Welcome! You are visiting the website of the Penwith Pilgrim Churches in St Just, Pendeen and Morvah in Cornwall. It’s lovely to see you – whether you are a regular at one of our churches, someone new wanting to know more about us, or a friend from afar keeping up with our news. Whatever you are looking for, we hope that you will find what you need. Today it may be some information, but tomorrow it may be strength for the day, inspiration for life or practical help.
Regular worship
As a fellowship of Christian believers we know what it is to gratefully receive the love of God and to share it with others. Here in St Just, Pendeen and Morvah we seek to journey together in the light of Christ.
Sunday communion services in our churches are usually at:
- 9.30am at St Just
- 11.15am at Pendeen
- Morvah church has one service a month, usually at 6pm.
Pew News
Life events
There are many milestones in life that we love to mark with a special celebration. Many of these include our faith milestones from Baptism to Confirmation. Celebrating the birth of a child with a baptism, getting married, and marking the end of a life with a funeral are important moments for families. We welcome you to celebrate these important milestones in life in any of our churches.
Weddings
It gives us great pleasure to support couples in making the big commitment of getting married. We are pleased you are considering any of our churches to make your marriage vows in front of your family and friends and most importantly in the presence of God.
There is a whole team of people ready and waiting to welcome, help and work with you to prepare your wedding service in church. Organist and choir, bell ringers, flower arrangers, clergy and cleaners. By making sure everything goes off without a hitch, we are all dedicated to making your wedding day as good as it possibly can be.
If you are interested in getting married in church, or just want to know more, please get in touch with our vicar Karsten. He will meet with you to set a date, and then as the day approaches, he will help you to plan the service, hymns and readings: call 01736 78882 or email revkarsten@gmail.com
Baptisms
Baptism marks the beginning of a journey with God which continues for the rest of our lives. As you enter any of our churches you will find a font near the door. Since the times of Jesus the water of baptism represents the way people have become members of the Christian Church. The Penwith Pilgrim Churches are always very happy to hear from parents who would like their child christened/baptised (those two words tend to be used interchangeably). We are also very happy to hear from young people or adults who would like to ask for baptism for themselves.
Here are a few of the questions we are often asked:
- Q: What happens in the service?
- A: Baptisms take place in the church’s main service, because it’s important that the church congregation is there to provide support and a warm welcome. Water will be blessed and poured on the child’s head. The child will be signed with the cross and a special oil may be used for this. Godparents and parents will make promises on behalf of the baby, prayers will be offered for the child and the family, and a candle will be given to the family as a gift from the church family.
- Q: How much does the service cost?
- A: The service is free. It is the welcoming of your child into the family of God through our church family and we couldn’t possibly charge for that!
- Q: How many Godparents can we have?
- A: This is entirely up to you, although we do like you to have more than one. We insist that Godparents must be old enough to make promises on behalf of the child. Although Godparents need not be confirmed members of the Church of England, they should have been baptised.
- Q: As the parents of the child do we need to be baptised?
- A: No.
- Q: How do we book the Baptism service?
- A: Please come to one of our regular Sunday services or contact our vicar Karsten, call 01736 78882 or email revkarsten@gmail.com
Funerals
From the moment you are in touch with us, throughout the funeral service, and for as long as you need us afterwards, we’re here for you. When someone dies, we understand how difficult this can be. There’s so much to think about, but we want to help you say your final goodbye in a most meaningful way. We will celebrate and give thanks to God for the unique life of the person you knew and loved.
- We can support you, your family and friends before, during and after the funeral with friendship and prayer, understanding your sadness and loss.
- In this difficult time our vicar will do his best to share a message of hope and comfort.
- We can also be there to pray as ashes are buried or scattered.
- The Church of England has a very helpful website where a lot of what you might need to know is covered: https://churchofenglandfunerals.org
Our churches
St Just
St Just Parish Church has the privilege of standing at the centre of our community as a witness to 1400 years of Christian worship, prayer, teaching and service. We aim to be a welcoming and inclusive church and open our doors daily to enable people of all faiths and none, of all ages, backgrounds and traditions, to come and be still in this holy space.
