What is happening to the 8:45 Service?
The 8:45am service will remain as is. We see this as providing a more traditional service on a Sunday and those who attend are an incredibly important part of our church family.
The communion during this service will mainly be led by Ollie but will be helped by Dave and our new Associate Rector when they are appointed.
The talk at this service may be delivered by speakers from the congregation who we are seeking to raise up.
What about the Evening Service?
We are planning to return to regular evening services as they're an important opportunity for extended worship, ministry and additional teaching opportunities. We're possibly looking into how we can use this service to maintain our link with Heriot Watt by holding one evening service there once a month.
Will the set-up times for the services change?
The set-up time for the Livingston service is 8am and this will not change. We are proposing that the set-up time in Balerno also doesn’t change, so that the teams can join the refreshments before the service.
What will be the change to drop off times for kids groups?
For those in Balerno the timings of the kids drop off will be 10:50am (starts at 11am) and in Livingston it will be 9:50am (starts at 10am).
Which service will be Streamed as we go back to two morning services?
We will only be live streaming the service from Balerno which will mean Livingston set up will revert to how it was pre-pandemic, which was far simpler than at present.
Will we still have the Welcome Table?
We will continue to have a welcome table in Balerno which people can come to during the refreshments time or at the end of the service. Having this available before the service starts provides an opportunity to give visitors a really good welcome from the start of their time with us.
Who are the teaching team for the morning services?
Since March Ollie has been building a new teaching team for the morning services which is just about at full strength. At present the morning service speakers are Ollie, Dave, Andrea Wigglesworth and Sarah Tomb. When we appoint the Associate Rector, they will also be part of the teaching team so they can be known in both Livingston and Balerno. The 8:45 and the evening services provide opportunities to allow others in staff or from the congregation to speak. Some of these have previously spoken at the evening service, or have spoken on one of our services (including Mighty Mungos) during lockdown.
Are we asking to much of the speaker?
Before Covid the speakers on a Balerno week would speak at the 8:45am service and then go on to speak at the Balerno 10:30am service. One of the service leaders would often have to lead the 8:45am service and then go and speak at the 10:30am Livingston service. So, in terms of asking the speaker to speak twice, this is nothing new.
However, it is important to us that we take care of our speakers. In light of this if this proposal goes ahead, we’ll plan to keep reviewing this and will introduce a dedicated driver if it’s needed.
Ollie really loves to communicate God’s Word and it is what energizes him. On the weeks he is preaching he intends to preach at the three morning services, but he does not expect any of the other speakers to do so. The 8:45 service then provides an opportunity for others to speak.
How can those in Livingston talk to the speaker about their talk?
Although the speaker will not be available to talk at the end of the Livingston service there will be plenty of opportunities throughout the rest of the month to speak with them as they will be service leading in both Livingston and Balerno. The speaker is also available by email which is probably the most common way the congregation gets in touch about the talks.
Is there enough time between the 2 morning services for the speaker not to feel rushed?
There is 45 minutes for the speaker to get from Livingston to Balerno. This allows 10 minutes for the speaker to leave and arrive at the different venues, and 35 minutes to get from Livingston to Balerno. It normally takes around 20 minutes to drive from Livingston to Balerno which leaves 15 minutes for any delay. We would have a parking space allocated for the speaker next to the front entrance at Balerno.
What about the Service Leader role?
Ollie will be doing service leader training with the service leaders, so they become more confident on how to lead the ministry times. Before the service the speaker and service leader can agree on the direction of the ministry time which the speaker can start before leaving. It would then be up to service leader to carry out the rest of the ministry time. This practise is often used in Word and Spirit churches and is already happening and is exciting to have more people involved!
What about times of fellowship?
In Balerno having 30 minutes to have refreshments before the service starts allows for new people to receive a good welcome and gives a good time before the service for us to chat as a family. There will still be 30 minutes at the end of the service if people want to stay and chat as the time we need to be out of the school (1pm) has not changed.
This is something which will intentionally monitor closely as creating opportunities for connection and community is really important.
In Livingston, refreshments, and time for chatting to others will continue to be at the end as was previously.
Will this proposal still allow for Communion services in both locations?
We will still be able to accommodate communion services at all three of the morning services. At present we still need permission from the Bishop to have communion in Livingston due some wider pastoral issues within the parish and this is not something affected by the new proposed timings.
Is this a permanent move?
If we decide to go ahead, we would be trialling this model from 6 months to a year and will keep it in review. We may conduct a survey after 6 months to see how people are feeling. If it is clearly not working, we will go back to how it was or try something else.