Planning and preparing for worship at St Bride's

The Worship Planning Group is perhaps the easiest way to get involved with helping to shape our future direction, because absolutely anyone is welcome to attend. We meet about four times a year to plan the pattern of worship for up to three months ahead. Our congregation represents a diverse set of interests that reflect our lives outside St Bride's and we bring all of them to the life of St Bride's. If there is a topic that is of burning interest to you, we'd love to hear about it.

We are interested in exploring all aspects of worship as a way of deepening our collective, and individual, understanding of God.

Discussion Series

At St Bride's, the 'sermon slot' has been replaced by a weekly discussion that allows members of the congregation to learn more about one another, and to develop a deeper relationship with God as a result. The discussion topic will be introduced by one or two people, and the congregation are then invited to explore it further in small groups. The introduction is designed to be both informative and thought provoking, in order to encourage an atmosphere of learning and development.

Each Worship Planning Group sets out a number of discussion series for the coming months. Series can last between two and eight Sundays, although most run for a month at a time. There are also occasional 'one offs'. A series is facilitated by one or two people, but is likely to include contributions from many more. We do our best to maintain a balance between intellectual discussion and experiential learning.

Sub-groups of the Worship Planning Group may be formed to facilitate a particular season, such as Advent.

Liturgy

We use a range of liturgy at St Bride's drawn from many different sources. We have an especially strong tradition of writing our own! If you are interested in adding your voice to our liturgy, please have a chat with the Church Wardens who will be happy to point you in the right direction.

Music

Our hymn book, 'The Church Hymnary', contains modern and traditional church songs, many of which reflect the ethos of St Bride's. We also draw on other sources, including writing our own songs. There are also occasions when we use instrumental music.

We have a small group of musicians at St Bride's who really enhance our worship. If you are able to play an instrument, we would love to hear from you.