Sunday mornings at 10.30am

Our largest congregation meets at 10.30am on Sunday morning.

GBC is a family of all ages and backgrounds and our worship reflects that variety.  For details of services over the coming few months, see Service Details.

Our senior pastor, John Smith, normally blogs his sermon notes on our Sermon Notes page.

We all know what it’s like to go somewhere new for the first time – so we try hard to be friendly and to answer any questions that people have!

People start arriving around 10.00am so if you arrive between then and 10.30am when the service begins there will be someone at the door to welcome you and show you where to go. They will also give you a copy of our weekly news sheet. There are Bibles available to borrow – although we also have the words of Bible readings projected on a screen as they are read. The words of the songs and hymns we sing are also displayed in this way so we very rarely use hymn books.

Our services take a variety of forms and last for about one and a half hours. They are usually led by one of our worship groups and one of our pastors. We begin with the whole congregation together and then we cater for children and young people in their own groups.

Usually our morning service will include:

• Sung worship in a contemporary style led by one of our 4 worship groups
• Bible reading, prayers and teaching
• Communion – usually on the 3rd Sunday in the month
• Prayer ministry at the end of the service

From time to time, we have all-age services and youth led services.  No-one would say our normal services are formal or traditional, but about once a term we also aim to have a multi-media based service using music, drama and videos, with less singing and a shorter talk.

Our church family includes a lot of children and young people and there’s plenty going on for all of them on Sunday mornings.  The  Re:Forge page gives more details.

Those in the GBC family who are church members or regular attenders at services contribute to the work of the church. Some of this money is collected during Sunday services but we don’t expect our guests to contribute.

Some people want to come to church and just sit and be quiet and they don’t really want lots of people talking to them. Others come and they would like it to be a place where they can make friends. Either way, we respect people’s wishes and try to be sensitive.

Everyone is invited to stay after church for tea and coffee and to chat. Many people find that after they have been coming on Sundays for a few weeks they would like to join one of our small groups that meets during the week. These are a really good way to get to know about 10-12 people much better than is possible just by chatting on a Sunday. For people who live on their own for whatever reason there are regular Sunday lunches in people’s homes.