WELCOME. From RIVERWOOD PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

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1 WELCOME From RIVERWOOD PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH Come and Connect Grow and Serve Go and Proclaim

2 Don t Read it All 1. Welcome Page 2. Facts Sheet What do we do in our Sunday Services What happens with the Kids? Babies and Toddlers? Teenagers... Loving One Another Small Groups Connecting with the Community Women at Riverwood Presbyterian Thinking about Getting on board?

3 Welcome to Riverwood Presbyterian Church Thanks for taking one of our welcome packs. We hope you found your time with us today encouraging. It is always great to meet with God s people and be challenged by God s word. This pack contains a little bit of information about our church in the form of facts sheets. It should help to unravel the mystery around coming to church for the first time. It should also let you know some things about our church that you may not already know. Before you look at the information inside it s worth getting to know what we, as a body of believers, are on about. At Riverwood Presbyterian Church our Mission Statement says that we are: A Family Forgiven by Jesus to Be and Make Disciples to the Glory of God Our Mission Statement reminds us who we are as a Church community under Christ s headship. As a Church community our Core Values are focused on: Bible Centred Preaching and Teaching The Lordship of Christ Godly Leadership Discipleship Prayer, and, The Great Commission Please take the chance to get to know us and have a look through the information pack and come meet with us again as we try to help each other follow our extraordinary God.

4 What do we do in Our Sunday Service? We meet at 10am. The Bible talk is central to our service from it we learn to know the character of God in Jesus Christ and we learn how to follow Jesus. We sing, we pray and we hear from the Bible, God s word. The service has a children s and Youth programme that runs through school term. We have Kidz Church for children aged 5 to 12 and we have a crèche for children too young for Kidz Church. We have a Teen Bible Study, which is for high schoolers. We intentionally spend the first hour of our time apart the Kids and Teens attending their specific teaching time while the adults also have a teaching time. For the last half hour we come together where we have deliberate community time, finding out what the children and Teens have learnt, have a children s talk and from time to time we celebrate Communion together. People from all life situations are encouraged to join this service we would love to have you come along too. Communion: Every six weeks we remember Jesus death on our behalf for the forgiveness of our sins. We call this Communion or the Lord s Supper. Anybody who loves the Lord Jesus Christ, including children, are welcome to take part in Communion. Giving: During the service our regulars have an opportunity to contribute financially to the work of our church. For visitors, the giving time is for our regulars and we would ask you to pass the plate by.

5 What happens with the Kids? Are they allowed to come to Church? Yes, children are welcome in our services. What if they make a noise? It is okay. Of course we want to encourage our children from as early as possible that we come together at church to listen, to pray with, sing with and love others, but we are also aware that our kids love moving and making noise! We would also ask that an effort be made to teach your children appropriate behaviour while in church so that they learn to sit quietly and respect the needs of those around. What do they do when they are in Kidz Church? At Kidz Church the kids are split into classes based on their school years to engage in age appropriate activities. There is at least one teacher and sometimes a helper in each class. The children will work through a syllabus of lessons on the Bible. Each term they work through a different component of that syllabus. Each lesson will involve a teaching time and some kind of craft or activity. Parents are welcome to sit in if it makes it more comfortable for your child and yourself. At 11am the kids are accompanied to the main hall where the adults are where they stay for the remainder of the service, where they sing some kid s songs and hear a kid s talk. Parents and their children are encouraged to sit together during this time until the end of the service. What do they do when they don t go out to Kidz Church? During school holidays we encourage kids to sit quietly in the service and we try to provide the kids with relevant activity sheets, clipboards and pencils. Services during the school holidays are shorter and follow a different format. How can I know my Kids will be safe? All of our teachers and helpers must conform with our denomination s Breaking the Silence child protection policy. For more information on what this involves please download our policy from the Presbyterian Church of NSW website.

6 Babies and Toddlers Is there a Crèche? During the first half of our service, from 10am until 11am, babies and toddlers are welcome to go out to crèche where they will be cared for. Parents can take their children to crèche from 9:55am and be back into the hall in time for the start of the service. What about some kind of Mother s Group? The RPC Connect group meets every second Wednesday from 10am until 12pm at the Belmore Road church hall building during school term. The Connect Group is for anyone with children under school age, from babies to preschoolers, and it is for church and non- churched mums. The kids do craft and sing songs and read stories as well as general play. It is an opportunity for mums to play with the kids, but it is also an opportunity to meet other mums from our local community. All welcome!

