About our Church Service
What happens in our Church Services …
If you are here for the first time or aren’t a regular church-goer some of the things you see and hear today may be unfamiliar to you. What follows will hopefully explain some of the things that we do.
Singing (The Singing bit)
Music has always been a part of church services. Unlike ‘Karaoke’, our church singing is not about who has the best voice or who can sing the loudest - it is about focusing on God. Some of what we sing is directed to God. While some of what we sing is directed toward one another, reminding and encouraging each other in our lives as Christians.
Praying (the talking to God out loud part)
Whether we like to admit it or not, the majority of us have prayed at some time in our life. Hearing prayer out loud, may however seem a little unusual to you. As Christians we believe in a God who hears our prayers and acts upon them, he doesn’t always answer ‘Yes’, but he responds all the same. When we pray out loud in church it is merely an expression of our belief that God is listening.
God’s Word, The Bible Talk (the one person talking bit)
‘The talk’ is the part of the service where a section of the Bible is used to teach the congregation more about God and the way he deals with his people.
Our church uses expository preaching which is a fancy way of saying that the talks come from a single passage of the Bible, usually working through a book of the Bible over a couple of weeks.
Children’s Chat
We usually have a mini-talk in our service directed to the children. This is because we value children as part of our church and want them to benefit from our services as well.
The Offering (the money bit )
It might appear to some people that the church is asking them to pay for the church service, but this is not the case. If you are a visitor then you are our guest so please don’t put anything into the offering bag unless you really want to. For Christians who regularly attend our church we do this as an expression of our thanksgiving to God. The money is used for the work of the church (and paying the electricity bills!).
Communion (the bread and grape juice)
This part of our service re-enacts “The Last Supper”, where Jesus and his disciples ate bread and drank wine together just hours before Jesus went to die on a cross.
On that night, Jesus told his disciples to have this special kind of ‘meal’ to remember him by. It also reminds us of what he did on the cross. By sacrificing his body (bread) on the cross and shedding his blood (wine) he made it possible for all who have refused God’s plan for their lives to be forgiven for the wrong they have done and gain a relationship with God.
A special note for Christian parents: You know your children better than anyone, so if your children love the Lord Jesus with a child’s love and faith, and understand that participation in Communion is something that Jesus’ friends do, then we would be pleased to have them partake of Communion with us.
Water Baptism (bring a towel!!!!)
This is a symbolic action that represents a person having their sins washed away (because of their faith in Jesus as Saviour and Lord). It also represents a burial of the old sinful way of living (hence the person goes under the water) and a resurrection to living a new life in Jesus (hence coming up out of the water). Underneath the floor boards of the stage is a big bath/pool that is used for the occasion of baptism.
