Woking

Church Gate – latest updates and prayer requests

/ Steve Petch / Leave a comment

Our plans for Church Gate are continuing to move forward. In case anyone is unsure, Church Gate is the three storey office block next door to our current site. We’ve bought it and are in process of redeveloping it for use as a Social Action Hub with a Community Grocery on the ground floor, and also to serve our Children’s and Youth work each week too.

This week an inspection of the roof was carried out, so I took the opportunity to take a closer look myself – courtesy of the cherry picker. Well… why not?

For clarity, I don’t know much about roofing but I enjoyed the ride despite an innate fear of heights. I also took note of how much higher the cherry picker at the Hilton Hotel behind me was – I don’t think that’s a job for me!

Progress Update

In terms of a progress update, things continue to move forward on track:

  • Various building surveys have been carried out (such as the one on the roof)
  • Some grant applications have been submitted. Benefact Trust came back very quickly with a grant of £80,000, and we are now waiting to hear back from some others, including our biggest application which is to Your Fund Surrey
  • The floor layouts have been finalised
  • The architects drawings are in
  • Planning Permission for a new entrance has been submitted, and we expect to hear back during April (we are not expecting this to be a problem)
  • A thorough refurbishment of the lift has been commissioned
  • Various other quotes are coming in
  • The main part of the project is going out to tender next week, with quotes expected during April, and building work expected to begin over the summer for completion during the autumn
  • The Grocery team are in process of finalising an agreement with The Message Trust who we will be working with for the grocery
  • Outstanding Gift Day pledges continue to be fulfilled, alongside a few extra gifts too – so a big thank you for that. By the way, it’s still not too late to give to this amazing project!

In summary, things are moving ahead well and I’m looking forward to seeing the hoardings go up and the building work begin.

Prayer requests

Please be praying about this project as it goes ahead. Here are some specific prayer requests:

  • For a simple ‘YES’ to our planning application. As I said above, we’re not expecting any issues, but let’s not be complacent
  • For the release of significant grant funding, especially from Your Fund Surrey
  • For good quotes for the work to be done, with prices we are happy to pay
  • For wisdom as we pick the best main contractor to work with
  • For a great relationship to be formed with The Message Trust
  • For the whole Grocery Team – especially Helen who will be leading a lot of this through in the months ahead
  • For God to release all the finance we need to do this well
  • For no unexpected surprises – talking of which…

What about the state of the roof?

We knew there were a couple of leaks from the roof when we bought the building, and this week was the moment the situation was assessed properly. The outcome was not as positive as our best hopes, but nowhere near as bad as it could have been either.

In summary, repairs are needed to the flashing around the gutters, and some of the metal panels you can see from below need to be replaced or overlaid too. It’s a bit more work than we’d hoped for, but not outside our range of expectations, and with what we’d seen inside it could have been a whole lot worse.

We can’t call this an unexpected surprise, since we knew this was a real possibility from the start, but please be praying that there are no unexpected extras across the rest of the project as the work goes forward.

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Time To Have Your Say

/ Steve Petch / Leave a comment

Hello! It’s Dub Everitt here, Outreach Pastor at Welcome Church, and I’m excited to be guest-writing Steve’s blog this week!

I want to update you on the renovation of our new building – the ‘Church Gate’ office block – and invite you to take action today to help make a huge difference in our community.

An Incredible Journey So Far

Many of you played a vital role in our gift days in November 2023 and June 2024, helping us raise an incredible £2 million toward the £3 million purchase of Church Gate, which we completed (with the help of a mortgage!) in May 2024. Of the money given so far, £400,000 has been set aside towards the renovation costs.

One of the key ways we’ll use this space is to launch a Community Grocery – a project that will provide affordable food and essential support services to those who need it most.

What Is A Community Grocery?

A Community Grocery is a ‘social supermarket’ designed to help families struggling with the cost of living. It’s an initiative founded by The Message Trust in Manchester, offering deeply discounted food while preserving dignity and choice for members, who can select the items they need to best support themselves.

For just £5 per year, people can sign up for membership, and then they can shop for between £5 and £12.50 a week, saving up to £50 per week—that’s £2,500 a year!

But it’s more than just groceries. Members can also connect to our other initiatives such as debt advice, money coaching, cooking courses, mental health & wellbeing groups, job clubs, and more. In 2024, we helped 169 individuals through these services, and this new space will allow us to expand our impact to reach 1,000 grocery members in our first year.

This is a project that will change lives in our community.

Where Are We Now?

We’ve been working closely with our architects, Plan A – the same team who were behind the design of our chapel, which we opened in 2020. The renovation plans for Church Gate are now complete, and the costs for redevelopment and for fitting out the building have been estimated at £1.2 million.

We have the first £400,000, and we’re now working hard to secure the remaining £800,000 through grants. If all goes to plan, we’ll start construction in June or July and open the doors before the end of the year.

It’s Time To Ask For Your Support!

We recently submitted our first grant application to a Christian Grant Funder, and the feedback was amazing:

“Hi Dub, just to let you know I’ve read your draft and it’s EXCELLENT! Honestly, brilliant. I have no doubt our trustees will want to make a contribution. I wanted to congratulate you on such a well-planned project that is clearly going to change (and probably save) lives.”

This funder will confirm their decision by mid-February, so let’s be praying for a positive outcome!

The largest grant we’re applying for is £497,000 from Your Fund Surrey, part of Surrey County Council. We’ve had great conversations with their team, and we’re preparing our application ahead of the February 28th deadline.

But we now need your help to get it across the line.

Here’s Your Call To Action!

To help our application to succeed, we need to show strong local support – and that’s where YOU come in. We are now looking to gain at least 1,000 comments on Surrey County Council’s “Have Your Say” webpage to demonstrate how much our community supports this project.

At the time of writing, we have 692 comments, which means we still need 308 more.

Can you take 2 minutes to help?

If so, it’s very quick and easy to do, and fairly self-explanatory. Here are the four steps:

1. Click on this link to go through to the Have Your Say webpage

2. Hit the big smiley face on the page.

3. Leave a short comment about why you support the Community Grocery and any other comments you may want to make, and then add your email address when prompted to do so

4. Check your e-mails for a link to click on to confirm that the comments you made are yours. If the link doesn’t arrive do check your junk box too

That’s it—you’ll be done before your kettle boils!

Your endorsement, along with others, could help to secure nearly £500,000 to support people in need across our town.

One Last Thing: Please Spread the Word!

Once you’ve shared your comment, please pass the link to the Have Your Say webpage on to others: to your friends, family, colleagues, neighbours, or anyone who cares about making a difference in our community. Please feel free to share it on your social media feeds too.

The more people we can get behind this, the greater the impact we can have together.

Thanks in advance for all your help

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Some Key Items For Prayer – December 2024

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We would love you all to be praying for our church and for our nation in the weeks ahead. Here are a few key items to pray for during this Christmas and New Year season:

Carol Services

Our Welcome Church ‘Carol Service For Woking’ is running on Sunday 15th December – please do invite your friends. You can book your free tickets by clicking here.

We’re running four services on the day, at 11am, 2pm, 4.30pm and 7pm. Tickets have been going fast, with over 2,300 people booked to attend so far this year. The 7pm meeting will also be live-streamed.

Please pray that the whole day goes well, that everyone involved in putting the services on would be fit and healthy, and that lots of people would connect to Jesus and come back to join us as a church again in the year ahead.

Alpha

The final night of our latest Alpha Course took place on Wednesday this week. Around 90 people completed the course with us this term, exploring the big questions of life and faith.

Please pray that we will see lots of these people connecting with us over the Christmas and New Year season, and coming back for the ‘Alpha Plus’ course in the New Year. Please also pray for many to find a personal faith in Jesus.

By the way, I want to say a special THANK YOU to all those who made this course possible, especially the kitchen and serving teams who have really gone above and beyond this term.

