Planning Your First Visit
What should you wear? We’re a relaxed family church, so wear what you might choose to put on for an extended family BBQ.
Where should I park? We have off-street parking at 10 Richardson Rd, but this fills quickly, so plan to arrive around 9am if you’d like to make sure you get a park nice and close! We also have two designated disabled spaces. Otherwise, there is on-street parking along Richardson Rd (please make sure you are mindful of our neighbour’s driveways!), or on the street behind our main building (Morgan Cr), however this street is quite narrow so we would encourage you to only park on the same side of the street as our property.
What will happen when I arrive? There will be musicians practicing, and plenty of people around from as early as 8.30am, so come on in and find a seat anywhere you’d like. You’re welcome to bring hot drinks into the main auditorium with you, but we’d prefer if they were in a spill-proof cup or take-away with a lid on.
What happens during the service? At 9.30am someone will welcome everyone and we’ll sing a few songs together. You’ll notice that a lot of people will stand up while they sing, but there are no rules about this, so you are free to sit or stand as you feel comfortable.
At various times through the service we have people give updates on some of the activities in the life of our church.
We usually have a time where we have an ‘open mic’ opportunity—this is for members and visitors alike to have a chance to share with the wider church ways that they have encountered God recently. Feel free to share a brief Bible reading, pray a prayer of thanks, or give a short (2-3 minutes) story of how God has been particularly present in your life.
At some point we have an opportunity for our members to support the activities of our church financially. Many people do this electronically (details here), but some still put cash in a small bag that we hand around. If you’re visiting, you don’t need to do this unless you’d like to.
We have a time where we pause and remember what Jesus did for us when he died on the Cross. We will share a piece of rice biscuit and a small cup of grape juice, which symbolically represent Jesus’ body and blood. This is a sacred and special moment in the life of our church, and anybody who knows and loves Jesus is welcome to participate. If you’re not sure, or just exploring faith, feel free to just watch and observe.
One of our leaders will then read a part of the Bible and spend about 30-40 minutes helping make sense of what God is saying to us through that reading.
At about 11am we’ll sing another song before going out to the foyer where there will be tea, coffee, and some morning tea to share.