Explore Together

This term, we're going to have an "Explore Together" service once a month. It's not like all-age services in the past; nor is it like Superstars ... so what will it be like and why are we doing it? 

Four reasons we're doing Explore Together

1. Not everyone learns in the same way as each other. In church, the default way of teaching is for people to sit and listen to a sermon for 20 minutes - but anyone involved in education will tell you that very few people learn best by just passively listening! Some people learn best as they do something with their hands or make something - it helps them engage more practically with what's being taught and actually helps them concentrate. Other people learn best through reading quietly by themselves. 'External processors' learn best through discussion. Explore Together will allow people to engage with what God is saying through the Bible in a variety of learning styles. 
2. Jesus welcomed children into his kingdom and said adults are to become like little children. Children have a very real capacity to hear from God - God longs to speak with them just as much as adults. Yet too often in church life we suppose that it's only the adults he's really interested in, and we create separate spaces for adults and children. Explore Together will help everyone to meet with God on equal terms. The adults may well land up learning things from the insights the children have about God - that's how God's upside-down kingdom works!
   
3. It's vital to the children's growth in faith for them to establish friendships with plenty of adult Christians - not just their parents and junior church leaders. Explore Together will give space for that wider circle of friendships with older Christians to begin forming. 
4. At this stage of the pandemic, it's a great time to experiment with new things. We know that not everything is going to return to the 'old normal'. Part of discerning God's will for our future is to 'push on some doors' and see which ones open. Explore Together is one of those experiments. Other churches have found it a great way to grow in discipleship. Maybe it will be an unexpected blessing of the pandemic for us - or maybe it will be a big flop! But following Jesus means stepping out in faith!

What will Explore Together be like?
We want this to feel genuinely different to 'normal' Sunday services. So the layout will be different - we hope families will sit together on the mats or beanbags. There will be some chairs out for those who need them (plus the pews round the edges), but not as many chairs as normal. That will make it easier for us to move around.

Explore Together will start with some worship led by the band, then we'll introduce the Bible passage for the day and some key questions for us all to be asking God as we seek to listen to him.

For the middle section of the service, people can wonder round the different zones, listening to God in a quiet zone, a busy zone, a colour zone, a word zone or a chat zone. You can come and go between the zones as you wish. 

We'll then draw back together to share what God has been saying to us, before praying and worshipping God in song some more. 

If you're not sure if this is for you, why not give it a go just once? You've got nothing to lose, and you may well find that God surprises you by speaking to you in a different way to normal.

​And if you know it's really not for you, then feel free to come to Sunday @3 in the afternoon instead - a more traditional service with hymns and a talk. 

Explore Together won't be live-streamed - it would be a safeguarding nightmare with so many children wondering around - and with so much congregation participation it would be difficult to broadcast well. But we will make a video available on Sunday morning for people at home, so they can still engage with the same Bible passage and listen to God and worship him from their own homes. 

Let's pray that God uses this service to draw us closer to him and closer to each other!