Church Gate

Although the actual building work has yet to begin on Church Gate, and may not start for a few months yet, lots of work is being done to get everything ready behind the scenes. We’ve had the first price estimate back on the renovation work to be done, and are now finalising what we will actually do, making sure we balance our ambitions against our budget!

The next stage will be to apply for planning permission for some of the changes, to get quotes from builders, and to apply for certain grants. Remember that our goal is to provide dedicated space for our children’s and youth work, alongside some extra social action space, and to open a Community Grocery to serve people in need in our town. We would like to see this work completed and Church Gate open in 2025.

Please pray for the all the items listed above, and especially that we would find favour with some of the grant funders, who have so far made positive noises, and please pray for the whole team working to deliver this project.

Staff Team

I would value your prayers for our staff team this Christmas. It has been a very busy term and we are currently understaffed in some key areas too. I would observe that there has been significant pressure felt by the team at certain points and everyone is tired.

We will be looking at the size and make up of our staff team again in 2025, but it will take a little time to do this well, and will also require more resource. In the mean time, please be praying for the team to be well rested and refreshed for the year ahead, and for God to provide all the finance and staff required to build the church well into the future. Please also pray for the many volunteers who give their time for free, week by week – we love and value all of you so much.

The Assisted Dying Bill

As you probably know, the Assisted Dying Bill was brought before Parliament in November, and was sadly approved. This represents a significant shift in how our society values and approaches the sanctity of life.

At this point it’s restricted to those with a terminal illness who have less than six months to live, but the pressure is already on for access to be widened, just as it’s been widened in every nation where it’s been legalised. In Canada, 1 in 20 deaths is now by this kind of assisted suicide, and in Belgium and the Netherlands it’s now legal to do this to children.

Of course this is not an easy or straightforward issue, and it stirs strong feelings on all sides, but as followers of Christ, our response must be rooted in the teaching of the Bible, and not in emotional stories. We believe in the God-given dignity and worth of every person, from the beginning to the end of life, and hold that life is a sacred gift to be cared for, even in the face of suffering.

Sadly our local MP’s in Woking and Guildford, both voted in favour of the bill. Whilst we would not expect people who don’t follow Jesus to hold a Biblical worldview, we should of course bear this issue in mind (along with the many other issues at stake!) when it’s our turn to vote again.

In the meantime I urge us to pray for all who carry the weight of making such decisions, as there are more stages to go in this bill. I encourage us to pray fervently for our nation, its leaders, and those most directly impacted by this decision. Please pray that our nation will turn away from this slippery slope towards the devaluing of human life.

Of course, we also need to consider how we, as individuals and as a church, can be a tangible source of support and hope to those navigating end-of-life challenges, and we must also show lots of love and grace to those who disagree with the Biblical viewpoint on this issue. Thank you for standing firm in your faith and for being a community that reflects the love of Christ in all circumstances.

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Getting A Taste Of Alpha

/ Steve Petch / Leave a comment

As part of our Autumn programme this year, we’re inviting everyone in Welcome Church to attend one of our ‘Taste Of Alpha’ evenings.

I attended the first one last night 🙂

These evenings are a chance for us all to experience what the first evening of an Alpha course is like, building our confidence to make invitations to our Autumn Alpha course which starts with ‘Try Alpha’ on October 16th. (In case anyone is unsure, Alpha is an 8 week course that we run, and is intended for people who want to explore what the Christian faith is all about)

What I experienced

On arrival the front hall was packed with people from Welcome Church who’d signed up for the first Taste of Alpha experience. We were greeted with ‘Mocktails’, before being seated on pre-arranged tables, finding our name on a wedding style seating plan. Dub then welcomed us all and introduced Nnamdi, who led us through the full experience of the first night of an Alpha course.

The evening consisted of:

  • A excellent two course meal, with every table hosted by friendly table leaders who quickly got us chatting (my thanks to Edward and NG on my table)
  • A game of ‘Kahoot!’ – an interactive quiz, which our table sadly didn’t win
  • Some contemporary live music from Steve B on guitar and vocals
  • A screening of the new style week 1 Alpha video
  • Some table discussions built around two thought provoking questions

We then finished with a short chat from Dub about what we’d just experienced, and the chance to pray together on our tables and to provide feedback on the evening.

