Sunday, April 06, 2008
What is St. Swithun’s for?
Tim's letter From the April 2008 Bathford Bulletin
If St. Swithun’s didn’t exist, would we need to invent it? What is St. Swithun’s for? What part does it play in the life of our village?
First of all St. Swithun’s exists to help us to worship God, drawing on the strengths of the past and incorporating some of the new approaches and wonderful new hymns of the present. An interesting balance to try and achieve!
But worship of God has to be real and Sunday is not meant to be an escape from the rest of the week. So we try our best to make our services relevant to life as we all know it.
But Sunday is not just for the already convinced. To worship God you have to know God and so we try our best to make our services accessible to those who are thinking about faith but not yet sure what they think about it!
And worshipping God is not just for grown-ups, it’s for children too. And so we run groups on Sundays for children from 0-14 (and for older teens on Saturday evenings) where they can explore the Christian faith in fun and exciting ways that make sense to them. At present we have over 50 children doing just that at least once a month.
But worship is about a lot more than church services and church is about a lot more than Sunday. So throughout the week we run a series of groups where people can come and explore the Christian faith together and how it applies to the lives they are leading.
At least once a year we run a course specifically for those wanting to explore what Christians believe. The next of these will take place in the autumn.
But Christianity is not just about understanding faith, it is about living faith and the church is not just about being an individual, it is about being part of a community.
And so a vitally important part of what a church is for is to be caring for one another. That’s why small groups are so good, because you can get to know a small number of people well.
That’s why we run a monthly men’s group and a monthly women’s group where people can enjoy being together, sharing similar concerns and supporting one another.
That’s why we run a monthly Parenting Course where parents can encourage and support one another. That’s why many church members are involved in visiting people in the parish.
But the church is not just about ‘us over here’, it’s about being a part of the community. That’s why we run a monthly service for Bathford’s more senior citizens in the Community Room. That’s why we put on a community lunch in the Parish Rooms for 5 weeks during Lent. That’s why we put on open air services in the heart of the village during the summer and hold a barbecue for the whole village. That’s why we pray regularly for every aspect of our community and its life. That’s why I’d love to hear from you if you think there are ways in which the church could be serving our community or if there is something you would like us to be praying for.
And church is not just about being part of Bathford, it’s about being part of the whole world. That’s why we support many practical projects in this country and throughout the world.
On Sunday, 20 April we are holding our Annual Meeting as part of our 10am service. Why not come along and find out more about your village church?