Parish churches are full of beauty and history, attracting visitors from near and far. Many include stunning stained glass windows, often depicting characters and stories from the Bible.
To encourage people to visit your local church building this summer, whether they are churchgoers or not, the Church of England invite you to share a picture or video of one of your stained glass windows, with some text to explain it, on your parish’s preferred social media channel.
It is an easy way for your church to show off its wonderful building to the online world, whilst talking about the Bible and sharing its life-transforming message.
Below are some great examples of stained glass windows in Norfolk and Waveney:
- St Margaret Church, Cley – produced in c1925 by J Powell & Sons and dedicated to the memory of Arthur Cozens Hardy (1857 – 1925). In the main lights we see Christ as the Good Shepherd flanked by Saints Francis & Hubert. The tracery lights above the respective saints contain scenes from their lives.
- St Mary, Martham – produced by J Hardman, the window from early 1860s features an ascension scene with eight medallions of Life of Christ
- St Mary Magdalen, Warham – All of the existing stained glass was originally put in the church by the Revd W H Langton in c1806. It includes some very good French and German imported glass
- St Andrew, Thursford – a new stained glass window has just been installed. Commissioned, sponsored and designed by villagers in 2018
How can your church get involved?
Here’s what to do:
- Pick a stained glass window in your church and take the best picture you can. Make sure all the details are visible – you might want to take several pictures to share, to include some close ups.
- Write some text about the stained glass. You could talk about one or several of these things:
- Who the window shows and the Bible story it represents
- A Bible verse that the window brings to life or was inspired by
- Something to do with the history of the window and its design
- Finish off your text by saying everyone is welcome to come and see the window, you could also let people know about when you’re open.
- Finally, include the hashtag #StainedGlassSummer and tag @DioceseOfNorwich. This will make your post is discoverable to everyone taking part, including us.
- Post your picture and text on social media. Choose the platform that is used the most by your church. This could include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and threads.
To find your local stained glass windows, visit Exploring Norfolk Churches.