My observations

As someone who’s been very familiar with Alpha over a number of years, and who’s even spoken on several past courses, I wondered if I really needed to be there – after all, I already know all about Alpha, right???

Wrong!

I came away with three key observations:

First: I’m incredibly proud of our team. The evening was well run and brilliantly organised in every aspect. There was high quality food, the seating had been well thought through and the whole ‘production’ was great. Everything was designed to put you at ease. I want to say well done to everyone involved in making it happen. If you’d brought a friend along, you really would be proud to say that this was your church.

Second: The Alpha videos have changed A LOT, and all for the better. They were always good, but no longer is it Nicky Gumble preaching at you for 30 minutes. The videos are bright, clear and well put together with a variety of people (including Nicky) communicating the message in different ways, with regular pauses for discussion on key questions. I found myself quickly drawn in and would have been comfortable for any friend I’d invited to watch them. This change of the style to the Alpha course’s content is the biggest thing I spotted, and it’s very positive change.

Third: It actually made we want to do Alpha again! It made me feel like, if I wasn’t a Christian already, I’d definitely have wanted to book in for the actual course. I even found the questions and discussion times to be personally thought provoking again, and I went home with a few things to think about – I really didn’t expect that!

In summary, any friends that we bring along to the ‘Try Alpha’ evening on October 16th are almost certainly going to want to sign up for the whole course. In fact, the biggest takeaway for me was this:

we can safely invite people to our church’s Alpha Course with confidence that they will have a positive experience and we won’t regret bringing them

To be honest, I think I knew that anyway, but now I’ve seen it and experienced it for myself.

What’s next?

There are 3 more chances to experience A Taste Of Alpha, on each of the next three Wednesdays. If you haven’t signed up yet, please follow this link to do so. One quick warning, the final evening is almost full.

And let’s keep on praying for our friends so that we’re ready to make lots of invitations to the actual Alpha course which starts with ‘Try Alpha’ on Wednesday 16th October.

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    Your Last Chance To View Church Gate

    / Steve Petch / Leave a comment

    The tours of our new building, Church Gate, have been very popular this last week, and it’s been great hearing all the feedback. Here’s a tiny selection of just a few of the comments made so far (we’ve been giving out feedback forms):

    “The building is so much bigger than I expected – it just keeps on going!”

    “I feel a real sense of peace looking round Church Gate, despite the work that now needs to be done. Having more room for age appropriate activities is something my kids will really enjoy.”

    “It really is right next to our current church building! I feel like it’s an extension of our church. Parents can feel safe to drop the kids next door. All the plans are good but my favourite part is the Grocery and Welcome Cafe for the poor. We have God’s blessings and we know what to do. Church Gate will be a hope for many people!”

    “As part of Welcome Youth the fact there will be loads of space for us is so great”

    “I’m excited by the opportunity to really grow the social action aspect of what we do as a church – to go to the next level of caring for our community”

    “As a parent I’m excited at the potential of a custom space for our children’s work”

    “It excites me that there is such a clear, big vision for Church Gate.”

    “The outdoor space will be a blessing for our youth“

    “This is a key enabler for our growth as a church“

    “I feel deeply emotional because I know that I will not be alive to see all that comes from this; future generations will be blessed and I get to sow into them today as others in the past have done for us. It does my heart and soul good.”

    “The vision for this is great; a lot of lives will be blessed”

    Wow! And that’s just a tiny selection of the comments made so far. If you haven’t booked a tour yet please be aware that this Saturday (15th) is your last chance because work will start as soon as possible. You can book onto a tour by clicking here.

    By the way, we now have power inside Church Gate and the lights are on!

    A Very Special Guest

    I’m delighted that our friend Vinu Paul is over from India this coming week. Vinu leads the team that oversees the Commission Churches in India, and he also gives input to our team here at Welcome Church. He won’t be speaking for us on a Sunday during this trip because he’s mainly here for meetings with the Commission UK Team and will be needed elsewhere.

