When you visit a church for the first time it can be intimidating – we hope that this is not your experience at St Stephens and that you feel welcome and at home as you join us at one of our services.
On arriving at St Stephen’s after finding a parking spot, you will walk up to our front entrance and be greeted by a couple of people from our welcoming team. They will say hello, and help you to find a seat inside our building. If you have any questions about the service or facilities (like “where is the creche" or "where is the bathroom?”) they will be more than happy to show you around. Don’t be shy to ask if you're not sure about something.
We have three services over the day:
8am - a traditional Anglican service. We follow the words to the service using a 'prayer book'. We share in what's called commonly called 'communion' or 'The Lord's Supper' during the service where we eat bread and drink from individual cups to remember what Jesus has done for us.
10am - a more informal all ages service. There is a children's church at this service too.
5pm - a service focused on youth and young adults - although mums and dads and others go too.
Our services will usually go for 1-1.15 hr. We will open by singing a hymn (8am) or a few songs (10am and 5pm) together, then our service leader will welcome you and encourage you to say hello to the people around you, and share any church news and announcements.
At 10am, children who are at the service have the opportunity to go with our safe ministry trained teachers to their children's church and do age appropriate activities with a short bible lesson. If your child doesn't want to do that, no problem. They can stay with you.
We will read a couple of passages from the Bible. One of our ministers or trained congregation members will then share a message from the passage that has been read out. We then have a time of prayer. We finish our service with more singing and an offertory collection. There is no pressure at all to give during this time. If you are a visitor please feel free to let the offertory collection pass you by.
After the service we'd love to chat to you if you have any questions about the service, something you have heard about Jesus, or if you simply want to find out more. Head up the back to our morning tea area and you can grab a newcomers welcome pack which has some info about our church and activities we run. You can enjoy a hot drink and morning tea (8 and 10am) or supper (5pm) before heading home - and hopefully come back to visit with us again!
On arriving at St Stephen’s after finding a parking spot, you will walk up to our front entrance and be greeted by a couple of people from our welcoming team. They will say hello, and help you to find a seat inside our building. If you have any questions about the service or facilities (like “where is the creche" or "where is the bathroom?”) they will be more than happy to show you around. Don’t be shy to ask if you're not sure about something.
We have three services over the day:
8am - a traditional Anglican service. We follow the words to the service using a 'prayer book'. We share in what's called commonly called 'communion' or 'The Lord's Supper' during the service where we eat bread and drink from individual cups to remember what Jesus has done for us.
10am - a more informal all ages service. There is a children's church at this service too.
5pm - a service focused on youth and young adults - although mums and dads and others go too.
Our services will usually go for 1-1.15 hr. We will open by singing a hymn (8am) or a few songs (10am and 5pm) together, then our service leader will welcome you and encourage you to say hello to the people around you, and share any church news and announcements.
At 10am, children who are at the service have the opportunity to go with our safe ministry trained teachers to their children's church and do age appropriate activities with a short bible lesson. If your child doesn't want to do that, no problem. They can stay with you.
We will read a couple of passages from the Bible. One of our ministers or trained congregation members will then share a message from the passage that has been read out. We then have a time of prayer. We finish our service with more singing and an offertory collection. There is no pressure at all to give during this time. If you are a visitor please feel free to let the offertory collection pass you by.
After the service we'd love to chat to you if you have any questions about the service, something you have heard about Jesus, or if you simply want to find out more. Head up the back to our morning tea area and you can grab a newcomers welcome pack which has some info about our church and activities we run. You can enjoy a hot drink and morning tea (8 and 10am) or supper (5pm) before heading home - and hopefully come back to visit with us again!