What To Expect at a Cornerstone Service
Expand the different sections to find out a bit more about what our Sunday mornings look like.
Each service starts at 10.30 and ends at about 12.00.
There is limited parking available at the school so please walk or cycle if you are able.
This is the vehicular entrance from Park Street.
This is the pedestrian entrance from Van Diemans Road.
​There are signs to show you where to enter the building.
As you enter through this door you will see toilets in front of you. There may be someone there to welcome you
On your left you can enter the main hall
There is a table just inside the door which you can take information from. There are also fidget bags for use during the service for anyone who needs them to aid focus.
You can sit in any of the seats provided. There are extra comfy seats for those with limited mobility.
There are also toilets at the back of the hall
There is no set order to the services but they can include:
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Call to worship (simple song/doxology)
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Songs led by a band, actions led by the A-Team
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You will be invited to stand up during singing but can choose to sit if standing is not possible or uncomfortable for you
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Welcome
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Theme illustration which can include a game, drama, craft activity or video
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Gorilla Gallery - people are invited to come to the front to share good news or celebrate birthdays.
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Prayers
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Sermon (talk)
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Discussion
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Communion (third Sunday of the month) - gluten free bread is available & we use non-alcoholic grape juice
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Time of worship and response
All activities are optional and anything at the front of the hall is done by requesting volunteers.
Song words, Bible verses and other information will be shown on a screen. If you would like the words in Ukrainian, there will either be words on the screen in Ukrainian or a QR code for you to scan on your phone to take you to them
If you need some quiet space at any time during the service, please feel free to use the lovely open site of the school
Adults can sit in the kitchen if they prefer to hear the service in a quieter environment
During the service children under 5 can go out to creche in a classroom off Vernon Hall across the site
There is a team of volunteers (over 16s are DBS checked) who run creche but you can also stay if you would like to.
SClub
What does Sclub mean?
It's our children's group.
Who is Sclub for?
For children aged 5-11.
When can we go?
Half way through the service 3 or 4 times a month.
What do we do in Sclub?
We learn about God from the Bible in a fun and active way using games and crafts as well as teaching, sometimes through acting it out and discussing.
To help you further with what to expect here are some pictures...
1. After starting in the main hall, we will walk over together to the other hall (Vernon Hall)
2. We use named pegs to sign in at the start, don't worry we have lots of spares.
3. The leader will let you know what is happening first but there will also be a visual timetable so you know what to expect.
4. You are likely to do games and crafts in these spaces.
5. The story time often happens on these mats.
We look forward to meeting you!
Parents, Sclub is run by a team of volunteers (over 16s are DBS checked) but you’re welcome to help your child settle when they first come.
Children can use the play equipment on site after the service
They need to be supervised by parents.
There are people available to pray with or for you after each service. They are wearing lanyards like this:
Refreshments are available at the end of each service from a serving hatch and on a table in the main hall
During refreshments people chat and the hall can get quite noisy, so feel free to take drinks outside and chat there.
If you need an accessible toilet
you can find one through these doors at the back of the hall
or enter the hall through this door for more direct access
If you need help to get through the doors, please do ask anyone at church to help you.
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In fact, if you have any accessibility needs, please do let us know. We have an Inclusion Group who would love to hear your thoughts on how we can help you to feel fully involved.
At Cornerstone when people want to publicly show their faith and symbolise starting a new life with Jesus, they get baptised. We baptise people in a small pool outside the back of the S-Club (Vernon) Hall, by carefully lowering the person into water and back up again (full immersion). This is what our pool looks like
Maundy Thursday Easter Garden Making
A short trail with stations that you can visit. Each station will have a person there to help you and an item to add to your Easter garden and a way of learning about part of the Easter story.
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The trail starts at John Hampden School in the Vernon Hall, heads out around the school site and Phoenix Trail before finishing back at the school for refreshments and cake! There will also be a holiday club on the school site so other people there who are not part of our event.
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The event will be relaxed, with no planned loud noises, and people can choose who they go around the trail with. The Easter gardens are made on a ceramic base and there will be soil, stones and other natural things to build the gardens with.
Maundy Thursday Easter Meal
A meal based on the last supper and parts of Passover which tells the Easter story, and is held in the Vernon hall at John Hampden School.
