WHAT MAKES SUNDAYS TICK.

Sunday events start at 10.30 and run until just after 12 noon and we normally break at around 11.15 for coffee and to allow kids to get to their sessions.  Click HERE for details of the next one.

 

A big part of most of our Sunday events is singing— probably the best-known way of worshipping God. Many people (but not all) in Dayspring find 20 minutes of singing to God just the thing—reminding themselves how good he is and occasionally getting excited enough to shout and bounce around a bit. Most of our songs are easy to learn and are fairly recent so if that’s for you, get on down and meet God! Sometimes—maybe less often than we would wish—people speak or sing in tongues and we try to give opportunity for people to share stories or insights. Tongues and prophetic insight may seem bizarre but they are well within the scope of normal Christianity and they help millions all over the world. The key is recognising that we need to be both enthusiastic and careful at the same time. Of course singing is not the only way to worship. Part of our commitment is to help one another worship 24/7.

 

About half our time on Sundays is spent listening. We spend about fifteen minutes with updates and news. For around half an hour—more if we have a guest speaker—we spend time talking with a big issue in one hand and the Bible in the other. We try to avoid assuming that you know a lot about faith issues and use visuals whenever we can. If we lose you along the way please do tell us. We may be able to help you and it will certainly help us to know we are not hitting the spot. Most people find these sessions interesting and helpful but you can always choose to leave at coffee time or chill out instead. It’s up to you.

 

We almost always have a half time break for coffee and to meet people—it’s a plan that works for us. A few people find that’s a problem because it breaks their concentration or the flow of the event. We think God is OK about drinking coffee and having people say Hi! to one another. Of course you don’t have to wait until half time for a drink. You can get one when you arrive and are welcome to bring them with you into the main event as long as they don’t end up on the floor or in the electrics!

 

From earliest times Christians have chosen to express their gratefulness for the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ by eating bread and drinking wine. Sometimes we do it as part of the main event and at least on one Sunday a month we hope to have the basics on a table in the hall so that you — preferably with a friend — can join in with a brilliant life-giving tradition. From time to time we will have other creative prayer activities in that area, too.  If it’s up and running it’s always worth taking a look.

There are only a couple of guidelines:

·         Breaking of bread is about sharing the life and death of Jesus so it makes most sense if you can affirm that you want to follow his way before you do it.

·         Breaking bread is about recognising that you are part of the body of Christ which is made up of all Christians. So doing the stuff while having issues with other Christ followers is not a good idea.

Sometimes we break bread all together, especially in our small groups. By the way we normally use grape juice rather than wine. It’s for purely practical reasons.

About once in six months we give the whole morning over to what we call Breaking of Breakfast. It’s hard to explain but you’ll see a warning on the calendar so that you aren’t forced to eat two breakfasts.

 

One of the great things about meeting together is receiving prayer for our own needs or issues. To help we have a table at the back of the main hall where you can get prayer during or after the event. You can also receive anointing with oil – as a symbol of the Holy Spirit – particularly if you are ill. Some people find it helpful to say why they need prayer. Some want to keep things private. That’s OK. God knows all about us anyway.

 

Children from zero to eleven have their own programme in the one half of the morning.   You can get the detail here.

Young people of secondary school age normally find that the adult session is accessible and so stay with us for the second half of the event. 

Our work with children and young people follow child safety guidelines. Children’s and youth workers are always available to answer your questions.