The front of the main hall with sun shining through the roof windows
Welcome!
The Sunday morning service starts at 10:30am. Everyone is welcome to come along and join in the worship. If you have children, they are welcome too. People often worry that the children will make noise and be disruptive but don’t worry, just come along and join in. It can seem a little daunting to go to a church service if you haven’t been to a particular church before. The most important thing to remember when you come to Halifax Elim is to relax and not worry about the strange customs of the congregation, just make yourself at home. Hopefully this page will make some sense of what to expect on a Sunday morning.
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Halifax Elim is a friendly community and do our best to recognise and welcome all first-time visitors, but if we don’t manage as well as we’d like, say ‘hi’ to someone over a coffee at the end of the service. In a small (ish) church it can be hard to stay anonymous but if you are looking for space to be on your own we will try to respect that. Perhaps at the end of the service you will take the opportunity to introduce yourself once you’ve (hopefully) established that we are a reasonable bunch of people after all. Here are some things you probably want to know, especially if you are not a regular church-goer:
Pastor Mark wrapping people up at Christmas!
Structure
The services are reasonably informal and generally follow a familiar structure. Pastor Mark and Marcus usually wear normal clothes (no dog collars). All of our services use modern language so don’t expect to find Thees or Thous. We usually put all the words to the songs that we sing on the big screens at the front of church. At some points in the service we stand up and at others we sit down. If you are unable to do this easily, don’t worry.
Marcus giving a talk
Communion
Communion is where churches share bread and wine in the way that Jesus did with his disciples nearly 2000 years ago. This is usually done in the first half of the service. The person leading the meeting will invite the congregation to come down to the front of the church to take a piece of bread and a thimble of wine (which is actually blackcurrant juice) from the table on either side of the room. There is also a gluten and dairy free pre-packaged rice wafer and grape juice thimble available too on the tables should you require this. You do not need to be a member of our church, or have previously been confirmed, blessed or baptised to be allowed to take communion, everyone is welcome, however If you don’t feel comfortable taking communion then please do not feel under any pressure to do so.
Offering
An offering is taken in every service of worship. If you do not wish to contribute financially to our church, just let the bags pass by. Many members arrange their giving via standing orders, so a significant proportion of the congregation will not be putting anything in the bag. No-one will think anything of it if you don’t contribute.
Some of the church band
Music
The music at Halifax Elim draws upon a wide variety of different styles varying from traditional hymns to more modern worship songs. Usually our music is led on the keyboard or guitar together with singers, the drummer and the odd bit of brass or woodwind. Occasionally we may have different kinds of accompaniment from a variety of styles. The congregation has a wide range of musical ability so if you can’t sing or don’t know the tune, you won’t be the only one!
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Sermons
The bible is at the heart of the faith of the congregation at Halifax Elim and exploring it together is an important part of worship. The sermons (the talk given by the person leading the service) often make full use of the church’s media equipment, using film, music and photographs as illustrations.