These were all questions posed to the Filling Station team by a relatively new visitor. Our friend had been to Filling Station before and he professed to be a believer who’d had a faith encounter earlier in his life but now “wasn’t living right” to use his own words. It’s easy to lose sight of how difficult it can be to pluck up the courage to enter a church. The even tougher part is that even if you get through the first set of doors there’s often another set or two to negotiate before you enter the church hall or worship space. One of the reasons we like our new inside doors in West View is that you can at least see through them and have a peek at what you’re getting into before you push the door open. Our doors are there simply to keep the heat in, nothing more. They’re not there to put people off from joining us, and I hope they’re not there to keep the public safe from us. Our services are at 10:30 on a Sunday, children are very welcome and do let us know if you need help getting to church.
So what can you expect when you join us on a Sunday. Well quite often something different to what you might imagine. Most of the time our church is organised in a fairly traditional way with chairs set out in rows facing the front of the church where people speak and lead the music and worship. Occasionally though you’ll find us set out in a café style environment with everyone sitting round tables enjoying cake and coffee. In either situation you will be welcomed to church. None of our seats are reserved so you are free to sit wherever you feel comfortable. The service normally consists of a mixture of readings of scripture from the Bible, prayers and several worship songs ranging from traditional old hymns to songs we might all be hearing for the first time that day, and a speaker sharing a message from the Bible.We’re led by a worship band of singers and musicians and we use a projector to shows the words for songs, readings from the Bible and sometimes videos. People are encouraged to join in the prayers and the singing but you’re also equally welcome to just sit or stand and listen. Sometimes we’ll have a communion service, but someone will happily explain what’s happening and you will be invited to join in if you wish. We always leave space at the end of our service for coffee, teas, biscuits (sometimes cake!) and a chat.
We have a separate Young Church room with activities and anyone with kids is more than welcome to have their kids join in. You are welcome to stay for the full service. You’re also welcome to simply pop in for a little while and then leave again if you feel like it.
Is there anyone like me? Well I can promise you we’re all different. We come from lots of different backgrounds with different life experiences, good and bad. We like to listen and we definitely like to talk. We’re also not bad at helping people either. So feel free to pop in on a Sunday at 10:30. Stay until our service finishes at 11:45 or pop out earlier if you wish.
Excellent service at West View Baptist Church this morning. We began with the Thanksgiving video from Pastor Dwayne Burks. Jonny Hyde did a great job leading worship, aided by Amanda, Roy and Pastor Tim Hyde. Jonny introduced some new ways to think about worship and prayer including placing a candle on a map of the world to pray for issues and people in different countries. He also got folks to use a stone to symbolise an issue to pray for and then place the stone in a bowl of water as a way to demonstrate asking God to take away troubles. Tim provided the word today which rang true with people from Luke 1, with Mary’s belief in the message she was given and the relevance to the issues and struggles people face today. We learnt that this Song of Mary was known as the Magnificant, one of the oldest Christian hymn traditions.
Dave Niblock and Steve Gambill, joined by Earl McClellan preaching from midday on the Saturday after a frantic dash from the USA to the UK. His transport from London to Bradford didn’t go as planned so Pastor Niblock stepped in to lead the morning session.
hn 16:33 we were reminded that we were told we would, not we might, have troubles. Our victory is found always in Jesus. We need to remember that it is always cross, tomb and resurrection, always! The enemy wants you to believe you will always be in the tomb but that not true. Resurrection is on the way.
Everywhere Terry turned he was prompted to Jeremiah 29:11 which is the verse he keeps on his desk at work. It was mentioned in 3 separate preaching sessions, and was even on the blackboard of the mock up of a school in the Compassionate Experience. If you get a chance to visit the Experience as it tours around the country, we would recommend it.
Filling Station has been running since the beginning of April 2016. We are now regularly feeding between 40 and 50 children and adults from the local area and wider across Hartlepool. We have formed new friendships, helped in tough situations, celebrated good news and supported folks through bad patches.