St Michael and All Angels' Church

Early January until mid february 2010 was a decisive time in the history of St. Michael's Church, Galleywood as we talked to one another about what our life would have to be like in the coming decades and how we should and would worship God.  There was no referendum and the aim was not to try to keep everyone happy.  We were trying to hear God together by means of:

• listening and praying
• a consultation through our homegroups
• a suggestions box
• a 'blog' at www.galleywood40.weebly.com
• our youth and children's groups
• a 'graffiti' wall on which 100 comments were left by the end of the 40 days.

We heard God speak through people over 85 and under 10.   Then the leadership team of 15 met together five times to try to hear patterns in what God was communicating through his people.

The leadership team agreed unanimously on all the principles in its final report, published in February 2010 which is called Ordinary Glory and Rolling Worship.   We felt God was saying six things to us about the future of church in Galleywood:

• God is calling us to live ordinary lives, gloriously 
• God is caling us to meet at the Church on the Common on Sunday mornings in a programme of rolling worship, where newcomers can come when they like and leave when they like and committed members can build a balanced diet of worship, learning and fellowship
• our sunday services are our 'shop window' to the village and will be sensitive to the needs of newcomers to church life; other activities, including homegroups, exist largely to support those who are already committed memmbers
• we are God's family and he wants us to treat each other accordingly
• we need to work a lot harder to use all the media avaialble to spread the good news of God's love
• we need to maintian a presence at the schools on Barnard Road.

So we move into the future.  We will inevitably make many mistakes as we try to get all this right - but the mistakes will teach us something every time.  Join us for the journey - it may be a bumpy ride, but we finally know where we are going.  23rd May 2010 was our launch date for our new srtuctures.

10 Questions about Rolling Worship

COME WHEN YOU CAN, LEAVE WHEN YOU LIKE!