Bradwell St Barnabas – About Us
Welcome!
At St Barnabas we feel privileged that the church and its churchyard have been part of community life in Bradwell for many generations. We treasure our connections with the community, through traditional services such as Christmas and Remembrance, as well as through activities like Community Cafés, Ladies’ Fellowship Group and the popular St B’s Baby Group.
Whether you have just moved to the area, are a visitor to the village or have lived in Bradwell all your life, we hope you will feel welcome at St Barnabas. We meet most Sundays in church for worship, and share our Vicar, Louise, with St Peter’s, Hope and St Edmund’s in Castleton.
Our worship style is fairly traditional; most services include communion. However we have introduced a Worship Together service on the first Sunday of each month, that is short, relatively informal, and encourages interaction. This service is still evolving, and we’d love your feedback. We also have one service a month, on the fourth Sunday, that is a Benefice Celtic based service, which takes place outdoors from April to September and indoors in chilly months.
We seek to extend a warm welcome to all those who visit, whether joining us for worship or simply taking time to enjoy the peace and tranquility of St Barnabas during the week. We pray that all those who visit will find something of God in our church community, in the building itself or in its surrounding grounds. The church is open every day from 10am-4pm.
We feel strongly that St Barnabas belongs to everyone, as God welcomes all. If you have suggestions about how we could improve our service and witness to the community, or could better meet your needs, we would love to hear from you.
If you would like to receive our Benefice weekly newsletter via email, which contains details of services, news and notices, please email Jane (Churchwarden) on: churchwarden.stb@gmail.com or phone 01433 621172.
You can also use the links below to find out details of our service times and all our events.
Monthly letter from our Vicar.
May 2025 How will you vote?
On May 1st, many regions across the UK, including our local area, will be electing new councillors.
As I write this, I have already had leaflets though my letterbox trying to convince me why I should vote for particular candidates.
I am sure you will have heard the view that religion and politics should not be mixed, but this is a view that I disagree with. Underpinning all of Christianity is Jesus’ teaching about how to live well in community with one another. Even though the power of elected councillors is less than that of national government, they still have the ability to influence much that happens across local areas. The work of our elected representatives affects the lives of us all, and so I believe that all people of goodwill should seek to be aware of the work of our councillors and politicians, and should use their influence in legitimate ways where they can.
Christianity has always taught that ‘loving our neighbour as ourselves’ means acting in support of those who are treated unjustly, and speaking out on behalf of those unable to speak for themselves. How we use our vote is one of the ways in which we can do that. Of course, Christians will still end up supporting different political parties, as Christians will have different views about how the needs of all are best met, but I believe that Christian faith calls us not only to vote when we can but also to vote, not for the candidates that we believe will be ‘best for us personally,’ but for the candidates who will do most to create the kind of communities where all can flourish.
So my prayer is that we will not succumb to voter fatigue, but will treat our opportunity to vote as a responsibility and a privilege rather than a chore. I pray that each of us will use our vote in whatever way we believe will best build up our common life together, remembering our neighbours both local and far away and yet to be born, rather than focusing on ourselves alone. And I pray too that our councillors will use wisely the power they are given, seeking to work well with those they agree with and those they don’t, for the good of those who voted for them, and those who didn’t. Above all, I pray for justice and generosity in all our dealings with one another and the world around us.
Yours in Christ,
Louise Petheram
rev.louise.p@gmail.com 01433 621918
If you would like to sign up to receive the regular newsletters from churches and Christian groups across Hope Valley, please go to
https://mailchi.mp/f29b1286b3df/2t1gk3uwy2
or email me and I can sign you up.