We are now worshipping in church on Sundays (10.30am) and on Tuesdays (11.30am) – socially distanced, wearing masks and keeping safe. Anyone is also able to join the service (live) on Zoom. Just e-mail the minister for details!

We are a congregation of people following Jesus Christ.
We hope that you will find here: worship where tradition and daily life meet in ways that can comfort and inspire you.

We want to be open, open to God and open to life,
because we believe that God’s love, for all people and for all creation, is the real hope for the world.

For the sake of the Gospel we will be:

  • a church that welcomes, whoever you are
  • a church that cares and responds with action
  • a church that works with others and plays its part in the community
  • a church that knows and shares the love of God
  • a church that is growing in faith and knowledge of God
  • a church full of hope and joy
New interior

Worship

The church meets for worship each Sunday at 10:30 am, normally in its building in Paul Street. Directions can be viewed here. The Lord’s Supper is celebrated on the first Sunday of the month.
About six times a year we worship together with the Temple Methodist Church, sometimes at their building in Upper High Street, also at 10:30 am, and sometimes also with St John’s parish church.

Most Tuesdays at 12noon for half an hour Café Style Worship is held in the Dora Cox room at the Paul Street church – entrance through main doors – as part of the informal ‘Oasis’ gathering. Hot drinks are served.

Visitors are most welcome to worship with us at all times.

Prayer for using gifts with humility

Prayers of thanksgiving & intercession for the 4th Sunday in Creationtide,
following a sermon on Philippians 2:1-11 (with an eye on verse 13)

We give you thanks, God our creator, that you have given us, not just life, but the means of flourishing. Your gifts to us enable humankind

through science to explore, better understand, and take delight in the wonders of the created world;
through medicine to enable us better to care for each other;
through technological endeavour to extend our capabilities which, when rightly used, enhance our lives;
and, in the fields of politics and economics, again when these gifts are deployed with humility, to organise society for the common good.

For all this we praise you.

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

As recipients of your generosity and as people of faith, hopeful that one day the way of Jesus will be seen as self-evidently true, we long for your gifts to be used more wisely more widely.
We long for greater humility in our relationship with the natural world:

that its resources should not be plundered for the short-term gain of some but cherished for their capability to sustain us all;
that the mistakes of the past that have injured the environment, its ecology and climate, should be the subject of repentance, not just among experts but also those with the power to make changes.

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

We long for greater humility in the relationships among the people of the earth:

that first and foremost people be respected as humans, with differences between us leading to curiosity rather than tribalism and fear;
that international relations and trade negotiations, and especially those involving our country right how, focus first and foremost on seeking common ground and mutual trust.

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

We long for those who seek to take advantage of the humility of others to be confounded and disempowered – the scammers, the bullies, the manipulators – and for the spirit of God to convict them and show them the opportunity of the healing of their sad selves.

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

We long for those who lack the humility to recognise where people are doing their utmost to deliver public services under extreme circumstances to refrain from scaremongering, unjustified complaining and time-wasting.
Rather, we ask for gifts of energy, insight and perseverance for those exercising servant leadership in these traumatic times: in social care and health services, in education and employment, and wherever people have responsibility for the well-being of others;
and for those whose duties keep them awake at night we ask for deep rest.

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

For ourselves, we ask that your Spirit will indeed give us the same attitude that was in Christ Jesus, that in our humility we may be part of your solution in a world so ill at ease with itself, and not part of the problem. Make us tough in our humble approach, so that we may be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. 
Rescue us from that false humility and denies we have the gifts to make a positive contribution, so we know when to accept that life is difficult and when to fight for justice.

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

So may we be inspired to live out lives of faith in humility and anticipation that you, our God, are at work within us to enable us to reflect the life of Jesus Christ our Lord; Amen.