The community of St Matthew Croydon provides a great deal of help and support to the community, through giving talents, skills, time and money.
People in the church support others through life’s crises, through loss and through gain and St Matthew’s has a network of people who undertake pastoral visits to those who are in nursing and care homes in the parish, and to those who are housebound. The church is always there for everyone.
Yet the church is only there because people give of their time and their money. The church gets no grant from the state or the local authority. It relies on contributions from people in the community.
Serving covers the free donation of our talent, skills, time and our money to the church and to the community.
Because we have received so much from God, it is natural to want to give some back. There are a variety of ways we can do this:
Find out more about:
If you feel you would like to serve in some capacity, please fill in the form opposite or contact Penny in the office.
A very big ‘thank you’ for your continuing support.
Flowers for the church
Flowers add beauty to the church and enhance our worship, but they are expensive. If you would like to contribute towards the cost of our flowers, please put your donation in the jar on the table just inside the church doors.
Our flowers are arranged by a talented team of members of the congregation. New members of the team are always welcome, so if you would like to use your gifts in this area please contact Penny in the office or speak to Lesley Mead, who heads the team of arrangers.
Providing help for refugees
We support refugees by donating food and clothes to the Croydon Refugee Day Centre throughout the year. Please consider making an extra purchase of non-perishable food or toiletries when doing your shopping, and put it into the ‘Lord’s Larder’, which is a basket situated in the back of the church. We are also asking for new underwear, trainers and any plastic toys in great condition and these can be placed into the clothes recycling bin in the main entrance foyer of St Matthew’s.
Helping the homeless
During the cold winter season, we provide a shelter to the homeless in Croydon for one night each week, sharing with six other churches so that homeless people have somewhere to sleep for the entire week. You may have heard of the ‘Croydon Churches Floating Shelter‘. We are a part of that venture. During this time we are not able to provide shelter, although all Street Homeless in Croydon are offered a hotel room during the winter months. At present we are helping provide sandwiches for Nightwatch and hot meals through the homeless Hub.
If ever you are asked for support by a homeless person, or you come across a person who is homeless do use the following link https://www.streetlink.org.uk StreetLink is a website, phone app and telephone line that acts as a referral system and a way of connecting people who are rough sleeping to local services for support.
Ask the person if they would like to be put in touch with local support services. If they respond ‘yes’ then gather information needed by Streetlink and enter the detail you have collected on the streetlink.org.uk website. You will need to create a user account so that Streetlink can communicate with you.
Giving money
Giving by members of our church enables us to offer the love of Christ to the community. We are most grateful for all you are able to give to us: in terms of your time, talents and money. Making your gift into a regular donation helps enable the church to plan better for the future so please do consider this. Please contact the Parish Office for more details.
Christian Mission within the Diocese of Egypt with North Africa and the Horn of Africa
St Matthew’s has for many years supported Christian Mission within the Diocese of Egypt with North Africa and the Horn of Africa. The Diocese lies within the worldwide Anglican Communion Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East, shown here with its various dioceses in different colours. The Province is the most extensive and diverse in the entire Anglican Communion.
The Diocese of Jerusalem is shown in light blue; in red is the Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf; and in green is the Diocese of Iran. The Diocese of Egypt with North Africa and the Horn of Africa, shown in brown, extends over eight countries. From west to east they are Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia and Djibouti.
To keep in touch with the events and activities in the Diocese of Egypt, please browse the Diocesan website
The Diocesan Bishop is the Most Rev. Dr. Mouneer Hanna Anis. Bp Mouneer keeps us well informed through newsletters.
Many of the clergy in the Diocese are trained by the Alexandria School of Theology, located near the Mediterranean coast in the north of Egypt. The picture below shows participants at a residential conference in February 2013.
Our financial support for the Diocese is supporting a project to train nursery teachers across the diocesan part of EpiscoCare.
We look forward to welcoming visitors from the Diocese to St Matthew’s.
We ask for God’s blessing on all who visit the Diocese and who live and work there.
Croydon Foodbank
We collect food for the Croydon Foodbank – if you would like to donate, please put items into the bin located to the left of the main entrance to St Matthew’s. Peony Court have kindly been collecting all of the donations and taking them along to the foodbank.