Our ancient, grade II listed church is a fine mediaeval building located on a site where there has been Christian worship for at least 1500 years with as many as four ‘churches’ dating from the later fifth or early sixth century. It houses the Selus Stone which dates from this time. The earliest written record thought to exist of the church dates to 1291. The church was rebuilt from 1334–36 and rededicated on 13 July 1336. Only part of the chancel remains from this time as the rest of current church dates from the fifteenth century.
Pendeen
We are a thriving church community that sits at the heart of our wider village community along the tin coast in Cornwall. St John the Baptist is an historic and beautiful building in which we are fortunate to worship (and you usually find a few canine worshippers amongst us as well). However the real church is not the building (no matter how beautiful) but it is the people who worship here and we are a lively and diverse community who worship the living God.
Our Children’s Church, held in the side aisle during the main worship service, offers engaging story-time and craft activities.
Pendeen Church is a fine example of early Victorian architecture. One day in 1849 a few miners were standing in the Square, when the new vicar Robert Aitken came up and asked them to build a church. The men were too astonished to do anything but obey, and the arrival of a cartload of timber convinced them that the whole thing was not a joke. This first wooden church was only temporary and took three weeks to build. The wood from it was later used again for the floor of the permanent church, which was opened in 1852.
Morvah
We are a small rural community of faith with a big heart. Just off the coastal path many walkers stop at Morvah for refreshments at ‘The Schoolhouse Gallery’ and to enjoy our church as a place of peace for reflection and prayer. Many inspiring and gifted people live in our area and we often invite local musicians to perform at our informal Evening Prayer services on a Sunday night. Visitors and newcomers are always welcome!
St Morvetha church has been a place of Christian worship since Celtic times. A Holy Well and the ruins of a chapel some 500 yards north of the present church are witness to our ancient history, but apart from her name we don’t know anything about our Celtic saint.
Morvah church was built in 1390 and dedicated to St Briged of Sweden, whose cult was very popular in Britain at that time. The tower of the original church is still standing with only minor restorations, though the church itself was completely re-built in 1828.
Contacts
Priest-in-charge:
Rev Karsten Wedgewood
- Address: ‘Ermelo’, Pendeen, TR19 7SQ
- Call 01736 788829
- Email revkarsten@gmail.com
St Just
Churchwardens:
Andrew Burt, 07768-893076, amburt@me.com
Organist: Howard Chrichton-Stuart, 07751 707813, viscount.wyvern@live.co.uk
Pendeen with Morvah
Churchwarden: Howard Blundy, 01736 788107, howard.pendeenchurch@gmail.com
Churchwarden: Cassandra Simpson, 07703 760356, cass.pendeenchurch@gmail.com
Deputy Churchwarden for Morvah: Helen Hichens, 01736 788309, gregandhelen@outlook.com
Deputy Churchwarden for Morvah: Mary Kingdon, 01736 788588, mary.pendeenchurch@gmail.com
Verger: Cassandra Simpson, 07703 760356, pendeenverger@btinternet.com
Children’s Church leader: Cheryl Berriman, 01736 787322, cherylberriman@gmail.com
Organists: Mary Kingdon, 01736 788588, mary.pendeenchurch@gmail.com and Roger King, 07803 159191, rkay@musician.org
Pastoral Team: Sheila Andrews, 01736 786287; Glynda Winterson, 01736 785932; Marna & Howard Blundy, 01736 788107; Colin Riches, 01736 449053
Reader: Chris Kingshott, 01736 810630, chriskingshott57@btinternet.com
Local Worship Leader and Lay Reader: Marna Blundy, 01736 788107, marna.pendeenchurch@gmail.com
Members of clergy with PTO residing in our parishes: Rev Brin Berriman, 01736 787322, brin@dreckly.net
Safeguarding
Credits:
Created with images by Alisdair Macdonald • Tim - "Aerial photograph of Geevor Tin Mine, Pendeen, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom" • JEROSenneGs - "Lamb or sheep with a hilltop cross in the background. Jesus Christ of Nazare. The Lamb of God" • veneratio - "Pebble beach and headland at Cape Cornwall"