The Community of St Hugh is a community called to pray in, with and for our diocese. It may be our initiative but we believe it was called into being by God. Membership is open to anyone, regardless of age or experience. It invites you to deepen your worship and prayer, discipleship and service.

Prayer is at the heart of our Christian life. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has said:

“If we want to see things changed, it starts with prayer. It starts with a new spirit of prayer, using all the traditions, ancient and modern. When it comes, it will be linked to what has gone before, but it will look different – because it is a new renewal for new times. God’s created community is perfectly designed for its time and place. It almost always comes from below. It comes from Christians seeking Christ.” 

And a former Bishop of Lincoln, Edward King, wrote: “What we need are more Christ-like Christians”. 

The Community of St Hugh is our response to these calls to deepen prayer and become more like Jesus.

Community members are encouraged to develop a rule of life based around three headings, and in line with our diocesan priorities of 

•  worship
•  discipleship
•  service 

but also develop their own detailed patterns in response to these headings. Each member is encouraged to give time to discerning through prayer how they might respond to each heading. 

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Coronavirus outbreak

The community are praying for the country during the coronavirus pandemic and would like help from people as below:

• We need your prayer requests – please send them to [email protected] 
• We need your answers to prayer sent to the same email address.
• If you are requesting prayer for particular individuals in need, please obtain their consent, or supply only their first names.
• The emails will be sent to every member of the Community of St Hugh for whom we have an email address. If you do not wish to receive these daily emails, please confirm this by email and your name will be removed.

With social distancing and self-isolation kicking in, it is easy to lose sight of our own wellbeing, out of concern for others. We cannot hold prayer meetings, but we can:

• get outside for prayer-walks,
• sit in the garden for reflection
• make contact with prayer partners through phone or video links
• get creative

If you would like to join the mailing list for the community of St Hugh please contact Revd Fran Jeffries, Team Vicar in the Bolingbroke Deanery Team Ministry at [email protected] (for the time being, updates are also being posted here).

There is an opportunity to meet monthly to pray together on Zoom. Again, please contact Fran Jeffries for details.

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Resources

Here are some helpful resources relating to the Community of St Hugh (contact information is available at the foot of the page).

• An introductory leaflet (please see here)
• A handbook (please see here)
• An outline for daily prayers (please see here)
• An examen booklet (please see here)
• Information on 'holy friendships' (please see here)
• An outline for a prayer gathering (please see here)

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Collect for St Hugh

The member of the community prayer commit to praying the Diocesan prayer daily, and also the following Collect:

O God, who endowed your servant Hugh with a wise and cheerful boldness, and taught him to commend to earthly rulers the discipline of a holy life: give us grace like him to be bold in the service of the gospel, putting our confidence in Christ alone, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen