New To Church?

What should you expect when you come to St Paul’s for the first time?

We are a very varied congregation in terms or age, social grouping and even nationality, so come as you are! Most weeks we welcome people who have come to our church for the first time, so if you are a newcomer, you won't be alone.

Most people dress casually, but really there is no particular code and everything from shorts and a tee shirt through to suits and ties have been known to appear, so wear whatever you're most comfortable in.

When you arrive, you'll be welcomed by one of our Welcome Team who will give you a pew sheet which contains items of church news and our readings for the day. They'll also show you a seat if you are not sure of where to go.

There are toilets at both the Salwa and Ahmadi locations - please ask someone if you get lost.

St Paul’s is a family church. We welcome children of all ages. Families with small children often choose to sit at the back by the stairs in Salwa, but you can sit anywhere.

Normally children are in church with the adults for the first 20 minutes of the morning service. Most Sundays and Fridays, the children and young people then go out to their own groups. The children are never too far away. When there are All Age services, all age groups stay in church for the whole service. These services are designed to be engaging and interactive for all ages, and we aim to keep them to around 60 minutes.

The services normally has a mixture of music - hymns and more contemporary songs played by our music group. Services tend to last about 1 hour 10 minutes. Some people just sing, some people sing and put their hands in the air, sometimes people clap - sometimes people don't. In other words, all types of people worship at St Paul’s and you are welcome to worship in the way that suits your desire to glorify God best! The words are provided in hymn books and in Salwa they are sometimes projected onto the big screen at the front of church.

We normally preach from a passage in the Bible following the Anglican lectionary, although we occasionally do something topical. Sermons are normally between 10 to 20 minutes in length. We believe the Bible can speak to us directly today through the Holy Spirit and therefore we always try to apply our preaching to our daily lives. The preacher will normally be one of the clergy or Lay Preachers (see Who's who?), but occasionally we have guest speakers.

Three out of four services are a service of Holy Communion. We welcome anyone to communion who professes Christ as Lord and would normally take communion in the church from which they have come. 

There is usually a financial offering taken up during one of the songs during our service. This is for people who consider St Paul’s to be their church. We do not expect first timers and visitors to give anything at all to our church. Please just pass the bag along when it comes to you. You'll find that the majority of people do the same thing, often because they give in other ways.

After the service, most people stay around to drink either upstairs at Salwa or at Andy’s home in Ahmadi. This is a great chance to meet others in the church. If you don't know anyone, please introduce yourself to someone who looks like they might know their way around. We don't always spot newcomers as easily as we would like!