Going to church
There are a number of very active churches in Durham that specifically welcome students and international students. If you would like to find out more about going to a church - please feel free to get in contact...
‘Church’ is a term often misused by English-speaking people. All it really means is a group of people who believe in Jesus and meet together around God's word (The Bible). Most churches meet together on Sundays, the meeting is called a service. Some have different types of meeting during the week. For example, they may meet to pray together or discuss the Bible.
Sunday Meetings / Services
You will probably be welcomed as you enter the building. You are free to sit where you like, although you may be more comfortable at the back if you just want to watch what happens. You may be given a piece of paper with notices (events and information) on it. This ‘notice sheet’ might also list the order that things will happen in the service.
Most services will have the following in them at some point:
- Welcome
- Prayer (talking to God) - this may be by one person or by everybody.
- A reading from the Bible.
- A sermon (the Bible explained).
- Singing and music - the words may be part of the notice sheet or displayed on a wall, listen to the words if you don't want to sing them.
- The Lord's Supper (sometimes also referred to as 'Communion' or the ‘Eucharist’) - when Christians remember what Jesus achieved when he died on the cross, as he told us to in the Bible.
Remember...
- You do not need to join in. It is OK to just watch.
- If you do not understand what is happening, you could ask someone you know or one of the people at the front after the meeting has finished.