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There will be draped material to make it look like a tent/upper room and candles/electric tea lights. We will be sat around tables or on cushions on the floor, and the lights will be dimmed at points.
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The meal will feature background music, food, hopefully about 100 people, words and images on a screen and a social setting. The first part of the event will be led from the front. There are parts where we will invite people to join in reading words from the screen, singing, making toasts of non-alcoholic wine as a way of giving thanks to God, and eating other symbolic foods. All of this is optional.
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Near the end of the meal, children will be encouraged to go and hunt for a hidden piece of bread called the afikomen. This can be lively!
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Between led parts of the event, there is time to eat a full meal so this can be noisy with people chatting, standing to get drinks etc.
Good Friday walk and kite fly
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A walk up to Whiteleaf cross with frequent stops to hear parts of the Good Friday story and using natural materials to make crosses which we carry to the top.
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Meeting at the Plough Pub at Cadsden, we gather at the bottom for some instructions and the first reading. We will gather a stone to put in our pockets symbolising a burden or regret. We then walk up a steep and muddy walk stopping every 10 mins or so for a short reading from the Bible and an activity. The activity this year will be to collect items with which we will make crosses: sticks, nails and rope.
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There is a flatter, shorter walk option. Meet at the Plough with everyone, then follow instructions to drive and park up the hill.
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At the top of the hill we will read our final reading and have 3 mins of silence at 3pm. We will plant our crosses and then fly kites as a way of lifting cross pieces high. After that we walk/drive down to the pub and there is the option to spend time together there.
Easter Saturday Tenebrae
A simple service held at the chapel at Christchurch, featuring readings, acapella singing and silence.
We sit in chairs around lit candles. At regular points a candle is blown out making the room darker and darker. When the final reading is read and the final candle blown out we leave the room and building in silence. It's a powerful, simple, quiet space.
Easter Sunday Celebration
A lively all-age celebration where we tell the story of how Jesus rose from the dead.
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We meet at the Jackson hall at John Hampden School for a service full of lively and loud singing, celebration, prayer, a craft and other activities to celebrate Jesus. There is an Easter peace where we will be invited to greet one another. The music features drums and other instruments. There will be a talk with visual illustrations and times to pray, be still and reflect too.
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The usual quiet spaces are available during the service and all activities are optional.
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After the service there is a BBQ lunch with a bouncy castle, games, time to talk, sit and meet with others or enjoy time by yourself. There will be background music, possibly karaoke and we will be celebrating the birthdays of two of our church members.
Christingle:
This is normally a very well attended service so may be quite loud when people are talking.
As you arrive you will be given everything you need to make a Christingle.
Chairs will be laid out in a circular pattern around a central table.
The service will start darker with lights out and curtains drawn. The hall itself will have festoon lighting.
There will be some candles lit as readings and singing introduces the service.
The service has four sections introducing each of the components for the Christingle. Each begins with a reading, a present will be opened revealing the items (oranges, ribbons and pin, sweets and sticks, candle). Then everyone gets to build their own Christingle.
The service features Christmas carols.
At the end we will light our Christingles which then lights the hall.
After church the refreshments will be served in the Vernon Hall across the school site.
Carol singing at Windmill Place:
The room is hot so do dress appropriately. Christmas clothing is encouraged but not compulsory.
Please plan to arrive for a 6pm start. If the front doors do not automatically open, wave to people inside or use the intercom to the left of the door to ask a member of staff to let you in.
There will be sheets with song words on to collect when you arrive. Singing will be led by small band and informal choir. We will do a block of Christmas carols, then a break for a small talk and activity, followed by a lucky dip of small presents for children, and then more singing of more 'secular' songs. There is food afterwards including mulled wine and cakes.
Nativity Service:
The stage will be set up at the front of the hall so seating will feel busier. The service will include livelier music with youth and kids singing songs as well as acting out the Nativity story.
There may be spotlights used at points to highlight the nativity.
The service will also feature a craft to make, a talk and prayers.
Christmas Morning Celebration:
The service will be shorter than usual, about 10:30-11:15am.
There will be 2-3 songs, a short talk and a musical number by the service leaders.
The service will also feature people displaying gifts and Christmas jumpers!
During the service we will ‘share a Christmas peace’ which involves greeting each other. You can move around the hall or stay seated as you prefer.