    Whilst he’s here though, he will be meeting with our eldership team and will also be joining us for the 12pm Church Gate tour on Saturday. I reckon he’ll have travelled further than anyone else to see the new building … 🙂

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    Christians Against Poverty PR Day

    / Steve Petch / Leave a comment

    On Monday 29th January, Christians Against Poverty (CAP) joined us at our Welcome Cafe to hold a ‘PR day’ for the excellent work that CAP do to help release people from debt. The day was a great chance for them to promote what they do, working with churches across the country – including ours.

    As a church we love to work with CAP and currently provide Debt Counselling, the Money Course, the Life Skills course, and a Job Club, and of course there is our Welcome Cafe each Monday. If you want to read more about what we do to serve our town, including our CAP services, please follow this link here. If you want to get involved or access a service for yourself please drop an email to connect@welcomechurch.uk

    The output from the day is now starting to appear in the media, so I wanted to share a couple of links where you can see some of what went on or read about it. Welcome Church features quite strongly. Enjoy:

    Here’s a link to an article from The Church Times

    Here’s an article from Woking News and Mail

    Here’s a link to a great video on Facebook

    Here are some pics from the day:

    I want to take this chance to say “thank you” to everyone who’s involved in delivering these ministries at Welcome Church. Why not get involved yourself?

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    Welcome Church is going Solar Powered!

    / Steve Petch / Leave a comment

    Last year as a church we received an Eco Church Award which we were really pleased to get. Christopher also preached about the importance of being Faithful With Our Planet during our autumn preaching series.

    We’re now delighted to announce that next week we’re having Solar Panels fitted across the south facing roof of the chapel. Scaffolding will be up from Monday 15th to Friday 19th for this to be done, so if you see it and wonder what’s going on, now you know. If all the work goes according to schedule, the scaffolding will be gone before the following Sunday meeting.

    Your Fund Surrey

    One really exciting piece of news about these solar panels is that, not only will they save us money and burn less fossil fuels, but we haven’t even had to pay for them. The entire installation has been funded by Your Fund Surrey.

    Big thanks go to Uti from our Office Team for making this happen and also to Lance Spencer, who sits on Surrey County Council, for his guidance, his drive and his assistance.

    Week away

    One last thing: please pray for us next week as we have our Eldership Team week away. We’ll be away together from Sunday afternoon until Thursday evening to pray for the church and seek God for his direction for the future. These times, which we’ve often done at the start of a year, have always been very significant for where we go as a church. Do please pray for us all.

    Stay up to date with what’s happening at Welcome Church by subscribing to this blog to get it straight to your inbox each week.

    Carol Services and Christmas Plans

    / Steve Petch / Leave a comment

    I hope you enjoyed our Carol Services as much as I did. I want to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who helped them go so well!

    Here are a few pics to give a feel for what went on:

    The following is just a sample of all that I’m grateful for:

    • Both buildings were beautifully decorated inside and out
    • The ‘busking’ band who entertained us outside as we arrived did an awesome job
    • The Welcome Team were on the ball and looked after everyone well
    • Our worship band sounded the best I’ve ever heard them – they were SERIOUSLY good
    • We had a great range of people involved with the Bible readings, including a reading in BSL (British Sign Language) at each service. Each service also had live BSL signing that was appreciated by the deaf community
    • The sound and lighting team were in great form and served us superbly with sound, videos, visuals and a surprise ‘firework’ display for the finale
    • The Brew Crew delivered top notch refreshments flawlessly, on time, every time
    • The Welcome Kids and Tots teams went above and beyond the call of duty and the kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves
    • We were able to raise money for a local charity, Your Sanctuary, who work with victims of domestic violence ( I haven’t heard a total yet, but it’s not too late for you to give to that offering)
    • As a church, between us we invited hundreds of friends, family, neighbours and colleagues to attend

    Roughly 2000 people attended in total, adding together the three services and the children’s parties. The Mayor of Woking joined us at 2pm, and we had the Leader or the Council with us at 4.30pm. Those who are especially eagle eyed may have spotted our local MP in attendance too. In addition to these we were joined by representatives of the York Road Project (a local homelessness charity), Woking Borough Council Family Services and the CEO of Your Sanctuary. It really was A CAROL SERVICE FOR WOKING.

