We are a Church of England parish with a strong tradition of music in worship, where all are very welcome. As an ancient Church in the centre of Durham, St Oswald's is a reservoir of peace for all who enter it.

The Sunday Eucharist is at 11:00am, and we have a play and books corner by the font for any younger worshipper who feels a parent or carer would enjoy it there. Evensong is at 6:00pm on Sundays, either in the chancel, or roughly every other week during term time when the usual hymns expand to a full choral setting, in the body of the church. Midweek Holy Communion is at 10:00am on Wednesdays, and the church is usually open from 9:30am till round about 5:00pm (or dusk, if earlier) on weekdays.

***A very warm welcome to all new and returning Durham University students! Please do join us this Wednesday, 7th October 2026 at 10:00am for Midweek Said Holy Communion (1662 Book of Common Prayer), followed by tea and coffee. We look forward to welcoming you in Church.***

God of peace, as young people and young adults begin higher education, university, or enter the world of work, may they know your presence with them in this time of change. Grant them courage, wisdom, and confidence and inspire those they encounter to have welcoming hearts.

Amen.

Diocese of Bath & Wells

Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.

Romans 15:7, New Revised Standard Version - Anglicized Edition

Tuesday, 6th October 2026 - Ordinary Time: William Tyndale, Translator of the Scriptures, Reformation Martyr, 1536 [Lesser Festival]

'If God spare my life, ere many years I will cause a boy that driveth the plough shall know more of the scripture than thou dost.'

William Tyndale

The Collect of the Day:

O Lord, grant to thy people grace to hear and keep thy word that, after the example of thy servant William Tyndale, we may both profess thy gospel and also be ready to suffer and die for it, to the honour of thy name; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Amen.

Common Worship 

The Gospel Reading Appointed for the Lesser Festival of William Tyndale in Exciting Holiness:

‘I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.'

'I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.'

John 17:6-8, 14-19, New Revised Standard Version - Anglicized Edition 

The Post Communion:

O eternal God, who hast given us this holy meal in which we have celebrated the glory of the cross and the victory of thy martyr William Tyndale: by our communion with Christ in his saving death and resurrection, grant us with all thy saints the courage to overcome evil and so to partake of the fruit of the tree of life; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Common Worship

A Prayer for Black History Month (October 2026):

Loving God, 

You have created all things and by your will they have their being.

We rage at a system that teaches and treats black people as if they are not made in the image of God and created equal.

We seek redress for the years of torment and trauma of being othered.

We repent of a system that still demands black people justify their place in every space.

We pray for your liberating kingdom and kin-dom to come on earth as it is in heaven.

The light of the Lord has come, the glory of the Lord is rising.

Lord, shine and arise within us, as we rise, we rise.

Amen.

The Right Reverend Dr Rosemarie Mallett - Bishop of Croydon (Diocese of Southwark) in Rage & Hope: 75 Prayers for a Better World (Christian Aid), ed. Chine McDonald and Wendy Lloyd, SPCK Publishing, 2021

Durham Diocesan Prayer Cycle Deanery Intention for the Month:

October 2026: Darlington Deanery

A Prayer of St Oswald of Northumbria:

Let us all kneel, and together beseech the true and living God Almighty in his mercy to defend us from the proud and cruel enemy; for he knows that we have undertaken a just war for the safety of our nation.

Amen. 

(Prayed by King Oswald of Northumbria and his army on the battlefield on the eve of the Battle of Heavenfield)