What to Expect at a Sunday Service Here in Lewisham

What to Expect at a Sunday Service Here in Lewisham

Quick answer

Sunday service at Zion Worship Centre London runs from 11:00 to 13:00 at 132 Lewisham High Street, London SE13 6EE, and there is singing, prayer, a Word preached, and room for people who have never set foot inside a church. We are Pentecostal, we are charity number 1199496, and we are led by Senior Pastor Reverend Dianne Namara Ntale. Nothing about a first visit requires you to decide anything at all.

What actually happens, hour by hour

Nobody can tell you precisely what a service will feel like, because that is not how the Holy Spirit works, and any church which scripts the emotional high points is describing a production rather than a congregation. What we can tell you is the general shape of the morning, so that nothing takes you by surprise.

You will be welcomed at the door by somebody whose actual job is to notice new faces. There will be singing, and considerably more of it than a two-hour slot might lead you to expect. There will be prayer, and if you are unused to it you may sit through it rather than close your eyes and pretend. There will be a Word preached, and we would far rather you listened sceptically than respectfully, because a sermon you have not tested is worth very little.

And at some point, if the service has gone the way we hope, somebody will ask you to do something you did not expect, which is not a technique we learned from somewhere and we would be embarrassed to present it as one. It is what happens when a room believes God is present in it.

What we wear, and what you should bring

Bring yourself, and we mean that rather more literally than most churches manage when they say it, which is why the questions below are answered as plainly as we can manage.

Here is what we ask of nobody who walks through the door, stated plainly and without any qualification attached to it.

1. You do not need to be a Christian to attend.
2. You do not need to have been to church before in your life.
3. You do not need to agree with us about anything yet.
4. You do not need to stay, and some people come once, which we count as success rather than a loss.

What we will not tell you

Some churches promise that attending will mend a body, rescue a marriage or settle a doubt, and we think that is a serious problem rather than a generous one. It is a promise made on God’s behalf by people with no authority whatever to make it, and it damages people when it fails to arrive on schedule, which it usually does.

We would rather be judged on what we actually do.

We would rather be judged on what we actually do.

What we can honestly offer is a Word that does not flinch, prayer offered by people who mean it, and a community that will not quietly give up on you when things take longer than you hoped, which is less dramatic than a promise and considerably more dependable.

Where to go if Sunday is not your day

If a Sunday morning is impossible, we have four other doors, and none of them requires rearranging your life around church first. The Online Prayer Altar meets Tuesdays 20:00 to 21:00 for people who would rather not speak in a crowded room, Discipleship Class runs Thursdays 17:30 to 19:30 for those who would rather understand something than simply attend it, Night Prayers are on the last Friday of the month from 19:00 to 21:00 where prayer is the whole purpose, and counselling with a drop-in runs weekdays 10:00 to 15:00 and Saturday 12:00 to 15:00.

All of it is on our services page, and our ministries page explains what each department is for, and you are welcome to arrive late or not come at all.

Who you will meet

Our Senior Pastor is Reverend Dianne Namara Ntale, and the surname is compound, so we always write it in full rather than abbreviating. That is the whole of her title, and we will not invent a larger one to make her sound more important than she is.

Around her, each of our eleven departments has a named leader, which is a dull sentence that matters enormously the first time something needs sorting out in a hurry: the Intercession Department prays before any service, the Music Ministry leads praise, the Welfare Ministry meets practical needs without anybody justifying deserving them, and the Media Department carries the message past the front door for people who cannot travel to us.

Questions people ask before they come

Do I have to be a Christian to attend a Sunday service?

No. Many who come describe themselves as searching rather than settled, and they are not treated as provisional guests who must be converted before they can be seated. Come and judge for yourself.

Will going to church change my situation?

We will not promise that, and you should be wary of any church which does. What we can say is that you will be among people who pray for one another and take time with each other, which is a real thing even when it is not the outcome you had hoped for.

What if I have been to church and been badly served?

Then you have good reason to be careful, and we would rather you were careful than impressed by us. Ask the awkward questions and watch how they get answered.

What if I only want to talk to someone first?

Then write to us and ask. Pastoral conversation happens one to one, and what you tell us stays with that person.

Your first Sunday

If you have not been to church in a long time, or ever, the honest advice is to come at eleven, sit near the back where nobody will know you are new, and decide afterwards whether you want to return, because a church you decided about in a single visit is one you have not met yet.

Deliverance. Healing. Restoration. That is what we are here for, and the door is open to anybody who wants to find out whether it is true.