Worship with us

Our regular Sunday services are:

8.00 am Said Eucharist with sermon
10.30 am Parish Mass: Sung Eucharist, with Children’s Church in term-time

Worship is what we do. Not just our services, but our social events, our talks and concerts, and our community outreach work – all of these are acts of worship of our loving God.

We strive to follow Jesus in being inclusive, welcoming, and non-judgmental in all that we do. We believe that worship should seek to be beautiful and involving, stimulating the senses, the intellect, and the heart.

Why not come along on a Sunday, or to one of our other events, and see how far we manage, by God’s grace, to make it so! And if you like what we’re trying to do, we’d love you to join in and help us do it better.

Services at St Nicholas

Everyone is welcome at St Nicholas – Christians of any denomination, followers of other faiths or none, and the simply curious. We strive to be an inclusive community, celebrating the ministry of both men and women, and embracing the principles that the Church of England set out in Living in Love and Faith. Our style of worship is in the liberal Catholic tradition of the church, aiming for beauty and reverence without stiffness.

If you come to one of our Sunday services this is what you can expect:

At 8.00 am we have a reflective, said service of Holy Communion lasting about 35-40 minutes, including a sermon. We use the contemporary form set out in Common Worship.

At 10.30 am we have our Parish Mass.

This is a sung service, lasting around 75 minutes, with hymns and other liturgical elements in the choral tradition of the church. You can find out more about the music, and opportunities to join in, here. The liturgy uses vestments, processions, incense and bells, among other things, to engage the senses as fully as possible. A sermon is preached on the readings of the day. Again we use the contemporary language of Common Worship.

Following Jesus’ example, we welcome everyone who feels able to receive communion. If you would prefer to receive a blessing that’s fine too. Gluten free wafers are available, and we’re happy to bring communion to you in your pew if you find it difficult to come to the altar – if either of these applies to you please let the welcome team know on your way in.

In term-time we offer Children’s Church for school age children, in our parish hall across the road from the church. The children leave after the start of the service, and return in time for Communion. At the end of the service they tell the rest of us what they’ve been doing. For younger children we have a comfortable corner with books and activities, and we have busy bags with activities for the young ones who want to sit with their adults.

After the Parish Mass we serve tea and coffee in the north aisle, which is a chance to get to know our fellow worshippers. We promise not to try to sign you up for 101 activities on your first visit.

From time to time we have services at other times and on other days, for the feast days of the church calendar or for other occasions, such as our ever-popular pet blessing. Please see the calendar page of the website for more information.

The church is normally open for private prayer during the day, seven days a week.