About

St Mary’s church is the Parish church for the town of Wivenhoe and the University of Essex.

The church welcomes all who are looking for spiritual nurture and offers services, reflections and Bible study to help people in exploring or deepening their Christian faith.

St Mary’s is in partnership with the churches in Greenstead with St Anne’s and St John’s in Colchester, in the Deanery of Colchester, the Diocese of Chelmsford, as part of the Church of England. St Mary’s is an active member of Churches Together in Wivenhoe.

We offer a variety of styles of worship but our main characteristic is that every Sunday the Eucharist is celebrated (at 10.30am or 8.00am depending on the Sunday in the month).

If we need to use a label that describes us in the most accurate way, we are happy to be called modern catholic or liberal catholic, with a relaxed but dignified liturgy, Bible based preaching, and an ethos that tries to give a Christian answer to contemporary social, relational and ethical issues.

We do our best to implement the model of a broad church and work to become a fully inclusive church.
Families with children and youth are well catered for along with our pastoral attention for the elderly and needy.