OUR SERVICES…

We currently hold one church service each week and it’s held on a Sunday morning, 9.30 am, at the Stan Baker Hall, on the grounds of Cooloola Christian College, in Southside, Gympie. We’d love it if you wanted to join us.

What to Expect if You Come to a Service…

If you came to one of our services, you’d find people of all ages – from babies to people in their 80’s and 90’s. Because we have people from every stage in life, we try and make sure our services have something for everyone.

Most people who come along, dress quite casually – even those leading the service – so you should feel free to dress in something comfortable.

When you arrive at the school, you’ll find parking is available in various spots – the bus bay, angle parking on the drive and small carpark just past the Admin Block are best, but the upper and lower carparks are also available. Once you’ve found a park, walk through the school and find the hall – normally you’ll see others walking toward it and you can just follow them.

You’ll be greeted at the door by someone and handed one of our weekly newsletters. This has lots of church information in it about things happening in the church. Once inside the hall, you’ll find people chatting and finding their seats. Feel free to make yourself known to someone, or just find a seat. None of our seats are reserved, so every empty seat is a good seat for you.

Our services have a modern feel to them. We sing a range of music, from old hymns right through to songs written this year, but all of them are done with a modern flavour, normally with a full band. Although the Church doesn’t exist to entertain people, we do like to have fun and often you’ll find people laughing and enjoying aspects of our service.

During our service, we will do all sorts of things, like celebrate birthdays and anniversaries, watch short video clips, talk about people who may be ill or in need, reflect on major events taking place in the news, pray, or read the Bible. We also take up two collections of money – one is collected by our kids and is normally just loose change people give them, which is used to feed hungry kids in the Philippines and provide Christmas Gift Boxes through Samaritan’s Purse; the other is our normal church collection, which is the money we use to pay for our church’s expenses. You are welcome to give, or not give, it’s entirely up to you.

One other thing we do every week is take Communion together. This simple meal is a reminder of the things Jesus did for us on the Cross. Someone will speak briefly, then we’ll hand out some bread and some red juice. If you are a follower of Jesus, then you are very welcome to join us in the meal; if not, we invite you to let it pass you by, which we promise won’t be embarrassing in any way.

Children are fully catered for at our services, with a play pen in the main church area, as well as age appropriate programmes during the service. Families with small children are invited to sit near the play pen and allow their kids to play quietly with others during the service. Just after half way through the service, we will invite children to go to our two children’s programmes. Sparks is for 2 – 5 year olds and meets in a room, off the hall, near the playpen area. Fusion Kids is for primary aged children and meets in a room near the hall. Small children remaining in the hall are welcome to remain in the playpen.

Just after the children are released to their programmes, we normally have a message. This is usually about 30 minutes long and will reflect on what the Bible says about one or more topics. All Bible references are normally put on a screen for people to read, but you’re also encouraged to bring a bible along too. Many of our people use electronic Bibles on portable devices, but some still have paper ones too.

Following our service we always have morning tea together. Some leave not long into it, while others stay and chat for a good long time. We’re a friendly church and we love meeting people, so hopefully you’ll stay and chat too.