    If you missed the services or you just want to experience it again, you can follow this link to watch what went on for yourself. I’m looking forward to next year already 🙂

    Welcome Church Christmas Plans

    Now that the Carol Services are done, I also want to let you know about our plans for the following Sundays, which are as follows:

    Sunday 17th December: we will meet as normal at 9am and 11am. This will be the last week of our ‘Faithful’ preaching series. We will also take communion together

    Sunday 24th December: we will meet at 9am and 11am for a short, all age, family service to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas together. Welcome Tots will be running as usual for the smallest children

    Monday 25th December, Christmas Day: we will not be meeting on Christmas Day this year as we are focusing us on Sunday 24th instead (next year may be different)

    Sunday 31st December: we will meet at 9am and 11am and will hear from people sharing testimonies of what God has done in their lives over the last year. Come expectant to be blessed and encouraged, and let’s also be ready to support and cheer people on

    Sunday 7th January: we will meet at 9am and 11am and kick off our new year preaching series, ‘Reset Your Life’. This is a four week series to start the New Year, and we’re encouraging you to invite people along to hear it.

    We will also kick off 2024 with a week of prayer, starting on Tuesday 2nd Jan. I’ll post details about that next week.

    Stay up to date with what’s happening at Welcome Church by subscribing to this blog to get it straight to your inbox each week.

    So Many Reasons To Celebrate 🙂

    / Steve Petch / 1 Comment

    We have a lot to be thankful to God for as a church right now! I want to highlight two things in particular: our Gift Days and our Carol Services.

    1. Gift Days

    Over three Sundays in November we held Gift Days towards buying Church Gate, the three storey building next door to us (click here for info).

    Church Gate will be key to the work we want to do to serve the poor, including starting a community grocery to bridge the gap between the FoodBank and a supermarket for the most needy in our town. It will also provide extra space we need for our children’s work and youth work, which are both essential ingredients for our church’s future.

    The owners of Church Gate agreed to sell it to us for £3m, which is a fair price. I’ve discussed the size of the financial challenge in a previous blog post (click here), but in summary we plan to buy Church Gate with a mixture of both cash and a mortgage. We needed to raise the first £1m as soon as possible – ideally in this first set of Gift Days.

    It’s worth bearing in mind that we faced a BIG challenge going into these Gift Days:

    • We only had 5 weeks notice before the first Gift Sunday
    • The UK is in a cost of living crisis
    • Our town has been declared ‘bankrupt’ (section 114 notice)
    • We are in the run up to Christmas
    • As a church, we already gave sacrificially in 2019 to build our current building.

    We knew we were up against a big challenge!

    The result

    After the three Sundays, adding together the money received, some outstanding pledges and the gift aid on that giving, together we have given just over …

    … £1.25 million!

    That’s an incredible result and one we should celebrate. We have so much to be thankful to God for in the way this has come together.

    On behalf of the whole team I want to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who’s given sacrificially to make this happen. It’s a joy to be a part of such a generous church.

    It’s still not too late to give to these Gift Days, remembering that it’s not the amount that matters, but the heart of worship it’s given with. If you want to do that you can visit our giving page by clicking here.

    2. Carol Services

    This Sunday, 10th December, we are holding our “Carol Service For Woking” at 2pm, 4.30pm and 7pm (NB: there are no morning meetings that day!)

    More than 1900 people have now booked to attend on Sunday, and those numbers are growing every day. That figure doesn’t include the many people who are serving in various ways at each service and who don’t need a seat.

    It’s still not too late to book a seat for yourself and your friends, and you can do that by using this link. Remember, this is the easiest church invitation you get to make all year; people love to come and sing Christmas carols.

    Please do pray for this Sunday’s Carol Services. We want to see many people encounter Jesus and start their journey towards a relationship with Him. Your prayers really do matter!

