Prayer Ministry
Before Services
Prayer for the coming service occurs in the Drake Chapel from 10:00 am. An opportunity to pray for the service and for seeking to hear particular messages that God may have for individuals or groups of people within the congregation.
After Services
Our prayer team are available to pray with people after every morning service at St. Andrew’s. From time to time, we also hold evening services that include anointing with oil and prayer for healing.
If you have a need and would like us to pray with you, please approach a member of the prayer team after any service. They will gladly help you bring any issue to the loving God who wants to carry your burden.
If you would like our prayer team to pray for you, chat to Margie Goodfellow or Bronia Coulshaw or alternatively, you can use our on-line Contact Us form.
Tell us how we can help and we’ll be very happy to support you through prayer. Don’t forget that we can also provide other kinds of support, so please feel free to ask….
Within the prayer team we have members trained in Christian listening by the Acorn Christian Trust. They are available to offer a supportive and sympathetic ear, although this is a listening, rather than counselling ministry.
SERVING
Reading & Prayer
Please get in touch with our Vicar for more information about readings & prayers.
Sidesperson
Entering the church can be a difficult step for new comers and so we have a welcoming and sides-persons team to ease the way. The sides-persons also help with the flow of the service by taking the collection and acting as ushers for communion. As a church we have responsibility to do things in good order and must record numbers of attendees and the giving.
Terry West coordinates the sides-persons rota. Please speak to him if you would like to be added to the list. Someone will be on hand to see you through it for the first few times…
Here are some guidelines as to what is required:
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Arrive early so as to be ready for visitors
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Welcoming
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Service Cards and Notices
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Count Numbers (below 16 and 16 yrs+)
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Collection – usually taken just after the peace on communion Sundays or at the end of the service on other Sundays.
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Communion Usher
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Tidying up pews and Creche area within the South Porch
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Count Collection & Record
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Record Details in Service Book
Music
‘Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord’
Ps 95 v 1
Singing the Lord’s praise is a natural response to who He is and what He has done, a heartfelt expression to Him of our adoration and thanksgiving.
‘I will sing to You O Lord, because you have been good to me’
Ps 13 v 6
As a congregation, we enjoy sung worship each week, drawing on the God-given creativity and Scriptural expression that is found in both contemporary songs and the church’s strong heritage of hymns, appreciating how the Holy Spirit breathes life through words and music that is both new and old.
Our congregational worship is accompanied by a combination of organ and a wide variety of other instruments, including orchestral and contemporary.
On special occasions, members of the congregation gather as a group of singers to lead others in praise, including at Christmas and Easter, and for weddings and funerals. It is a joy to share such occasions as a team, proclaiming what the Lord has done and lifting high the precious Name of Jesus. At these special times we usually prepare well for such events and our leaders extend a welcome to all those who want to sing, whatever your previous musical experience as they cater for all ages and all abilities… so don’t hold back come and get immersed in the joy of singing!
For further information, please contact Jane Oliver or Bethany Bowden.
Audio Visual
There are two rotas, one for the sound desk and one for digital projection.
Sound entails setting up the PA for the Worship Team, balancing the sound from the various contributors and then ensuring the sound levels are acceptable throughout the service. There are radio mics for the lectern and the speaker plus a stand mic at the back of church for those leading the prayers. We have put in place further radio microphones and plan for more this will continue to make our sound coverage as flexible as possible. On the task training will be given by offering you to shadow an operative for a week or so until you feel sufficiently confident to go ‘solo’.
Please speak to Terry West if you would like to be part of this ministry.
Projectionist entails setting up for the service by ensuring that the monitors are on and not covered, The back projector is turned on and the screen is deployed.
At the business end there is a space on the front pew to plug in the church laptop which drives the whole thing with PowerPoint being the main presenter. The format of the PowerPoint is provided for you. Therefore as the Power point is ready to run you just have to tap the advance key between the slides at the appropriate moment.
You can shadow an operative for a week or more until you feel ready to take on this task.
Here are some guidelines as to what is required:
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The projectionist is asked to run a notice presentation before and after the service.
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During the service the hymns, choruses and liturgy is presented via a PowerPoint display.
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Presenter mode is used so that the operator can see up and coming slides and can make changes if the worship leaders decides to repeat a verse or chorus.
Please speak to Terry West if you would like to join this ministry
Flowers
Any-one who loves flowers is welcome to join the happy band who help to praise God in our lovely church! There is plenty of opportunity, whatever you feel your level of skill and there is always some-one willing to share his/her expertise, but there are no experts!
Helping to decorate for Festivals is a great time of fellowship.
Weddings are an opportunity to reach out to the community by helping to decorate the church and make the occasion extra special.
Please contact Debbie Morris at Dartmoor Flowers if you would like to help out.
Refreshments
We all enjoy the opportunity to chat and enjoy each others company after the service. A cup of tea or coffee and a biscuit just adds to the pleasure.The social time for tea coffee and biscuits takes place at the end of the 10.30 St Andrews Service, except for Family Service when we welcome all at 10.30 with tea, coffee, soft drinks and cake, so come early to avoid disappointment!
A dedicated band of helpers prepare, serve and clear away without us knowing.
Liz Middlebrook coordinates this refreshment rota. Please speak to her if you would like to be added to the list.
If you have forgotten which day you signed up for, here is the Refreshment Rota.
If you are wondering what the job entails, here are the Refreshment Guidelines.
Bell Ringing
The Bells at Buckland Monachorum
The Bells at Buckland have a long history and some of the former ringers in the past exploits of ‘ringing the bells through the night’ had to be stood down for their exploits!
Today the Bells have undergone some recent restoration work and there are 8 bells within the Tower, in addition to regular practices the bells are rung for Sunday services and where requested for weddings also. It is attended by a group of ringers with eight being the full complement in the bell chamber which is housed over the West Tower entrance to the church.
From the Nave of the church one can clearly hear above the sound of the bells the captain of bells calling out the ringing routine, which may not be too dissimilar to the ringing style which is customary in many of Devon’s Churches.
The Devonshire Ringing Styles
In Devon we are extremely lucky to have two traditions of ringing styles.
Devon has specialised in call-change ringing. In this style only pairs of bells change at any one time and these are literally called out by the ringing master. Thus, starting with 123456, the first change might be 4 to 5, which would give an order of 123546. This style lays great emphasis on clear striking and this is encouraged by competition ringing where every little variation in place or position is marked. This is a deceptively simple system and the leading exponents are truly masters of their art. The Devon Association represents this style.
Across most of the country the style of ringing known as scientific, method or change ringing predominates. This style operates by altering the sequence of the bells on every stroke of the rope. Thus, if the bells were sounding in the order 123456 then the next stroke would have them sounding 214356 and the stroke after 241635 etc. Until they came back to 123456. With the addition of extra instructions it is possible to ring for three hours or more without repeating the same sequence! This style is represented by the Guild Of Devonshire Ringers.
The Captain and his team of bell ringers do us the honour each Sunday and herald the start of our time of corporate Worship. They practice there repertoire each Tuesday.
For more information please speak to Ken Farnham.
