News / Events

Sunday Worship

When to arrive:

If it's your first visit then it's probably best to turn up around 10.15am. If you are driving then you'll be pleased to hear that there is plenty of free parking. For directions to reach us please see the LOCATION page. You'll be greeted on the door by someone from our welcoming team who will give you the weekly information sheet with news of forthcoming events and contact details.

What to wear:

This is easy. Wear whatever you feel comfortable in. We are an informal church and accept people as they are. There is no need to dress up to try and be someone that you're not. Whether you come as a suited businessman or a freaked-out punk that is fine with us.

What to expect:

For some people going anywhere for the first time can be a bit of a nerve-racking experience. To help avoid any worries here's a quick summary of what you can expect at Advance Church.

First of all we aren't super-spiritual beings, we all had a 'first day' at church, so you'll find we are a friendly bunch, and if you don't understand something please simply ask.

Tea and coffee, plus a changing menu of biscuits, cookies, or doughnuts etc. are available from 10.00am. We have a seperate cafe area, which means we can chat informally before the meeting. This is a good time to get to know, and be known by, people in the church.

We start our meeting at 10.30am with about 40 minutes of singing modern praise and worship songs, during which time various gifts of the Spirit are often manifested. All ages participate in the worship but at 11.15am or so the children go to their own group (KIdzone)for specifically age-related worship and teaching. The adults then have a talk based on the Bible that is relevant and meaningful to modern every day life. We finish our meeting around 12.00pm, with more tea and coffee available.

Our aim is that whether you are just looking into Christianity for the first time, or have been a Christian for many years, that you should be encouraged and inspired by the morning. We hope that everyone will draw closer to God in some way or other.

For those with disabilities:

We aim to be an all-inclusive church. However our resources are limited so we try to provide for our current attendees. If you wish to discuss specific needs please contact the church office (01274 484488). Please be aware that there are five steps down to the worship area and a further five up to the cafe area. There is a large car park, with level access to the main entrance. Two of our members are reasonably proficient in British Sign Language and can be available if needed (do let us know if that would be helpful).

A typical Sunday teaching message by Pastor Derek is outlined below. it was part of a teaching series on 'Growing in the Spirit'. The first message in the series was so powerful and direct, his brief notes are reproduced here. The complete message is available on Audio CD from the church office.

AUTHORITARIAN or AUTHORITATIVE ?

Proverbs 22:6

“Train a child in the way he should go,
and when he is old he will not turn from it”

The two most powerful influences in parenting are control & support.

• Parental control is the parent’s ability to manage a child’s behaviour.

• Parental support is the parent’s ability to make a child feel loved.

Support and control come from a blend of parenting styles.

Authoritative parents have the ability to make their children feel loved and the ability to control their behaviour.

Permissive parents love their children but fail to control their behaviour.

Neglectful parents do neither.

Authoritarian parents try to control their children’s behaviour but fail to make them feel loved.

Did you watch X-Factor last night? I didn’t, but I caught a snip of it on BBC News 24 this morning. One young girl came in, and gave her all - unfortunately, she was out of tune, had a terrible voice, and no timing! The commentator on the News programme said, “What have her parents been doing, allowing her to think she could sing?”

On the train back from London last weekend, a family sat down opposite our seats. Grandmother, mother and son. The young boy, about 6?, was dumped next to the window and told to be quiet. No-one read to him, played any games with him, or even conversed with him. When he, understandably, became restless, grandmother’s response was to threaten him with a visit by a policeman!

The Chief Constable of Cheshire, on the news this week, said that he thought parents of children & young people who are out of control should be punished themselves for the child’s behaviour.

We live, it seems, in a world where authority and love have almost disappeared completely.

In 1 Kings 3:6-15 we read of Solomon’s request for wisdom. He clearly felt the need to make right choices. He had watched his father, David, make both good and bad choices. He’d seen his father both exercise strong control and show considerable love.

In 1 Samuel we read of Eli’s parenting of Hophni and Phineas:

“Now Eli was very old, but he was aware of what his sons were doing to the people of Israel. He knew, for instance, that his sons were seducing the young women who assisted at the entrance of the Tabernacle. Eli said to them, "I have been hearing reports from all the people about the wicked things you are doing. Why do you keep sinning? You must stop, my sons! The reports I hear among the LORD's people are not good. “ 1 Sam 2:22-25

Eli took no action - and both sons died as a result! He was the classic permissive parent. David perhaps varied between being authoritarian and neglectful. What Paul, in the New Testament, is trying to teach is how to be an authoritative parent.

Authoritative parents have the ability to make their children feel loved whilst at the same time are able to control their behaviour.

Children with authoritative parents have the highest sense of worth, conform most easily to authority, are most likely to accept their parents’ faith and are least likely to rebel against the norms of society.

Clearly, it’s more important that parents make their children feel loved, than it is to control their behaviour.

You can’t always control other people’s behaviour, but you can always love them because your ability to love isn’t dependent on the other child or person.

Sociological research does actually reinforce what Paul wrote:

Ephesians 6:4: "Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord".

Proverbs 22:6 says: “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it”

A parent’s role is to train up children in the way the children should go, not the way the parents want them to go.

NOTE: the way they should go - not necessarily want to go!

Far too many parents try and produce their own lost ambitions or dreams in their children, or assume that what was best for them is best for their children. Parents need to study their children and help them to be what God had intended them to be. This applies as well to how we disciple adult believers too! Far too many leaders have behaved like mis-guided parents.

They have not understood the difference between 'authoritative' and 'authoritarian'. Jesus was a man described as having authority, but never as authoritarian.