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This year the Church of England's theme for Advent and Christmas is joy! The national resources on offer this year are designed to help all ages to be drawn into the joy of the first Christmas. All the resources are available via the button below for your church to use.
Do look out for a Christmas message from the Bishop of Norwich, the Rt Revd Graham Usher on Advent Sunday. It will be shared across all communication channels. Please do share or use as an encouraging message for Christmas within your own church.
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Norwich Cathedral Christmas
From festive concerts to special services and carols in the cloister, there is lots to look forward to at Norwich Cathedral throughout Advent and Christmas.
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Advent Anitphons
Join Bishop Jane for a time to reflect in the busy run up to Christmas. A daily zoom meeting with the Bishop of Lynn, the Rt Revd Dr Jane Steen. From Wed 17 to Tues 23 December 5-5.30pm.
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Resources for schools
A free collective worship resource. As we journey towards Christmas this Advent season, we invite your school to join us in 'The Joy of Christmas' a brand new collective worship resources for Advent 2025 aimed at KS2 and KS3 learners.
Advent 2025 overview — National Society for Education
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Reflections for teenagers
Advent is a special time of waiting for the joy of Christmas, when we celebrate the birth of Jesus. To get ready, we’ll explore the special names for Jesus you might know from the Christmas hymn, ‘O Come, O Come Emmanuel’. For the next 24 days, we’ll look at these names. For each day, you will find a reading, a reflection, and a question to chat to God about to get our hearts and minds ready to welcome Jesus.
teen-daily-devotional-booklet-v3_0.pdf
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Parish Support Team
email: hello@dioceseofnorwich.org
call: 01603 880853
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Statistics for Mission: Returns are now open for the Statistics for Mission 2025.
Did you know, the Statistics for Mission can help you with: Mission planning, Grant applications, Telling the story of your church community, parish profiles and overall strategy.
Deadline: 31 January 2026.
| | Celebrate News across Norfolk and Waveney | | |
New Eco Chaplains commissioned
At a special Choral Evensong in Celebration of Chaplaincy, four new Eco Chaplains were commissioned by the Bishop of Lynn, the Rt Revd Dr Jane Steen on Sunday 16 November. Lynn Fry, Helen Blake, Meg Forster and Iain Grant have been trained to help parishes embed creation care in their mission and ministry, through worship, witness, teaching, pastoral care, discipleship, witness, buildings and land across the diocese.
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Winning church announced for £1,000 Energy Footprint Tool prize
To encourage churches to complete an Energy Footprint Tool, the Diocese of Norwich offered a £1,000 prize, which was generously provided by the Anne French Trust. Our Net Zero Carbon Advisor, Ed Cotterill enlisted the help of our Diocesan Secretary, Tim Sweeting, to select the winning church from a ticket raffle. Well done to All Saints Church in Horsey!
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Prayerful pooches and sacred snails: Horning pet service welcomes diverse congregation
The pews at St Benedict's church in Horning have again been busy for its annual pet service. This year around 50 people gathered. While many dogs made the trip to the church, a pet rat and even some African land snails were among the less conventional species to make an appearance.
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Celebrating with the children of Horsford
The Bishop of Norwich joined the children of Horsford Church of England Primary School as they celebrated 50 years in Mill Lane, Horsford. Year 6 prefects welcomed Bishop Graham and took him on a our of the school. The Bishop also talked to staff and governors and heard stories about the school over the past 50 years.
| | Equip: How can we help you? | |
A message from the Church of England Digital Team
Can you take five minutes to help us to build a national picture of internet connectivity in churches?
The Church of England's digital team is gathering data on how ay churches don't yet have an internet connection. When delivering Digital Labs training, as well as through feedback surveys, we often hear that not having an internet connection in church is a barrier to many of you doing more with digital. We've heard that some churches feel they could grow their ministry and engage more effectively with their communities if they were connected and we'd like to find out more about this.
This short survey asks some questions about whether your church has an internet connection, what impact this has and whether you would be interested in taking part in a project aimed at getting more churches connected.
Your feedback is essential to help us understand how internet connectivity affects churches.
Deadline: 30 November 2025
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The Church of England is now on WhatsApp!
The Christmas reflections will be shared each day to help you connect with this year's call to share The Joy of Christmas.
Follow us for prayers, reflections, uplifting stories, Bible verses and news from across the Church of England.
The Church of England | WhatsApp Channel
| | | Safeguarding Dashboard: an online tool to help you track that your PCC is up to date with training. Dashboards | | |
Parish Persons Dashboard: has anyone left or joined your PCC recently? Do we hold the correct information? The clergy or PCC secretary can check here: Login - Diocese of Norwich
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Christmas Tree Festivals
King's Lynn Minster are hosting their first ever Christmas Tree Festival from 5-7 December. And there are plenty of others to visit too. Here is a sample:
- Aylsham 29 Nov - 3 Dec
- Reepham 4-8 Dec
- Shipdham 6-8 Dec
- Fakenham, everyday
- Stalham St Mary's 1-8 Dec
- St Peter Mancroft 4-15 Dec
- Wymondham Abbey 3 Dec onwards
- Cromer 1-16 Dec
- Martham St Mary's 13-16 Dec
- Swaffham St Peter and St Paul, 24-29 Nov
- Sheringham 1-16 Dec
- Hingham 3-8 Dec
- Holt St Martin's 7-8 Dec
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Diocese Synod 29 November 2025
Easton College
Our Diocese Synod takes place this Saturday 29 November at Easton College. Please do pray for all attending.
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Gospel Music at the 'Three Ships Festival'
Great Yarmouth Minster
Saturday 13 December, 4pm
Revd Jassica Castillo-Burley brings her band to herald the beginning of the Minster's Three Ships Festival. Revd Jassica joined the Great Yarmouth clergy team in June and has travelled and performed across the country. The programme will feature gospel favourites including 'O Happy Day' and choruses with audience participation.
Minimum donation £5, for more information, see the Great Yarmouth Minster website: Revd Jassica in Concert | Parish of Great Yarmouth
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We follow the Diocese of Norwich Prayer Diary and today we pray for:
Blofield
Burlingham St Andrew w Saint Peter, Hemblington.
Clergy: Andrew Tapsell, Cheryl Ramballi
"For unity and working together well as we seek God's guidance for this new beginning of ministry and mission in our parishes and communities."
Diocese of Rochester (USA)
You can follow our prayer diary online or download and print a version here: Prayer Diary - Diocese of Norwich
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Safeguarding is everyone's responsibility
The Diocese Safeguarding Team:
Sue Brice, Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser
Peter Sayer, Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser
Helen Norris, Safeguarding Training
Email: safeguarding@dioceseofnorwich.org
Call: 01603 882345
Write: Safeguarding Team, Bishop’s House, Norwich, NR3 1SB.
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Let us know your news - we'd like to help you tell others:
contact news@dioceseofnorwich.org
For all general enquiries contact hello@dioceseofnorwich.org or 01603 880853
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