We are a friendly, welcoming group of three churches within the Diocese of Winchester. We welcome adults and children of all ages, backgrounds and walks of life, to the range of services that we offer throughout the year. We exist to serve the whole of our communities not just those who join us on Sundays.
Across our three churches we offer a range of services and worship styles ranging from the more traditional BCP to informal All Age Worship and Café Church.
Whether you live in the area or are just visiting we will do our best to provide a warm welcome, where we hope you will find a home with us and become part of our Christian community.
Our Benefice and its Place in the Wider Church
We are officially known as “The United Benefice of Ropley, Bishop’s Sutton and West Tisted”
A benefice is a group of parishes under a single minister. Our benefice vicarage is in Ropley, where the Revd. Amber Beresford, our minister, lives with her family.
Our benefice has three historic churches, all in rural settings, and is situated in mid-Hampshire a few miles to the east of Winchester.
Our Three Churches:
Alresford Deanery
The United Benefice of Ropley, Bishop’s Sutton and West Tisted is a part of the Alresford Deanery, one of the thirteen deaneries making up the Diocese of Winchester.
The Alresford Deanery comprises the parishes of:
Avington, Beauworth, Bighton, Bishop’s Sutton, Bradley, Bramdean, Brown Candover, Cheriton, Chilton Candover, Cliddesden, Dummer, Easton, Ellisfield, Farleigh Wallop, Hinton Ampner, Itchen Abbas, Itchen Stoke, Kilmeston, Martyr Worthy, New Alresford, Northington, Nutley, Old Alresford, Ovington, Preston Candover, Ropley, Swarraton, Tichborne, West Tisted and Wield
The Diocese of Winchester
Founded in 676AD the Diocese of Winchester consists of about two-thirds of the County of Hampshire and most of Bournemouth in the County of Dorset, excluding Portsmouth and the area immediately to its north and north-east.
Stretching from the beaches of Bournemouth to the edges of Surrey suburbia, and from the River Hamble to the outskirts of Newbury, the area covers 1048 square miles with a population of 1.27m. Whilst much of the diocese is rural there are significant urban concentrations in Winchester, Southampton, Eastleigh, Bournemouth, Christchurch, Andover and Basingstoke.
There are two archdeaconries, Winchester in the north and Bournemouth in the south, each administered by an Archdeacon. Each archdeaconry is then separated into administrative areas called deaneries, 7 in Winchester (which includes the Alresford Deanery) and 6 in Bournemouth. Each of the individual deaneries has an Area (or Rural) Dean assigned.
Winchester Diocese has 375 church buildings in 255 Parishes, combined into 141 Benefices.
The Church of England
Winchester is one of the five senior dioceses of the Church of England. The Church of England is made up of 42 Dioceses in total. Each of the English dioceses (and the Diocese in Europe) has a structure of boards and councils responsible for different aspects of the Church’s work including ministry, mission and education.
The Church of England has over 16,000 church buildings in England, 12,500 of which are listed by Historic England.