St Stephen on the Cliffs

St Stephen on the Cliffs St Stephens is an inclusive church in the Anglo-Catholic tradition where you are welcome

St Stephen on the Cliffs is an Anglo-Catholic church, maintaining traditional Catholic liturgy, preaching and teaching as the Church of England has received it. St Stephen’s is home to a church family who come together throughout the week to worship God and serve Him in our local community. Our church family stretches beyond the boundaries of our parish in North Shore, Blackpool. A number of us tr

avel from other parts of Blackpool and the Fylde to be part of our worship, outreach and social life. We welcome everyone, irrespective of faith or belief, as one of God’s children and invite all who are full members of other Christian denominations to receive communion at Mass. Anyone who attends a service is invited to come to the altar at the time of communion to receive a blessing. Service Times
Sundays
9.00am Low Mass and Holmily
10.30am Solemn Mass and Sermon
6.00pm Evening Prayer and Benediction (from 30 May

Midweek

Wednesday - 6.30pm exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. &.30pm Mass
Thursday - 9.30am Mass
Friday - 12.00 Mass

The changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace is a ceremony of continuity and change at the same time, much like the Ar...
03/06/2026

The changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace is a ceremony of continuity and change at the same time, much like the Archdeacon’s Visitation last night in Thornton, when the local Deaneries had their annual swearing in of Churchwardens. Some stayed, some changed, some were new.

We have benefitted from Anne and Andrew as our Wardens over the last year, and Anne continues as Administrator and Andrew continues his work in the choir. Thank you to them both.

This year the parish elected Mike and Paul as our new Wardens and they were both duly sworn in last night. Congratulations to them. The first duty of a Churchwarden is to pray for the parish and to promote proper religion and peace, a role we commend to everyone.

A parish is governed by a plethora of roles. The day to day running is directed by the Vicar, assisted by the Administrator and supported by the two Wardens. A Standing Committee looks at strategy and works as an executive of the Parochial Church Council. The Standing Committee has the Vicar, Wardens, Administrator, Treasurer and other specialists constituting the membership. The PCC is a broader group representing the entire parish and is also where sub committees and officers make their reports.

There are also welcomers, sacristans, altar servers, choir members, social committees and so much more. If you would like to serve in any way, just ask. It’s your church

Just a reminder;Tuesday 2nd June - no mass at 6.30pm because it’s the admission of Churchwardens at Christ Church Thornt...
01/06/2026

Just a reminder;

Tuesday 2nd June - no mass at 6.30pm because it’s the admission of Churchwardens at Christ Church Thornton.

Sunday 7th is Corpus Christi, and during the 10.30am sung Mass there will be a procession of the Blessed Sacrament and Benediction.

Monday 8th we have a wedding at 12 noon. Please pray for Tracey and Josh as they prepare for their big day.

We were very pleased today to host the civic Mass for the new Mayor of Blackpool during the 10.30am. Thanks to our scout...
31/05/2026

We were very pleased today to host the civic Mass for the new Mayor of Blackpool during the 10.30am. Thanks to our scouts for coming and providing a guard of honour for the Mayoral party and to everyone who came. We committed ourselves to praying for the Mayor and Mayoress for the year and supporting them however we can. May God bless their term of office.

Tomorrow at the 10.30am mass we welcome the Mayor and Mayoress of Blackpool for their civic service. Come and join us in...
30/05/2026

Tomorrow at the 10.30am mass we welcome the Mayor and Mayoress of Blackpool for their civic service. Come and join us in praying for them and our town.

You may recall that we have offered to rehouse a large piece of work by Michael O’Connell, an acclaimed artist, through ...
28/05/2026

You may recall that we have offered to rehouse a large piece of work by Michael O’Connell, an acclaimed artist, through a (somewhat tenuous) link with Wythenshawe where it is has been hitherto. The church closed some years ago and the hanging, an important work by this under appreciated modernist artist, was deteriorating. Thanks to a grant, it has been sent to Belgium for restoration (the only place in Europe with a cleaning machine large enough) along with a pile of work from the V&A. We just received this picture of it being taken down from Wythenshawe some time ago, and look forward to receiving an update about its restoration soon.

The hanging will go in the baptistery, on the bare wall. It was the wish of the artist that it stayed in the North West, so we look forward to giving it a new home.

For the first ‘why do you do that’ post, I thought I’d pick the thing we are asked the most, and as it’s about the altar...
27/05/2026

For the first ‘why do you do that’ post, I thought I’d pick the thing we are asked the most, and as it’s about the altar, it’s also at the heart of all that we do.

‘Why do your altars face the wrong way?’

The short answer is ‘they don’t, most other peoples do’. That might sound a little arrogant, but let me explain.

A church is a building in which the people of God can gather to offer worship together, as we are commanded to. Our worship is based on the mass, as we are also commanded to - ‘do this in memory of me’ - so we do. Often, and joyfully. A mass/eucharist/ holy communion needs a table of course as it is a meal, and Christ offered the first mass, the Last Supper, at a table in the upper room and said ‘do this in memory of me’. Therefore the focal point of our church is naturally and rightly the altar. We have a number of them, to suit different sizes of congregation.

At the Mass, the priest takes the place of Christ, but is not Christ. Therefore he stands at the altar, facing the same way as all of us, offering the sacrifice to God, to the Rising Sun in the East, as we have always done. He’s not having a conversation with us and we are not having a conversation with him. We are all talking to God as equals, albeit as equals with different roles. This explains the vestments, which we will look at another time.

For the first one thousand and nine hundred years, all altars were like ours, facing east. In the 1950’s and 60’s, it was felt that we should in some way gather around a table, which forces us to look at each other and in some way perform. This is not what we are about - we are gathering in the building to face God and offer a corporate sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to him and him alone.

It is our belief that one day the church will look back at the last eighty years and think ‘why did we ever do that?’ (Turning the altars around) and quietly forget about it all, as is happening slowly now, and which has forever been the case in the Oriental and Eastern Orthodox churches. It’s a timeless, corporate way to stand as God’s people together, equal and in love. And that’s what it’s all about really.

Last night after evensong and benediction we had a cheese and wine night in the small hall. A lovely evening enjoying go...
25/05/2026

Last night after evensong and benediction we had a cheese and wine night in the small hall. A lovely evening enjoying good company and excellent cheeses. Thank you to all who came and especially those who helped out and arranged the evening.

We are open as usual today, on this the second day of the Octave of Pentecost. There are no public services today but we resume our usual schedule tomorrow. Have a blessed and happy bank holiday Monday.

Today is Pentecost, the final day of the Easter Season when the Holy Spirit descended onto the Apostles in the Upper Roo...
24/05/2026

Today is Pentecost, the final day of the Easter Season when the Holy Spirit descended onto the Apostles in the Upper Room and sent them out to preach and teach, thus starting the church of which we are still members. Today is the beginning of the Octave (eight days) of the Pentecost season, which ends next Sunday with the festival of the Holy Trinity. Evensong and Benediction this evening at 6pm followed by our Cheese and Wine night in the small hall.

It was great to welcome Fr Calum from Preston today to celebrate and preach at the High Mass, thank you for coming. Next week at the 10.30 on Sunday we are hosting the Mayoral Service, at which we receive our new Mayor of Blackpool, Danny Scott. May the Holy Spirit grant him gifts of joy, hope and peace.

Address

Holmfield Road
Blackpool
FY29RB

Telephone

+441253353894

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when St Stephen on the Cliffs posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Place Of Worship

Send a message to St Stephen on the Cliffs:

Shortcuts

Share

Category