If you visit us, this is what you can expect.

Our services are structured to help enable us to express our love for God and worship him, and we do this in a number of ways.

Singing our Worship
We start with some songs where we sing our praises to God and sing out truths about who he is and who we are. These songs can be older hymns or modern sings, and the music is often played live by musicians with the words on a large screen.

Holy Communion
After our time of singing we enter into a time of Holy Communion, where we come to receive from Jesus at his table, and at his invitation. This is the high point of our service and the most important part. All Christian churches around the world share in this important ritual and many of us experience the real presence and love of Jesus during this time. In Holy Communion (sometimes called Eucharist or the Lord's Supper) we believe we receive the body and blood of Jesus - it is a mystery which must be entered into to understand. We refer to Communion as a Sacrament; an outward sign of an inner grace.

Confession - making ourselves right with God and entering into his grace
In preparation to receive the body and blood of Jesus, we have a time of personal reflection where we ask the Holy Spirit to examine our hearts and help us to confess our sins. Confession is acknowledging the truth of our sin and resognising our need of forgiveness and mercy. When we truly confess our sins, repent and ask forgiveness, we are promised that we are indeed forgiven and cleansed from all our unrighteousness by the blood of Jesus. This language taken from the ancient ritual of sacrifice speaks to us of a profound spiritual truth that because Jesus has already paid the price for our sins, and offered himself as a sacrifice to God, we are forgiven when we put our trust and faith in Jesus.

Communion - sharing in the mystery of the body and blood of Jesus together
Having confessed our sins, we approach the Lord's table knowing we are invited and we belong. We come, not because we must, but because we may. It is a free will choice we make to come and sit with the Lord Jesus and receive from him. The person leading Communion may offer some words of reflection or teaching, or offer a scripture reading, to help centre us on what we are about to receive, before blessing the bread (wafers) and the cups (containing non-alcoholic juice) and asking the Holy Spirit to make these elements the body and blood of Jesus, according to his word.
The bread and the cups are then distributed by servers and those who want to receive the body and blood of Jesus through this sacrament are welcome to do so. We hold on to our bread and cup until all have been distributed, then the leader will invite us all to eat and drink together, often accompanied by a declaration in faith that we are participating in the body and blood of Jesus.

A time of receiving and listening
Having received the body and blood of Jesus, we then have a short time of reflection to enable us to more fully enter into the mystery of Communion, and during this time, the Holy Spirit will often gives some of us words, or a picture or something else to share with the whole congregation. These are often words or pictures of encouragment. By opening our hearts to Jesus and listening for his voice, he often speaks to us during our services and this is a time of blessing.

Children's Church

At this point in our service, we provide a separate time for children with content aimed at their age group, including a Bible story, a themed craft, and a time of sharing and praying.
The children and their teachers return to the service towards the end during a time of sharing. All our Children's Church teachers are trained in safeguarding and have undertaken an Enhanced DBS check.

Intercession - praying for the world, our nation, our local community and those in need

Our main service continues with a time of led prayers. The person leading our intercession will lead us in praying into various situations, starting with the world, then our nation and finally those we know who are in need.

Teaching & Sharing - exploring the Bible as the word of God together

This time in our service is important for our teaching of the Bible and our spiritual growth. One of the leadership team, or sometimes a member, or occasionally a guest speaker, will bring teaching on a particular topic. We usually explore a theme which is contained within various parts of the Bible, or sometimes go through one of the books of the Bible. At certain important times of the year in the Church calendar, such as Lent, Easter, Pentecost, Advent and Christmas, we have special series to help us enter into these important times of the year. For some of our teaching series, the format is less teaching and more sharing, with members having looked at and prayed through a passage of scripture during the week and then offering thoughts or reflections during our service.
You are not expected to participate in times of sharing, but you are also free to do so if you want.

Prayers for Healing

After the teaching & sharing part of our service we have opportuntiy to receive prayer for healing, or for any other personal need. This is done either by coming forward so that others can lay hands on you and pray, or remaining in your seat and having your neighbour pray with you. There is no expectation of receiving prayer, and no one will pray for you directly if you don't request it, but even if you are visiting, you can receive prayer if you would like to.

Church Family Sharing

We are now approaching the end of our service, and any children who have been out in Children's Church now rejoin us and they may share something of what they have learnt. During this time, we announce any notices for upcoming important dates or events, and we can also share things that are going on in our lives.

Final Blessing and Sharing the Peace

We end our service by standing together and forming a circle. Every week we finish our sing Happy Birthday! to anyone with a birthday coming up that week. We then hold hands, as a sign of our fellowship with one another, and bless one another with the words of 'The Grace':
"The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all forevermore. Amen"

One of the leaders will then bless us all with the words, "The peace of the LORD be with you!" and everyone responds, "And also with you." The leader will then invite us to share the peace with one another, which usually involves hugging each other. If you prefer not to hug, please simply extend a handshake, or indicate you would prefer not to hug (although, you'll be missing out!).

Anything else?

We do not take a collection during our service, and we do not expect visitors to make any contribution. However, if you wanted to make a monetary gift, we have a collection tin for cash gifts, or please approach one of the leaders about any other forms of payment. Our Church is a registered Charity and we give away a substantial proportion of our income to support to specific needs as determined by our Trustees.

None of our members are paid staff and we all volunteer our time to help run our Church and serve the Lord Jesus.