    I look forward to seeing you on Sunday but, if you’re ill or housebound, or you live too far away and just can’t make it to a service in person, the 7pm Carol Service will also be live streamed at welcomechurch.online. I hope you can join us.

    Stay up to date with what’s happening at Welcome Church by subscribing to this blog to get it straight to your inbox each week.

    ‘Carol Service For Woking’: An Update and Some Requests

    / Steve Petch / Leave a comment

    Our Welcome Church Carol Services are going to be fantastic. At the time of writing (Thursday am), a total of 1741 tickets have been booked across all three services. In addition to these bookings, many people will be serving in various ways. Of course, there’s still room for more people to book. We’re excited to announce that the Mayor of Woking, Councillor M Ilyas Raja, will be joining us for the 2pm service this year.

    Each Carol Service will include Christmas Carols that everyone knows, sung to the tunes everyone knows, along with videos, readings and a short Christmas themed message. We will finish with free mulled wine, mince pies and other refreshments. Children’s parties will be taking place alongside the 2pm and 4.30pm services, so you and your friends can relax and enjoy the service.

    Seven Simple Requests

    We have some simples request to put in front of you all, so please have a read:

    1. Please invite people

    There are now just 10 days to go, so this is the perfect moment to invite friends, family, neighbours and colleagues to join you. There is no easier church invitation to make than to a Carol Service, so let’s go for it together. To book tickets for yourself or your guests please click on this link or on the picture below.

    2. Please arrive on time

    We will open the doors at least 20 minutes before each service starts, but it will take time to drop children off and get everyone seated. It would really help the services go well, if people could arrive in good time. We are able to provide free parking in the Town Centre ‘Red, Yellow and Blue’ Car Parks as usual, using the car park machines in our Front Building, but please remember that car parks may be busier than normal due to Christmas shopping, especially at 2pm, so do allow a little extra time. There is no parking available in our own Car Park except for those with a blue badge who have pre-booked a disability parking space.

    3. Please allow yourself to be seated

    This one is really important. The Welcome Team will be showing people to their seats again this year, so please allow them to do that and please fill every seat. On a normal Sunday you may like to sit in a certain place, or to leave a gap between you and the next person, or to save a seat for your friend. Numbers at the Carol Services mean that none of these things are possible. Please allow the welcome team to show you to the next available seat(s). If you want to sit with someone specific, please arrive together. Please remember that the Welcome Team are all volunteers, so lets make their job easy for them this year …

    4. If you can’t attend, please cancel your tickets

    If you’ve booked to attend and can’t now make it, or you booked more tickets than you need, please amend or cancel your booking. This is especially true of the children’s parties, some of which are now completely full. If you know you can’t make it, please release your tickets so someone else can attend.

    5. Please don’t come for a 9am or 11am meeting 🙂

    It happens every year: precious, faithful people turn up in the morning for church as usual. Please remember that the Carol Services are the only meetings we are holding that day. Our normal 9am and 11am services are not happening on the 10th, although we will be there to set up and to rehearse. The Carol services are at 2pm, 4.30pm and 7pm.

    6. Please attend one service and serve at another

    We have three serving teams that could do with a little extra help this year:

    • Brew Crew
    • Welcome Team
    • Kids work (for those who have a current valid Welcome Church DBS check)

    If you are able to help in any of these areas, please let us know. Ideally we would encourage people to attend one service, and to serve at another one.

    Why not step up to help as part of the Brew Crew or the Welcome Team, even if it’s not something you normally do? If you have a current Welcome Church DBS, why not help with one of the kids parties? If you can help in these areas please contact the church office or let us know in person on Sunday morning.

    Finally, and most importantly:

    7. Please pray

    Let’s pray for the Carol Services. We can all do that during the week ahead, but let’s also gather together to pray.

    This Sunday, 3rd December, we will gather to pray for one hour from 7pm to 8pm at Welcome Church. The Carol Services are the greatest evangelistic moment of our year, and our biggest meetings by far. Let’s ask God to pour out His blessing on it all, and for many guests to start a journey towards seeing Life Transformed Through Jesus.

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