Parkstone Baptist Church gathers together each Sunday morning from 10.30am.
We usually meet for about 75 minutes. Most folk stay on for a while longer since we enjoy each other's company, usually with a drink of tea, coffee or water in hand.
Folk tend to start arriving from around 10.15, to greet each other and have a chat together before we begin at 10.30.
What's coming up on Sundays?
All 10.30am at Loch Road unless stated otherwise
We're in the midst of on an exciting opportunity for us as a church community as we continue on our journey through John's Gospel. We are taking time to read together and learn from the encounters that many different people had with Jesus, that were written about by John.
Our hope is that we will believe more and more in Jesus as the Son of God, and by believing in this way we will have life in his name. This is the reason that John gave for writing his Gospel (John chapter 20 verse 31) and we're up for that!
We'd love you to join us on our journey. During April we will be exploring John in Chapter 4. Here we get to listen in on conversation that Jesus had with a women at a well.
Sunday 6th April - 10.30 Jesus and the women at the well. - John 4
Sunday 13th April - 10.30 Continue studying Jesus and the women at the well. - John 4
With Communion: led by Ben Lucas
Thursday 17th April - 7.00pm Maundy Thursday gathering with Buckland Road Baptist Church at Buckland Road.
Friday 18th April - Good Friday 10.30 Brunch and Reflection.
Sunday 20th April - Easter Sunday 10.30 Shared Service with Calvary Pentecostal Church
Sunday 27th April - 10.30 Taking Further Steps John 4. Led by Ben Lucas.
What happens when we gather on Sunday morning?
We take time to pray together at several points during our time when we meet.
These prayers tend to form the 'rhythm' for our gatherings.
We read part of the Bible together and help one another to better understand, learn from and respond to what we've read. Sometimes this will be through a talk or sermon. Sometimes it will be more like a discussion or study. More often than not it will be a mix of both approaches, so that we take time to learn from one another. It's not unusual for folk to pose a question when there is something they want to ask.
Our Sunday morning gatherings usually provide opportunities to share things that we have noticed recently as we trust in Jesus. We recognise that this is a way we can find common expression in our life of faith. We draw encouragement from one another as we share the life of faith together.
We also like to sing together, drawing from a mix of songs and hymns written and composed across a wide span of time. We tend to keep things fairly simple when we sing. Choices and style are informed by what and why we are singing, more than how it might sound. Sometimes we simply read the words of the song together, as a prayer-poem.
We usually try to make our time together as multi-voiced as possible.
Silence is something we try not to worry about. There is never a requirement to say something, but we find we are blessed and encouraged by one another as we do!
Why do we gather together like this?
It's our way of putting into practice some of what we read in these sentences from a letter written to one of the earliest churches...
Christ's message in all its richness must live in your hearts. Teach and instruct one another with all wisdom. Sing psalms, hymns, and sacred songs; sing to God with thanksgiving in your hearts.
(Letter to the Colossians 3:16)