Feedback from the experimental services at Saint Martin

July 22 2007

On July 22 at 1100 you are invited to bring an object with an appropriate Biblical text attached. The text must make some reference to the object. Give your object and text to the Head of Objects, who will only give one to the preacher immediately before he speaks. How many mini-talks we have, will depend on how many objects are brought. The series of mini-talks will be sprinkled with songs, the odd group challenge and some churchy things.

It’ll be safe to bring friends!

Feedback from the experimental services at Saint Martin's

ALL SORTS CHURCH 25 March 2007

Running order:

ALL SORTS CHURCH

[1]. Quiz

[2] Glastonbury

[3] Stand up for Jesus

[4] Eddi's service Rudyard Kipling

[5] Amos and Joe

[6] Coffee break

[7] Bill Slater sketch

[8] Say it like it is..... Malcolm and Alwyn

[9] Paper Tearing.... Passport into heaven

[10] Heaven and Hell Malcolm and Alwyn

[11] Video : Hunger

[12] Real Prayers - slides

[13] Rejoice the Lord is King

The first Sunday in Lent. 25 February 2007 11am

The feed back was positive. A few people said they got a lot out of the occasion. The atmosphere was very thoughtful and measured. Below are the documents 'visitors' used at each of the four wildernesses.

October 23 2005 11am

DO IT YOURSELF CHURCH

This was another experimental way of ‘doing church outside the box’. Do it Yourself Church
was exactly what it said. Several folk came prepared and volunteered to read, choose songs, pray, offer thoughts. On reflection, more time was needed to assemble all the 'offerings' into some sort of loose running order. Most who attended agreed it was worthwhile.

June 19 2005 11am

LIQUID CHURCH was another experiment trying to make church 'user friendly' and different. The 'event' used most of the inside and outside of the church. The weather was good. Inside we started only on one side of the church, moved into the chancel area for the confession, all standing in a circle. After which everybody walked through the side chapel and to the front where each made a sign of the cross on another, with water. Everybody was now seated on the other side of the church for the reading and sermon. After this everybody went outside and stood by the side entrance for the creed. The location for the prayers were the Garden of Remembrance, in front of the church building, by the hedge on the main road and at the church hall. We returned inside to shared bread and wine with each other and finished with a final hymn. All comments we very favourable.

The liturgy

WELCOME

SONG Children of the cross

CONFESSION
We move to the chancel area and form one, or two concentric circles and say together:

I am repentant Lord
for my transgressions, as is right.
Christ, of your mercy,
Forgive me of every sin
that may be attributed to me.

ASSURANCE

Circle me, O God,
Keep peace within and trouble out.
Circle me, O God,
Keep love within and hatred out.
Circle me, O God,
Keep light within and darkness out.

A short silence follows

RENEWAL
As we return to the coffee side, each if us may dip their hand in to the water in the font
and sign a cross on the back of their hand/forehead or invite someone else to sign them, with these words

I bind to myself today
the strong name of the Trinity;
Father Son and Holy Spirit.
Amen

As this proceeds we may sing quietly
SONG Let your living water flow...

LISTENING TO GOD

When the signing has finished and all are seated, we listen to this reading and talk.
GENESIS 21:8-21

Talk

AFFIRMING OUR FAITH

We say together
The High Creator,
the Unbegotten Ancient of Days,
was without origin of beginning, limitless.
He is and will be for endless ages
With whom is the only begotten Christ,
and the Holy Spirit,
co-eternal in everlasting glory of divinity.
We do not confess three gods,
but one God, in three most glorious Persons.
Amen. Amen. Amen.

TALKING TO GOD
In the Garden of Remembrance; at the dip in front of the church; by the hedge adjacent to Didsbury Road and at the church ball. After which we say:

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power
and the glory are yours,
now and forever. Amen.

REMEMBERING
We re-enter the church to share bread and wine as God's family, as Jesus told us to do when we meet together. We stand as near to the table as possible

You are blessed
King of the Universe,
Lord of Creation.
Your goodness has given us
this bread and this wine,
which the earth has given
and human hands have made.
We break and eat this bread
to remember Jesus
and his body broken for us.
We pour and drink this wine
to remember Jesus
and his blood shed for us. Amen

We break bread and drink the wine, sharing it with all present, each offering bread and wine to each other. When the sharing has finished we sing

SONG O worship the King, all glorious above

BLESSING

O Prince of peace may
the peace of the flowing river;
the peace of the running wave;
the peace of the calm lake;
the peace of the gentle rain
Be mine and theirs, whom I love.
Amen.

All may exchange a sign of peace.
After which the fellowship continues with refreshments and conversation.

ART CHURCH March 20 2005 11am

Some photos

January 16 2005 11am

FEEDBACK

From 36 adults and 8 children present there were only 13 feedback forms completed. All comments between the forward slashes '/' , are comments from the same person.

