Common Service Content
Services are different at each of our churches but most of them follow common themes and formats. Most services are derived from the Church of England’s Common Worship, a few are based on the Book of Common Prayer. In these services we will normally have a sermon, one or more readings from the Old and New Testatments of the Bible, prayers, hyms and songs and a series of set texts that will be spoken either by the leader and \ or the congregation. Our services are usually about an hour long and we often finish with a chance for fellowship over tea or coffee at the end. There is no dress code for services, do join us and you will be most welcome!
Types of Service
These are the types of service that you will see around the benefice. To find out which services are held where, see more about our churches. To find out about when services are taking place, please see our events and services page.
- Holy Communion BCP – a traditional communion service using the original Book of Common Prayer
- Holy Communion CW – a communion service using the new Common Worship form of service
- Matins – a traditional non-Eucharistic (no communion) service
- Evensong – a traditional non-Eucharistic (no communion) evening service
- Family Service – a communion based service integrating the church family music
Where there is a 5th Sunday in the month we usually hold one service for the whole benefice at one of our churches.
Communion
Many services also include communion (or Eucharist is another word), which is a memorial of the Lord’s supper by the Lord Jesus Christ on the night of His betrayal. Indeed, its alternative name is the Lord’s supper. As a general guide you are welcome to share in the communion bread and the wine at our services if you are a baptised member of another church of any denomination that recognises the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.
Fellowship
Our congregation at St. Andrews has grown steadily over the last five or so years and fellowship amongst the worshippers has been a key part of this. We now have a number of activities on offer that are connected to our services – the family service has a breakfast that runs before the service each month starting at 10.00am, soup lunches have been running after the service on the first Sunday of each month, and every service at St. Andrews has tea and coffee available after the service where people stop to relax, chat and pray. Some of our services in our other churches also offer tea and coffee at the end. There are more details on what happen at each service on our events and services page.
Fellowship does not stop there though. A number of home groups meet during the week around the benefice and a number of social events are on offer throughout the year. It is impossible to get everything listed on the website as there is so much but you can find out what is coming up in the next week or month by clicking here.