since they came to the village 7 years ago. On average a dozen children attend each Sunday for activities including stories, drama, arts and crafts, although on the last Sunday in January, 31 children attended.
They said, “The children are always full of energy, fun and interest. I think when you get a nucleus of younger families, if another family comes in, they see that there are other kids here, and so it builds. New families are coming who haven’t been church families, which is great. I would think there’s about double the number of children compared to two years ago.”
Links have been developed with the primary school who visit the church for special services, and the assemblies team visit the school fortnightly to present ‘Open the Book’ stories. The church also helps run an after-school games club in a village café called ‘Unplug and Play’ and another club for teenagers is about to start.
“Anything you can do in the village, I think you should try and do in the village,” Ginnie Cates continues. She also runs a home group in a local café. “When we first went to the cafe, they asked us, ‘are you reading a script of a play when you’re here?’ We told them it was the bible, so they know we’re Christians. That local cafe then said to me, ‘can you bring some carol singers along and make us a festive evening?’ which we did.”
The church is seen as a key part of the community and involved in many local events. It runs a service at the Sheep Fair, a summer festival, which takes place in the village every 4 years and provides activities at the Scarecrow Festival. It runs special events alongside the local community church including on Palm Sunday and ‘Joyzone’ family activities. This builds on groups held for older members of the congregation including a monthly board games get together.
Revd James continues, “We’re thinking this year about growth and looking at the four Ps: prayer, presence, proclamation, pathways. We’re going to focus for a couple of months on each of those in 2026, our ‘Year of Connection’. For example, with prayer, how are we praying about things across the whole benefice? Do we feel excited about prayer, how are we facilitating prayer and encouraging each other to pray? And then presence, we’ll think about in what particular ways are we a good and helpful presence in our communities?”
The benefice has been part of the Diocese of Winchester’s Growing Rural Parishes Programme, which has provided training and funding to help the parishes better communicate with each other and with the local community. Funding has helped towards the creation of a new website and logo for the whole church family.
Revd James added, “I hope this year we can see a greater sense of connection and a greater sense of sharing resources and people meeting each other. I want us to see our community as this whole geographical area. Each village has its own specific community, but if we can think of community as the wider reach of the whole Overton Benefice, that would be good. It’s not that every church should be doing the same thing, but together, we can cover lots of different bases and that feels exciting.”
