When you visit us on a Sunday morning you’ll discover we start pretty much on time at 9.00 am so we encourage you to come around five minutes early. (If you happen to be late – no worries, just slip in quietly.) Estelle and one or two others may greet you as you arrive in the foyer. We invite you to take a connect card, fill in the details and pop it in the offering bag or hand to someone on the door. Inside the auditorium you can basically sit where you like, except for a few chairs marked ‘reserved’ which are for those who need an aid to assist them in standing. Some of our families sit right down the front so the children are more engaged in the service. If you have young children please feel free to join them, but we understand that on your first visit you might like to be remain a little less conspicuous and find the rear seats more to your liking.
While we are talking about children, we are probably more comfortable with a little noise from children than you are as a parent, so if you feel uncomfortable, say, with a crying baby, you can sit in the foyer area and still see and hear the service. Each Sunday we have special ‘kid’s segment’ with a story and sometimes a song. We set up an area for the children at the rear of the church to keep them occupied while the service continues.
Dress code on Sundays is probably best described as smart casual. The days of suits for men and hats for women are long gone.
The service itself is semi-formal with a mix of older hymns and more modern songs, with a preference for the latter. Our musicians play very sensitively so you don’t need earmuffs and we don’t have to check the sound levels with a decibel meter! Follow the people around you as to when to sit or stand but usually we stand, if we are able, for the singing and sit for everything else. The words to the songs are projected on the wall.
We take up an offering each Sunday. This helps pay the bills! Some people give electronically by bank deposit so they pass the offering bag by. If you haven’t come prepared to give, you can just blend in with these givers and nobody will bat an eyelid. We promise not to stand there waving the bag in front of you until you reach into your pocket!
Every service has a Bible reading or two and a message which usually goes no longer than twenty minutes. If you are bible-toting Christian you can follow along with the reading in your Bible or on your device Sometimes the passage is projected onto the wall.
Once a month, on the second Sunday, we celebrate communion (or the Lord’s Supper). For the uninitiated, that’s a special time when we recall Jesus’ last meal with his disciples before his death, where he took bread and wine and said it represented his broken body and spilled blood on the cross. All those who love the Lord are welcome to partake. Again, just follow what everyone else does!
The service usually lasts a bit over an hour, maybe a little longer on Communion Sundays. After the service we invite you to head out the back through the hallway to our morning tea area where you can indulge in some great food supplied by a local bakery and grab a free tea of coffee, of if you prefer a ‘real barrister style’ coffee you can purchase one for just $2.
We look forward to welcoming you.