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Worship

Come close to God and God will come close to you
James 4.8

Worship him continuously, praise him from sunrise to sunset
Is 29.5

We believe:

  • That our ultimate goal is to put Christ at the centre of who we are.
  • That we exist as a community and as individuals to glorify God.
  • Our worship is not limited to what happens on a Sunday and is best expressed through our daily lives.
  • That we are called to worship as a family of all ages.
  • That our traditions offer a firm foundation out of which we may grow.
  • That scripture is the Word of God, holds His authority and shows us the relationship that is desired by God and humanity.
  • That we need to re-interpret the Gospel to each new generation, with the wisdom of tradition and reason to help us.

We offer:

  • Worship to be as diverse as the congregation. All age worship at our 11 a.m. services, with varying styles (traditional, modern and free form) available at our 8.30 a.m. and 7.30 p.m. services.
  • An opportunity to experience God at a heart level as well as a head level.
  • Stillness and space for personal reflection, as well as energy, excitement and wonder.
  • Opportunities to grow in faith and learn more, to share our faith and to experience Christ’s love in our community.
  • Aim to demonstrate that worship is an integral part of our lives, and not something separate that happens for an hour on Sunday.

We are committed over the next 5 years to:

  • Sunday services to become an important, central and exciting activity in our parish.
  • Continue to provide and develop a diverse range of worship types with a strong commitment to all age worship, as well as traditional formats.
  • To ensure that worship is meaningful and relevant to the lives we lead in a large suburban area in Bray in 21st century Ireland.
  • To ensure a welcoming, dignified and holy atmosphere, that starts at the Church door and includes everything from heat, light, decoration, ability to hear, see and read a well designed order of service and understand what’s going on, and doesn’t finish with the blessing, but continues on afterwards!
  • To bring school and Church families closer through having 1 service per term in Church during school hours and 1 Sunday service per term focusing on schools.

And this is how:

  • To form a worship team, including clergy who will take an overall responsibility for this ministry.
  • All the usual duties and responsibilities of vestry members and others continue as usual except they are knitted into the overall context of the Worship Team where such duties overlap.
  • Worship to be participative. We aim to be “boat people” not “bus people”.
  • Integrated worship in all our services, as far as possible. Offering choice within each month, we aim to ensure that a wide variety of service formats is provided.
  • Services will seek to use the best of our abilities and gifts and that we always aim to prepare our services to the best of our ability.
  • Evening worship to focus on specific needs of the congregation. Evening worship can be a place of experiment in terms of style and form of worship and should aim to be one of the key points of growth within the Church.
  • Worship to take place in the most suitable spaces. We seek to use as many spaces as possible that best suit the style and form of worship, e.g. – main Church, epiphany chapel, sanctuary, family room, St. Paul’s chapel and carpark.
  • Worship team will consider any temporary movement of Church furnishings as best befits the purpose of the worship to help achieve objectives, in consultation with the Church wardens.
  • Music to form a central part of our worship. We aim to use as many styles of music as possible, as best befits the service, whether using music group, senior and junior choirs robed or not, choir stalls, pipe organ, piano, or any other instruments as appropriate.