Worship Survey Findings

To the congregation at St. Paul’s from the worship sub-committee  

Firstly we would like to say a big thank you for the excellent response to the worship survey that we carried out at the end of last year. Both the number and quality of responses was very good and has been a great help in evaluating our new service structure. The results have been discussed in the worship sub-committee and this letter is to inform you of its findings. 

We would like to give you a summary of the findings, and then give you our response.  So here is an overview of what we have found.

Two main areas warrant specific mention:

1. Holy Communion

One of the major changes we made was to make the 4^th Sunday of each month (and 5^th if there is one) a non-Eucharistic service. There are still 3 opportunities to take Communion on the fourth Sunday, at 8.00 am and 6.30 pm at St. Paul’s and at 9.30 am at St. Mary’s. There are a number of people who see Holy Communion as an essential part of their main Sunday worship, so  they have needed to go to one of the other three services, and that is fine. There are some who are sad that once a month the main morning service at St. Paul’s is not a communion service and we understand that. However the majority are happy with this pattern and are positive about the scope a non Communion service can offer.  

2.       Flexibility and ‘tradition’ within the Eucharist.

The other major change that we made was that the 1^st and 3^rd Sunday Communion services would be altered in two ways:

a)      Have more flexibility and creativity  to allow the use of a variety of prayers, intercession styles, dramatised readings and sermon style etc

b)      Have less ‘tradition’/‘formality’, eg omit gospel procession, not always use the pulpit, etc     

The findings of the survey show that in general people like the flexibility, but are not so pleased with a reduced emphasis on tradition/formality.

Of course there were many other questions, and it’s hard to convey all the details, but here is a summary of things that received very positive feedback and things that were not received so positively.
 

Very positive

·         Flexibility to include a variety of prayers

·         Use of silence

·         People like all sorts of hymns

·         Use of the Psalms, said or sung.

·         Sung responses during the Eucharistic prayer

·         Involving the children at the start and end of each service

Not so positive

·         People notice the absence of the Gloria

·         Visual aids are seen as mainly positive, but some are concerned that we should not overuse them or use them inappropriately.

·         Discussion groups are enjoyed by a minority of respondents.

 The response of the Worship Sub-Committee

The basic pattern of 3 Eucharist and 1 non Eucharist service at 10.00 am will remain the same. But within that basic pattern: 

1. If there are 5 Sundays in a month, then one of the 4/5^th Sundays will be a Eucharist.
2. If the 4^th or 5^th Sunday is a festival (eg our patronal), then strong consideration will be given to making this a Eucharist. Likewise if one of the first 3 Sundays marks an all-age/family occasion, eg Mothering Sunday, then there might be reasons to turn this into a non Eucharistic service.  
3. The allowance for flexibility and creativity in the 1^st and 3^rd Sunday will not be diminished. However in these services  we will alter the balance towards slightly more tradition/formality, as appropriate,  for example:
   1. We will have an opening  procession with the cross
   2. We will sometimes include a gospel procession.
   3. We will make use of the pulpit whenever it is deemed appropriate.
4. We will make more use of the Gloria or equivalent        
5. A variety of sung responses will be introduced
6. We acknowledge the desire for a service which is more focused on children of all ages and their families, and that need will be addressed in the longer term.