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A different kind of service for 0-90’s which takes place on the 1st Sunday of every month at 4pm!
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Launched in 2006, the 1st@4 service is proving to be a very special way for people (especially those with young children) to ‘be church’ and worship together. Crying babies and wriggly toddlers are very welcome! Belonging to 1st@4 helps parents and godparents fulfil the promises made during Baptism. |
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How 1st&4 came to be - written by Revd Mary
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Shortly after Paul and I came to St Luke's we asked the P.C.C. to think about our church’s purpose. It made us all think and we enjoyed working on a statement which would summarise our purpose or mission. It’s since been on most of our correspondence, our magazine and our website.
We sincerely want to “Show Christ’s love to all people through worship” (part of our mission statement) as without worship we’re not experiencing the ‘heart-beat’ of God. However, we had to admit that the worship we provide isn’t accessible to lots of people. Those with young families and those who aren’t familiar with church find a morning, Eucharistic service daunting.
Back in the summer of 2006, a young mum with three young children phoned to ask if there were any other services as she wanted to come to church but was finding Sunday mornings very difficult. I could only sympathise and put the phone down feeling that we needed to provide opportunities for worship for those who find traditional Anglican worship on a Sunday morning inaccessible.
Revd. John Lund at Hart has provided a different kind of service at 4pm on the 3rd Sunday of each month for two years (3@4) so a group of us went over to see what it was like and whether we could do something similar. John had done a lot of research on Bishop Cuthbert Estate to find out what would make church accessible for those who are ‘interested’ but never follow their interest up. The result was 3@4
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We enjoyed the quiet, calming, candlelit atmosphere and appreciated how helpful it was for people holding babies and wriggly children that any information/words they needed were on a screen. It was very reassuring to see ‘Crying babies welcome.’ flashing on the screen. Images of their Baptism were shown as families were welcomed after baptism which was a lovely, personal touch and obviously made them feel special.
We were only sitting down or standing to sing for about 15minutes and then we were encouraged to continue in worship by going to various areas of the church where we were free to worship in our own way and own time. I enjoyed writing a prayer and placing it on the prayer tree and found it a profound moment to join a queue and kneel before John for a prayer and anointing. I was touched to hear a young child as she returned from putting a stone (which represented our selfishness) into a bowl of water (the water of forgiveness) telling her mummy that she ‘was going to be a good girl!’
3@4 provided a real opportunity to worship for those who are unfamiliar with church or who find coming to church at traditional times difficult.
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It inspired us to provide a different kind of service at St. Luke’s.
It seemed appropriate to encourage those who would hopefully benefit from this type of service to help plan and prepare for it. I have worked with a team of 8 enthusiastic people and this has been a great encouragement to me. St Luke’s PCC are also very supportive and I have been encouraged and helped by John Lund himself.
Our 1st@4 service was launched in 2006 and is held on the 1st Sunday of every month at 4pm! Come and check it out and also pray that God will bless us and guide us at St. Luke’s as we seek to “show Christ’s love to all through worship.”