Our Gatherings
We are a bit different as a Church ! We are a very safe place but we can be a challenge if you're expecting what lots of other Churches do when they meet on a Sunday. We do some of that, but not always.
We are always friendly, welcoming and encouraging whatever your background, experience (or none) of Church or whether you are wanting to find out more about God.
We use an 'UP', 'OUT', and 'IN' Sundays (and occasionally 'REST' but more of that later. ) We draw this from what the early Church did as the Bible describes in Acts 2:41-42.
If you want to know more about why we do things this way you can watch
this sermon
or
listen to this podcast.
We also host mid week life groups.
UP is when we gather for what looks like Church for everone else. We are relaxed and informal, we welcome people dancing, laughing, clapping, expressing what God is saying and doing in them in a variety of ways. We welcome people to be silent and wait and to shout out from the goodness of God.
We sing using modern songs. Presently we worship from pre-recorded session by groups from around the world.
Here are some of the songs we have either sung or learnt recently.
We have talks they often include lots of interaction. Questions and interuptions are welcomed and encouraged. We may have discussion groups on a bit of the Bible, or activities to get people 'in to' the Bible section we are responding to. People of different sexes, ages, races and experience speak with widely different styles. There are usually visuals for any talk. You can listen to some of our old talks via our
Podcast
or see them on our
YouTube channel.
We don't take an offering or ask for money during our gatherings. People who are committed to Celebrate support us by paying money straight into our bank account.
Our Father God is bigger and better than us so we make room for Him to speak and show His power.
English is not His first or only language so we we will wait for Him to make Himself known in what ever way He wants.
He makes Himself known in many different ways and we want to celebrate and welcome them all.
We are not polished, we put passion before performance.
We encourage everyone to join in by sharing what they think God is saying or feeling, starting a song or leading a prayer.
On some UP Sundays we share bread and wine to remember the meal Jesus had with His followers the night before He was crucified.
We burn with the love of God. We delight to worship Him and welcome His words and actions.
We are not afraid to express our emotions.
We share pain and joy but keep our love for Him central.
We won’t paint a smile on and say everything is ‘fine’ when it isn’t.
We won’t dress to impress or pretend we are better than we are. We will seek to do things well for Him but that doesn’t mean it will be professional and slick.
We may start a bit late, change things as we go and make mistakes.
We won’t limit who He is or what He does but we will be Biblical.
On an UP Sunday arrive from about 10.00 and the equipment like speakers, sound systems and video projectors are set up.
We have drinks and snacks (crumpets, toasted tea cakes or croissants etc) available all morning which people help themselves too whenever they like during the morning.
About 11.00 (and only about !) we have a gathering activity of prayer, some modern songs or possibly share bread and wine to remember the last night Jesus had with His friends before he was crucified, died and was resurrected. We would often have a time for people to share what’s been happening in their lives, possibly sing some more and seek to allow the Father to speak to us through the Holy Spirit’s gifts of speaking out His heart, reminding us of a section of the Bible or describing a situation that someone is facing.
At some point one of us will take a section of the Bible from a modern and understandable version and lead us to think how we can live for God. We will often have discussion groups or questions and answers but there is never any pressure to take part if you are nervous of doing so. Then we will have chance to respond to anything that has happened or being said, have another drink and pack up and go home, or out for lunch together (or in groups), go for a walk or do something else.
People may sit quietly as we sing and pray. Some may dance, clap, wave a flag, paint or simply watch. You are welcome to do all, some or none of what the rest of us do.
We are normally finished by about 1.00 in the afternoon.
We may change the order of some, or all, of what we do. We often have guest speakers from around the country or the world, especially from Redding, California.
Children and young people are very welcome. They tend to stay with us as we make the things we do accessible for everyone. We do encourage children to take part and be reasonably quiet during the talk. We don’t have a creche but we do have toys and activities for children and will soon have another room where parents can spend some time with their children.
Our vision is to equip a group of people to being the Kingdom of God where ever and when ever we are. Thsi will look the gifts of the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit being made real in our homes, schools, neighbourhoods and workplaces.
To keep us all trained and ready we have OUT Sundays when we will be out and about in Bradford.
Sometimes we 'Treasure Hunt'. In 'Treasure Hunting' we meet, briefly, to pray and ask the Lord to direct us to His 'treasure' by giving us details such as their name, where they will be or something unusual about them. We then go and find the 'treasure', introduce ourselves to them and offer to pray. 'Treasure Hunting' is a great way to step out in faith and see His Kingdom come through signs and wonders.
Sometimes we host 'Celebration Tunnels'. These are a simple, none threatening way of blessing people. Individuals or groups walk through two parallel lines of people who clap, cheer and generally encourage those who walk through the tunnel. To join in you don't need to be able to start a conversation with a stranger, give out a leaflet or even pray for someone; you just need to be able to clap.
Sometimes we do prophetic card give aways. For this we meet in a local coffee shop and use postcards with stunning images on them to give us some words that God wants to say to people. We write those words on the back of the card and then go out and give them to people.
Sometimes we bring God's healing to people when we host 'Healing on the Streets'.
We always meet to debrief from our time out and about and will often then go for lunch together (in our usual no embarrasement 'order what you want, pay for what you can' way)
Basically we do lots of different exiciting (and a bit scary) things. We always see God do something to connect with people and it's great fun.
Some testimonies from our OUT Sundays
We aim to be a family where every person is known and knows others.
To help with our life together we host 'IN' Sundays when we spend more time with each other eating, walking, listening and laughing.
'IN' Sundays can be a prayer breakfast, a lunch in a pub, a walk or another way of spending time with each other.
We like food so we often meet together.
Life is busy and the Bible says rest is important. After we looked at a great book called 'The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry' we decided we want to keep working on our following of, or apprenticing too, Jesus.
We taught a series on putting the ideas in the book into practice. You can find them on our
Podcast
or see them on our
YouTube channel.
We encurage spending time with Jesus in silence and solitude.
We want to be responsible with what we have and make sure we own it rather then it owning us.
We want to have a Biblical pattern of Sabbath where we stop wanting, working or worrying. We picture what a Sabbath should be like with our Sabbath wheel;
To help us have a full Sabbath we do REST.
On a REST weekend we meet on a Friday night. We eat, share stories of how we are feeling and what God is doing in our lives and then we take bread and wine together, like Jesus did with His friends on the night before He was crucified.
Then we take the rest of the weekend off from Church stuff (but not from God).