About Us

What Kind of Church?

Labels can often be unhelpful! However, we recognise labels can be useful in helping understand the flavour of Church, but please read this with a pinch of salt!

First thing to know is that we are part of the Church of England. We are the local parish church for Knowle, we exist for those who have faith and those who do not. We are also open to learn and join with other churches and traditions.

Eucharistic

That’s another word for Communion, which is the Christian rite of consuming bread and wine to remember and reflect upon Jesus’ death and resurrection. We call ourselves Eucharistic because we place a high importance on celebrating this sacred and holy meal. To add to our worship, we also have a robed choir to lead us in worship songs and hymns. We also use set words, known as liturgy, which change in each Church season that guides us through different Biblical themes.

Welcoming

We are a thriving and growing church that has a big heart to welcome anyone in. Our congregation represent diversity in age, gender, race and sexuality. We are also proud of our diverse services which show how much we value children and young people. Our aim as a church is make sure anyone who walks into our building feels like they’ve come home.

Prayerful

This means we seek to be inspired by the Holy Spirit in everything we do. We want our sermons, our services and our socials to be initiated by prayer and led by the Holy Spirit so that Jesus becomes the centre of everything we do. We also have a heart to enable people to pray and seek God in their own homes, schools and work places. Our wonderful pastoral team are key in making this happen!

Community

We love Knowle and regularly look for opportunities to be a beacon of God’s love and join in with local initiatives. We have amazing connections with our local care homes, schools and parks- we are always trying to look for opportunities to be outside our building and connect with our local area.

Tradition 

The tradition that best fits us is 'Anglo-Catholic'. This means we believe that every human being is made in the image of God, so justice,equality and embracing difference are really important.  We place a high value on "sacrament"; we believe that God's presence can be found in the ordinary and everyday 'matter' of the world, and that we are invited to live our lives in a way that reflects God's love for all people. We value a worship service which tries to engage the whole person, using signs and symbols to point to the invisible spiritual presence of God. We use incense, participate vocally through speaking and singing, listen to words, prayers and sermons, observe the movement within the service, and share bread and wine. Each aspect of our service has significant meaning and is intended to glorify God- we don't do anything if we don't know what it means! In celebrating the different elements of our service we hope this makes it accessible to a range of learning needs and preferences. Our tradition isn't just about our church services, we worship in this unique way in order for us to go from our church into our families, friendship groups and communities to be Jesus's hands and feet.