Come and Go Worship

23/03/06

The Revd Rob Harrison, Vicar of St John's, Hillingdon, reports on the new style of Sunday worship at his church

"A young woman, with a child, came to St John’s for the first time one day last year and said that she had been trying to come to church for some while. On more than one occasion, she explained, she had parked her car outside the church, realised she was late, and driven home again. How many times does that frustration occur outside our churches, but we never know?

"We live in an age of self-service and extended opening hours. We are used to being able to turn up to places when it suits us, and whenever we turn up at a shop or recreational centre in ‘normal hours’ and find it closed, we feel cheated. Was it possible to apply the secular principle of opening hours to Christian worship?

"As with so many things in life, the initial idea was the easy bit. Delivering five hours of continuous worship, in ten distinct and different half hour sections, took a great deal of planning. Separate groups of lay leaders oversaw the development of the early morning, mid morning and late morning segments. There were additional meetings to deal with music, welcoming, publicity and liturgical detail. The result: a spectrum of Christian worship from BCP Matins to the informal and interactive ‘Exploring Faith Together’ - including breakfast, elevensies and lunch - all exploring and expressing a single theme, arising from the day’s lectionary readings.

"The first week, 15th January 2006, was inevitably tense. Members of the former congregations were anxious about how different their worship would be. The clergy were tense about keeping to time. With a following wind from the Holy Spirit and the fruits of months of preparation, all went comfortably to plan.

"We open at 8am every Sunday and close when the lunch has been washed up (a bread and cheese lunch with its own liturgy is served at 12.30pm). People who were more traditionally inclined can keep to the more traditional sections; those who are keen to have something more contemporary can. Those who can’t sing can avoid the singing. Those with young children can arrive when the complexities of family life allow, and leave when their little ones get fractious. Those with busy Sundays, or who work shifts, are able to worship more often.

"The invitation is simple: Come when you can & Go when you like. And they are coming. It is hard to tell how many new people have come since January (the pattern doesn’t easily lend itself to traditional methods of recording attendance) but the level of positive interest has been significant.

"It is, of course, nothing new. The eastern orthodox churches have been running a similar system for centuries, and the Temple in Jerusalem was open from dawn to dusk. We’re working on that. Next month we introduce a monthly ‘Late Night Opening’ from 7.30 to 10.00pm."

http://www.stjohnschurchhillingdon.org.uk/