WHAT YOU HAD TO SAY ABOUT IT ALL

1. Well what did you think?

A welcome change / Enjoyed what I did / Like it very much -looking forward to other 'adventures' / Worth the try / Worth doing -worth developing some more. Perhap-s include as part of a slot within a 'proper' service, instead of a sermon /

The way the service was structured was very informal. It was different and in my opinion made the service interesting. We have to look at approaches like this to draw people into church, I believe that our whole service should be looked at. With a praise and worship service taking up the majority of the service.

Much better / Good keep going / Really enjoyed it / Great / Very interesting. Different in a good way / Well thought out and interesting /

2. What was good?

Freedom of movement / Sense of joining in / All of it / Bible Study / Took us away from the sometimes repetitive sort of set worship and made us think a bit of why we come to praise God / For different age groups / Time for reflection / The support from the people. The diversity of the service / Time to participate / Time to think / Different things to do / Everything / The choice of activities /

3.What was bad?

Nothing / Not long enough / Not enough activities -but then not enough time. -Bit noisy / Cannot think of anything / Not enough / No notation in Bible Study -limited accessabilty /

4. Would it have been worth inviting someone?

YES: 10 / NO: 0 / DON'T KNOW: 3 [One respondent wrote "Yes, I did!]

5. Additional comments

It's more informal / Going home much happier / It'd be good to have some background music. Went very quickly /

We need to have diverse services every now and again. With the service at 9.30 catering for the more formal service it is good that we can have a more informal service at times to cater for those people who need to express their love and praise for God in a different way. /

I found that much more God-aware, which meant I was much more focused / Great keep it up

October 17 2004 11am

FEEDBACK

28 feedback forms completed

SHOULD WE TRY THE EXPERIMENT AGAIN?

YES [22] NO [1] NO RESPONSE [5]

WHAT YOU HAD TO SAY ABOUT IT ALL

1. Words that best described my thoughts experience

Enjoyable [17] Easy talking to others [10] Friendly [13] Felt good [9]

Uncomfortable [1] Nervous [0] Difficult [0] Unfriendly [0]

Valuable [6] Spiritual [1] Interesting [11] Amusing [8] Confusing [2] Boring [0]

Gimmicky [2] Chaotic [1] Shallow [1] A bad idea [1] Relaxed [2]

Chilled out [1] Comfortable [1] Good environment to get to know people [1]

Time went quickly [1]

2. I liked:

Very friendly

All of it

Good to try new ideas

Off the wall nature of the event

Down to earth I think it would be easier for non-Christian community to experience church

The fact everyone made an effort

Chance to talk to others about the week and pray for them

Prayers; everyone writing one and joining them together

Biscuits and friendly

The cakes

The Spanish slant

Children's crèche

The informality.

The song "Everlasting" it made me go all 'tingly'. Please can we have it again?

General atmosphere

The relaxed atmosphere

Nothing forced on you, did not have to sing etc.

Did not feel like a service.

Sermon easy to [follow?]

Friendly, no jargon or gimmick

The interactive sermon

The drama

Jokes and songs

The free and easiness of it

The chance to chat and find out how people are

Roni's talk

Able to have coffee whenever.

Welcoming

3.I didn't like

Chairs would be better

Distraction of children running about

No real time for God . Too cold, needs more atmosphere

Couldn't seem to find a special time to spend with the Lord

I wanted to be challenged and brought closer to God in some way and for me that didn't happen –but it was probably fine for people on the 'fringe' of church.

The worship was a bit ad hoc people not really joining in. Also when sermon happened –rather a lot of distractions including people chatting in background.

Needs balance of formal and informal elements to work better.

Couldn't concentrate on the talks, not enough variety of activity for the children

Feeling uncomfortable with the informality

A band/worship group would be good at different points. Use of CDs

You couldn't always hear what was being said

Drama better with microphones

Disappointing numbers, pray that it will grow in popularity

Amount of people [low or high?]

The songs needed everyone to participate and hardly anyone did.

4. Additional thoughts

More help with refreshments

Invite a street at a time perhaps

Felt a bit like a spectator event should be the expectation of more people joining in more

Felt as if people were being apathetic

More encouragement for people to participate

In time, people will mix better

Need herbal tea and cappuccino

One or two seemed unsure when to be quiet or if it was necessary to stop talking at all

More singing at the start

Just a little more structure of the service

Use of instruments

Incorporate opportunity to minister to people

Maybe try it during the week/Saturday, a kind of 'holy café' –come in have a drink, quiet music, guest speaker.

Testimony

Not quite as noisy

Need to know about it further in advance so we can pray about it.

Notice outside church.

Maybe good to invite local person [not one of congregation] to come and chat

Technical rehearsal more warning of running order

More children's activities people designated to lead them clearer picture of what is expected.

Provide a clear theme to reflect on

Maybe ask some local church to offer worship group

Run with the idea –it's good

Take on board what other people have said and try to include this.