I’m New

NEW TO CHURCH?

Welcome!

The first thing we want to say is – Welcome! 

CLC St Helens is a community of people who believe that Jesus offers salvation from everything we’ve ever done wrong, through His death and resurrection, bridging the gap between us and God. This love and relationship with God underpins and is the foundation of everything we believe and do.

We know that this raises questions – of theology, belief, faith, even questions of life and purpose itself – and this is what we are living and exploring together as a church.

By listening and talking to God & using the Bible (which we believe is God’s word to us), we navigate life with a different perspective. One that offers hope, love, faith and salvation. You are more than welcome to join us on this journey.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

The Four Points

The Four Points is a great way to understand what Christian’s believe. You can discover this too.

God Loves
Me

I Have
Sinned

Jesus Died
For Me

I Need To Decide To Live For God

WHAT TO EXPECT

Church 101

STYLE

Churches across the world have a tonne of different styles and approaches (known as denominations) all centred around one certain truth – that God loves us.

We’re a Pentecostal church, part of wider group of churches known as Elim. There are around 550 Elim churches across the world. Our services are lively, with extended periods of musical worship, prayer and a bible based preach. Our services are pretty free flowing, welcoming and we want to facilitate a family atmosphere.

As a Pentecostal church, we believe that God has sent his Holy Spirit to guide us and we often pray for Him to fill us and work through us. 

WHAT ABOUT KIDS?

For the first part of the service, everyone is in together. We feel it’s important that kids experience what it’s like to live a worshipping lifestyle and so we all stay in the same room.

At about 11.00 – 11.15am, our Kids & Youth Church provision starts and they break up into age groups in rooms around the building. If it’s your first time, make sure you register and leave your contact details. 

We have a lot of families join us and we understand all too well that kids make noise and don’t sit still. Don’t worry about it.

There are points where we ask parents to intentionally teach their children (silent prayers, communion etc) but on the whole they are free to worship with us in their own way.

DO I NEED TO GIVE?

Each week during our service, we give time over for people to give financially to the work and ministry of CLC.

There’s no pressure from us for you to give, it’s entirely up to you.

Many of our church members give as they feel led, either on a Sunday morning or through their bank. Regular giving (known as tithing) is a biblical discipline that is an act of worship and thanksgiving to God for what he has blessed us with.

WHAT DO I WEAR?

We don’t have a dress code here at CLC St Helens. Wear whatever clothes you feel comfortable in. 

WHAT HAPPENS?

Our service starts at 10.30am and we start with a welcome, opening prayer and some scripture that we feel God has given us to share. 

We then sing together in a time known as worship, we pray together and some weeks we take communion which is a time where we reflect on the sacrifice Jesus made for us.

One of our leadership team will then bring a word (sometimes called the preach) where they will look at the Bible and what they believe God is saying to us as a church.

WHAT ABOUT YOUTH?

As with our children, for the first part of the service, everyone is in together. At around 11.00am – 11.15am, our Youth Provision starts and is held in the cafe (where you enter the building).

This is a group for ages 11-16, with bible based discussions, activities, games and refreshments. It’s a time for youth to explore faith and ask questions too. 

HOW DO I GET INVOLVED?

There’s many things to get involved with at CLC, but our first step is always to get connected on a Sunday Morning. Come and meet the church family, experience how we do church and speak to one of our team in person. 

From there, if you’d like to join us, we have midweek groups, small groups, volunteering opportunities and much more to get involved with – but do make sure to come to church first!

WHAT'S COMMUNION?

Communion is something we find modelled by Jesus in the Bible. It’s a significant meal in Jesus’ life with his followers, and exists to remind us that God is with us as we remember that Jesus died for us.

We take communion most weeks, and the table is open to anyone who is seeking Jesus or already know Him. We have small individual cups and bread is served alongside on a plate.

USEFUL INFO

Helpful information for joining us

ARRIVING

You are more than welcome to head down to church early, and we encourage you to to take the 10.25 challenge. Hebrews 10.25 teaches us “Let us not give up the habit of meeting together, as some are doing. Instead, let us encourage one another all the more,” so try arriving early and make a point of intentionally encouraging someone.

PARKING

We’re blessed to have an on-site parking, but you may want to arrive early to make sure you get a space. There are also disabled parking spaces and our building is fully accessible to people with disabilities.

If you can’t get a space, there is on street parking around the church, and a small car park next to the carpet shop on Oxford street.

SIGNING & HARD OF HEARING

We have a full induction loop system installed in the front section of our hall and some of our church community are abled to sign the service if needed.

If you have any questions, please contact us before your visit and we can organise this for you.

GIVING

We do receive an offering as part of our service. Anything you are able to give contributes directly to the work that we do as a Church. If you would like to give regularly and are a tax payer, we can benefit from Gift Aid.

Please visit our giving page, here, for more detail on how you can support the ministry of St Helens Christian Life Centre.

STREAMING

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, church leadership took a decision to invest in what we offer online. We stream every Sunday service online and we work hard to make it an organic, engaging and interactive service as much as we can.

This serves our online community, including members in other countries, those who are unable to come to church due to health reasons and is often a great connection point for people who’ve never been before.

COVID-19

We are now full open again and ready to welcome people back. If you’re still apprehensive about church, you’ll still be welcome online and in smaller groups too until you are ready. Masks are optional in church, whatever you feel comfortable doing is fine by us.

We are still encouraging hand washing and the use of hand gel around the building.

If you’ve tested positive for COVID, we would advise staying home and joining online as we have a number of elderly and vulnerable congregation members.

Not sure about in Person?

We understand that we are in a new post-pandemic world. We invested in our online church and we stream all our services. If you’re not quite ready to join us, by all means join us online. There’s a whole community of people waiting to welcome you.
 
Whenever you feel comfortable – you’ll be more than welcome to join us in person.