Given there are twelve churches in the team, it is not surprising that there is a variety of services taking place on any given Sunday. In addition, there is a pattern of daily services at St Mary’s in Tenbury.
It can be daunting to walk into a church for the first time, and services can seem a bit alien. Don’t worry, churches are friendly places and it won’t upset anyone if you get lost.
Communion
The Communion service (or Eucharist) is the heartbeat of the Church. All churches have at least one Communion service a month and there is a daily service at St Mary’s, Tenbury.
Any Christian who has been baptised in the name of the Trinity and is a communicant member of a Church is welcome to receive Holy Communion in the Church of England.
Daily Prayer
At St Mary’s, Tenbury there is a regular pattern of daily prayer. Normally, there is a service of Morning Prayer every weekday at 8:30am. These are preceded by a half hour silence which you are welcome to join at any time. On every weekday except Wednesday the service is immediately followed by Communion. On Saturdays the service is at 9am and the silence begins at 8:30am.
Evening Prayer takes place each day except Sundays at 5pm.
All the services are taken from Common Worship and you can have a look at today’s services by clicking on the links below:
Service Books
There are two service books used in the Team.
The Book of Common Prayer
The Book of Common Prayer (or BCP) is the traditional prayer book of the Church of England and dates back to 1662. Although some people find the language archaic, it is not hard to understand it it has a poetic ring.
Some of the churches in the team use the Book of Common Prayer for all their services, and you can view it online here. In fact, such is the affection that many have for the BCP there is a society dedicated to it.
Common Worship
Common Worship (CW) was published in 2000 and is the most widely used prayer book within the Church of England. Its language is contemporary and the services are easy to follow, but it is also sensitive to the traditions of the Church.
The Church of England publishes the content of the book online here.