7:40am Sunday 14th March 2010
By Melanie Adams
NEW FACES are streaming into a Hampshire church thanks to the launch of a new Sunday service with a modern twist.
Forget traditional hymns, cold church pews and complicated sermons, as St Peter’s@Free Street has ditched those in favour of a more informal and family friendly service.
And the new congregation at St Peter’s Church in Bishops Waltham has proved a hit with worshippers who once avoided church on a Sunday.
Although still in its infancy, the service has attracted up to 70 adults and their children each week, with a third of those new members.
It is a tough job to drag people from their Sunday morning lie-ins but the mix of flexible sermons and a live band seem to be winning against the duvet.
The church’s traditional service still runs as normal in the church, while the new congregation meets in the church hall at the same time.
Rev James Hunt, has been at the church for two years, and believes St Peter’s@Free Street is vital to get new faces worshipping and closer to God.
Rev Hunt said: “I was asked to come here and move the church forward and this is part of that. A church has to move with the times and understand the needs of its community.
“We have already seen six new families attend this service, so we know that it is working.
“We had to justify the change to some people who prefer the traditional service, but there has been a lot of understanding that any church trying to grow its worship needs to cater for everyone.
“This service is a lot more informal and allows for more flexibility with the order of the service, where the language is more accessible and the music is more modern. So far it has been very encouraging, being able to reach out to those in the community that we do not connect with so well.”
St Peter’s@Free Street runs alongside the traditional service every Sunday at 9.15am.
© Copyright 2001-2012 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.thisishampshire.net/trade_directory/