from flickr by a sayer sees Yesterday I preached at the converted Sheffield Synagogue, to both congregations of City Church Sheffield. It was the first time I’ve ever been there on a Sunday and it was an equipping message to encourage the church.
Most of the church buildings I preach in have been converted from some other previous use, and the Synagogue conversion must be the best yet. It is entirely transformed from its previous configuration which featured wooden pews facing each other. Now the pews are all gone (apart from in the gallery upstairs) and the whole thing was fantastic.
City Church have their largest congregation there, but they also have another site in the north of the City and once a month they bring the two together, which is the large gathering I spoke at yesterday.
City Church also have the unusual practice of keeping the children in for the whole service, which yesterday was 2 hours long. I’ve never seen this done before, and I was amazed by how quiet they were and how attentive they were in my 53 minute preach! I was challenged to wonder if my own children could listen to me so admirably for that length of time.
They also had songs started by members of the congregation. This is what I was used to when I was first converted at Queens Road Church, Wimbledon years ago, when anyone in the room could start up a song, and the musicians would join in. The level of participation and engagement in the worship was unusually high, and the whole thing is a huge testimony to the courageous leadership of Arnold & Mary Bell and the other leaders there. A great morning!