7 Teenagers Are they going to be bored at Church? We try to make our Bible talks at church at least as engaging, and perhaps briefer, than what most teenagers would sit through on a regular basis at school. A number of high school students love sitting in for our whole Sunday gatherings But I just don t think they ll be able to handle the talk During the first hour of the service, when the Kids are in Kidz church we also run a Teen s Bible Study for two consecutive weeks out of four. This is age specific teaching designed to help teenagers dig a bit deeper into God s word and to do so with people their own age. Is there a Youth Group? Yes! Our Youth Group meets on Sundays from 4pm till 6pm. It is for people from years 7 to 12. We participate in activities together, have a bite to eat and work through a Bible Study. The Youth Group also do other activities throughout the year such as attend camps, rock climbing, ice skating, bushwalking to name a few. All of our Youth Leaders comply with our denomination s child protection policy Breaking the Silence (see the Presbyterian Church of NSW website for a download of the policy).

8 Loving One Another Small Groups What are small groups? Our small groups are called Bible Study Growth Groups and provide more intimate communities within our larger church community. They meet together weekly for a few hours to study the Bible (usually in relation to Sunday s Bible talk), pray and share in each other s lives. Small groups enable us to get to know each other better and to ask questions about the Bible that we may not get to ask on Sundays. We try to make them as welcoming as possible because they are the building blocks of relationship and pastoral care in our church community. We also try to make sure everyone who comes along to church regularly is connected to a small group. Can anyone join? We love it when people join our small groups. But, it s always good to ask the leader of the group before you turn up at their house! For this reason, it is best to talk with the Minister about your intention to join a small group. He will connect you with a group and introduce you to a leader. When do they Meet? Day Time Who s Welcome Suburb Elder Monday 8pm All ages Alfords Point Stuart and Dave Monday 8pm All ages Panania Ian Wednesday 7:45pm All ages Panania Keith Thursday 7:45pm All ages Riverwood Ross and Eric

9 Connecting with the Community Do you do anything to connect to the Community? Yes. All of our people live within the local community day by day. We send our children to local schools. We are not exclusive. Every day we try to connect to our community simply by living among them as we try to follow Christ and convey our conviction of the Gospel truth. We try to connect to the community by building real and meaningful relationships as part of our daily lives. So do you have any outreach events? We do, just not a lot of them. We don t want our lives cluttered up with lots of outreach events and no chance to actually meet people who we could ask along! From time to time we put on events in the community where the gospel is explained for un- churched people in a comfortable setting. We participate in the Riverwood Festival and run an annual carol s event at our Belmore Road property opposite the Police Station in Riverwood. It helps people know there are actually living people connected with our building and it is a good witness to the centrality of Jesus to Christmas. We try to make every Sunday at church a time when anyone would feel comfortable bringing a friend. Is church just for middle class people? No! We want church to be a place where everyone can feel like they belong. We do have a lot of middle class people at church, but we are trying to break the class barrier that churches can often create.

10 Women at Riverwood Presbyterian Are there any Women s Groups? Yes! We have one women s group that meets four times a year it is known as ROSES. Our ladies meet to encourage one another in their walk with Jesus. Events are generally social culminating in a yearly dinner. In addition to ROSES our ladies go to Christian conventions and also informally meet from time to time. Sometimes I just need to talk There are some things that you really feel like you need to share with somebody you can trust. We have a group of ladies at church who are experienced and willing to listen and provide support when you feel like there s nowhere else to go. To find out more about how to get in contact with these ladies, please speak with our head of Pastoral Care (found in our church directory).

11 Thinking About Getting On Board What is the newcomer s course? The newcomer s course is called the RPC Essentials and comprises three free sessions that include lunch and run for approximately 2 hours each session. The newcomer s course runs over three Sunday lunches and goes through the RPC Essentials. The first session is a survey of what the Bible says it means to be a Christian. The second session is a look at what it means to be part of a church within the Presbyterian denomination. The third session looks at what it means to be a Christian in the Riverwood Presbyterian Church. Who is the newcomer s course for? The newcomer s course is for anyone new to the church or anybody who wants to become a Member of our church. Whether you are just checking out Christianity for the first time, or you ve been a Christian all of your life, the course will be of some benefit to you. Why should I do the newcomer s course? If you want to find out what it means to be a Christian, what it means to be at a Presbyterian Church, or what it means to be part of our church this course is for you. It also enables you to meet other people that are new to church and to meet some regular members from across our church family. It is an opportunity for you to ask questions of us so that you have realistic expectations of what is involved in being part of our church. It s a course. Is there an exam or test at the end?? No. It s not that kind of course. At the end of the course you may want to become a member of our church, but there is no examination required! It really is just a chance for you to gather some information that may help you follow our extraordinary God.