In some ways we will be glad to see the back of 2021. It’s been a time of restrictions, isolation and frustration. But it’s also been a time of opportunity, growth and creativity.

Worship has continued in various forms and positions within the church. It seems so long ago now that the worship team were standing by the altar to keep our distance from the masked congregation. And as restrictions were eased we were able to move closer to the congregation again and worship as one church. One advantage of being in the worship team was having the pleasure of singing with no mask on! However, we think during this time it allowed us all to focus on the real reason we are coming together to worship and not focus on the song choice, style, worship leader or tune.

There was incredible excitement when we were finally able to remove the masks, although we think it did take us a while to get used to singing again!

We are very blessed to have such a passionate worship team at St John’s who can provide music for two very different services on a Sunday - many churches struggle to find anyone at all.

For Claire and I there have been many highlights and we have lots of people to thank.

It’s often the musicians who get the applause but without the people behind the scenes much of the worship couldn’t be done. Our laptop operators Kezia Penn, Peter Morgan and Luke Martin, who cope with the surprises thrown at them by the worship team and preachers! Our PA team - Luke Martin, who comes along with such a servant heart to operate the PA system and Keith Warren who has helped the transition from the old PA system to the new digital approach. Keith has been working away to get the best sound for every occasion and to make life as simple for us non-techie types!

Richard, Cath, Wes and George Downing for leading us in worship as we were standing in the church car park - through all weathers! And for bringing such joy to the services that they have played at.

It’s been fantastic to see Mary Warren and Sarah Bubyer start to lead worship in the morning services and we know they have been valued by so many people. It’s been lovely to welcome back Kim Cottle, alongside her sister-in-law Meg Rodgers,
to our team.

Soul Food has gone from strength to strength since restrictions eased and we feel privileged to be able to lead our brothers and sisters into God’s presence. Dave and Kezia Penn have started to sing with us again and that has been such blessing - especially for Rob as it’s another male on the team! Sarah Bubyer has started to sing with us more and is leading some of the songs. We are so lucky to have Cath, Wes and George Downing to play with us too. To see George grow into a very good bass player is a highlight of the year, and when Wes joins us the church roof almost blows off! Mary Warren has continued to play bass and we want to thank Mary for all the encouragement and support that she gives us. Our cellist, Sarah Pearson, plays with us a few times a month and brings another level to our spirit-led worship.

We are really excited about where the worship at St John’s will go this year through events like Prayer & Praise and ideas we have been looking at such as writing songs for our church to sing.

Also in this section

Life Groups : Inside Out : Prayer Groups

Coming back to the heart of worship

In some ways we will be glad to see the back of 2021. It’s been a time of restrictions, isolation and frustration. But it’s also been a time of opportunity, growth and creativity.