How do you approach worship each Sunday? Here is some help from America.

Sometimes it’s easy to come and go, in and out of worship, like a visitor. But here is a much more Biblical approach. The Bible says, I’m not a visitor, I’m a Member of a body. Here is great advice, on how to be a Member of the body – at worship. It comes from Colin Marshall, at the Trellis and Vine Workshop in DC.

Before the Service

Read the passage in advance
Pray for the gathering
Greet newcomers (act like you are the host)
Think strategically about who you should sit with
Arrive Early (NB this is actually logically impossible at Rolling Worship)

During the Service

Sing with gusto (even if you can’t sing)
Help with logistics (if there’s a problem, help fix it)
Don’t be distracted
Listen carefully
Be aware of your facial expressions (you may affect others and discourage preachers)

After the Service

Connect newcomers with others
Get newcomers information
Start a conversation about the sermon
Ask someone how they became a Christian
Stay late

Richard Hyland writes:

"From tonights meeting our Groups have a joint aim to encourage as many people and organisations as possible to take part in what we believe will be an exciting event in June 2012 to celebrate as a community.   Some ideas so far, Parade; Mini-Olympics, Street Parties, Festival on the common, Concerts at the Keene Hall or Schools, Disco or Dance, Talent Competitions,  Team Events, Indoor/Outdoor Sports Events. All on or around June 2/3rd 2012.
 
We are led to believe your associated organisation may help us in planning a community event in 2012, we would like to find out what they have in mind. Our aim is to encourage and see if there is any co-ordination needed and skills available to support a community wide inclusive event.
 
 We would like groups and individuals to ;
- register their interest in participation (send an email to [email protected])
- volunteer and help organise (send an email to [email protected])
- let us know their ideas and thoughts (send an email to [email protected])
 
Thank you for reading this email. Share this message with others.   I hope to hear from you and your groups leadership in the near future
Please send us your contact lists.   Thank you again for you early involvement to make this fun and successful.  
Rgds
Cllr Richard Hyland
Chairman, Galleywood Celebrates 2012"

I strongly encourage everyone to get involved with this project for the sake of the village! - Andy

From time to time, we give worshippers a chance to choose between two learning styles.  On Sunday morning Feb 27, some participants chose a “workshop format” as we thought together about spiritual gifts.

Here are the abilities and spiritual gifts that our participants are praying are found at St Michael’s in greater measure.  I’ve repeated a word where more than one group named it, and grouped them in what seemed to me to be sets of similar gifts:

A

Kindness and mercy

Kindness to the depressed or those struggling with mental health

Counselling for young people

Hospitality

Hospitality

Help and care

People who can encourage us

 

B

Evangelism

Evangelism

Outreach

 

C

People who are “on fire” spiritually

The supernatural gifts – miracles, tongues, healing

 

D

Musicians who can lead contemporary worship

People who can lead “worship that flows”

 

E

Ideas people/apostolic

People who can start new things

 

F

Administration

People who can maintain structures

 

G

Leadership

H

People good at relating to young people

Several groups made the point that we probably have all the gifts needed, but some way is required to help those with gifts “step forward” and offer them.  Other groups said that we needed more teaching on spiritual gifts – especially the supernatural ones – and more opportunity to use them in worship and “weave them into our lives”.

Could you pray that these gifts are indeed found in greater measure at St Michael’s?  And of course part of that prayer has to be to say “and if it’s me you want to have that gift, please give it to me, Lord!”

If you’ve been following our SHAPE process – or even if you haven’t – we would love to give you the chance to meet with a church leader for a consultation on your gifts, passions and ministries.  It will be your chance to tell us what your strengths and skills are, and for us to suggest areas of church life – or indeed life outside the institution of the church – which might be tailor-made for you.

Please sign up at the sheet at the back of church for a 20 minute slot.  The available times are:

Sunday March 13, 3-5pm; Wednesday March 16, 2-4pm;

Wednesday March 16, 7-9pm; and Saturday March 19, 10-12am.

If you’d like to bring a photocopy of the final two pages of your SHAPE prayer diary with you, that would be helpful; but if you’d rather just talk, that would be fine too.

Welcome to Leah Sharrock, whose baptism was held at church this morning.  What a happy, worshipful event.  And SPLOSH (our group for children and young people) went really well afterwards - thank you to all involved (especially Felix our technician).  We discovered from Psalm 8 that God knows the name of each star and knows and values every human being in the world, too.

The thing that gave me most pleasure was a guest who'd last been in church at the baptism of Leah's big sister Emily saying she could see how much the church had come on since and how much more welcoming it felt.  Alleluia. 

Now, here's an idea for Galleywood residents.  What if we all got together for a carnival in late September this year?  No motorised floats, but lots of dressing up.  Start a procession at the schools and continue on to the library, the Keene Hall, and the church; finish at the Heritage Centre.  Each establishment runs an event in aid of its own funds, with some joint events like an inter-pub tug of war in aid of a suitable local charity (Helen Rollason or whatever).
Would you be up for it?  Would you like to be on a team organising it?

People often ask me to recommend online resources.  It's dangerous to try and do this, because what I think is stimulating you may find boring, and what I think is accessible you may find cheesy and trite.  But one series that's genuinely got me thinking in directions I hadn't seen before is the Ecclesiates series here.  Yes, it's very American - you have to just get past the first couple of minutes each time if you neither know nor care who the Green Bay Packers are - but it's high quality preaching in my opinion.  Does anyone else have recommendations?  I'll gladly post them here!

We try to group all our baptisms into 5-6 services a year.  As shown here, some churches go further - I can't even imagine a service in which 500 babies are baptised, but obviously it works there!

John Piper said this:
"One of the great uses of Twitter and Facebook will be to prove at the Last Day that prayerlessness was not from lack of time."

Ouch.

We are excited to announce that Niamh Emma-May Pearshouse was born to Jenny & Chris at 9.41 this morning. She weighed 6lbs 13oz.
Congratulations to all involved!