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SUNDAYS
Our main Sunday service in church, begins at 10.30 am every Sunday – At this service there are provisions for all ages of children in Sunday School from babies to teenagers and the first 15-20 minutes of each service includes something for the children and adults together, before the children leave for their groups. There is always tea and coffee and biscuits served in the lower hall after this service, for all who wish to stay, chat and build friendships.
And monthly (usually the first or 2nd Sun.) at 6.30 pm – 7.30 pm – This is a different style to the morning service and does not include provision of children’s activities, unless specifically arranged beforehand. This is a “trial” service, which will be reviewed by the church membership early in 2008 to judge its success and see if any changes are needed in format or regularity.
DURING THE WEEK
PRAYER - On Monday evenings at 7–8 pm, we have our church corporate prayer meeting. People are free to come and pray silently, or pray aloud, as they wish. We use different methods of prayer – sometimes using song, art, candles, verses of scripture, pictures, written prayers and sometimes we just sit in a circle and people pray as they wish. We also share experiences and concerns together and worship God together – a vital part of our prayer. People are free to come and go during this hour as they are able.
We also have a church prayer chain – where people can be given a short, usually quite urgent, prayer request and this request will be passed along by phone from one link to another, of members and friends of the church. The person concerned must always give their consent for the prayer request to be passed down the chain and to the correct wording of the request.
We also occasionally have special 24 hour prayer chains, where the whole church congregation will take a half-hour slot during one day and promise to pray for specific needs during that time – this is sometimes done in homes and sometimes done in the church itself. We see prayer as a vital part of our church life and service of God and others.
SUPPORT / BIBLE STUDY / DISCUSSION - On Tuesday morning (10am), Tuesday night 8 pm and fortnightly on Thursday nights at 8 pm we also have small groups of adults meeting in homes or in the church for prayer, care of each other, fun, bible study and discussion. Please click on the small groups page for more details of the present groups.
YOUTH – On some Wednesday or Thursday evenings, with prior announcements in church, the young people meet in church to prepare dramas or other items for use in the Sunday morning services. It is usually also on Wednesday or Thursday nights that the Sunday School leaders and helpers get together for discussion, prayer, training and sharing of ideas. This is again organised by prior arrangement, usually after Sunday morning services. There is also Pizza Plus, usually on a Sunday evening monthly, held in the home of our youth co-ordinator, for all teenagers to chat, discuss topics of interest, with DVDs, ask questions and eat in a friendly, safe, relaxed environment. Please click on the youth page for more information.
CHILDREN – Various group activities from crèche to teens are available on Sunday mornings, during the main service, so that children can enjoy their time in church and get to know and understand each other and God in ways geared to their ways of learning. At varied other times, special events are put on especially geared to children, such as craft mornings (usually on a Saturday), or we arrange outdoor family events such as barbecues or indoor events like barn dances, that everyone can enjoy together. We also have a link with Swing Gate School and their children have come and mingled with our older folk at Lunch Club and learned some of their activities such as how to play dominoes and how to knit. Children are also encouraged to take part in our main Sunday morning services and there is usually something specially for them at the beginning of the service, or if it is an all-age service, throughout the service. We see children as part of the church of today, not as the church of tomorrow! We have some very talented children among our church family! Please click on our children’s activities pages, for more information on the different groups.
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