Midweek Meetings – Chelmsford Pres

Every Thursday evening we meet as a church for Bible teaching, prayer and fellowship, from 8pm, with tea, coffee and cakes served from 9pm. In terms when we meet in homes, we serve dinner at 7pm.

The first Thursday of every month is a prayer meeting, opening with a short exposition of a Bible passage. The second and fourth Thursdays we have a shorter prayer meeting at 7:30 before the main meeting at 8pm (when central and not in homes). Once a term we hold “Forum” in a local coffee shop. This is a short talk on a sticky issue, followed by people texting in questions. These are advertised on our front page close to the event.

These meetings vary in content and format, some terms meeting centrally others in smaller groups in homes (in those terms, host serve dinner at 7pm, ready for 8pm study. Some terms we work through a book of the Bible, other times important topics. We usually open with a short time of prayer and song and close with a short time of prayer, before enjoying more relaxed fellowship together over drinks and cakes. Over the last year we have had some of the following:

A series of studies on how we go about making moral choices: “Living Like Jesus”

A series on what the Bible teaches about the future of the church: “The End of the World as we Know it”

Ahead of various outreach events, we spend the evening distributing invitations throughout the area and praying.

A series on how to engage with anti-Christian thought and proclaim the Gospel: “Always ready to give an answer”. These included some workshops where we put this into practice analysing a film and other culture phenomena.

Visits by mission partners or other organisations.

Reports on mission work by members of our church.

A series on how the Bible drives our worship: “Engaging with God”

A series on “hard” prayers in the Bible, especially so-called “imprecations” in the Psalms: “Tough Words”.