This morning instead of their normal church at Preston Road Community Centre the Vineyard Church took church out and invited people for Carols and Mince pies on the green at Reynolds Way.

Also on a less traditional church note, Revd David from Abingdon Baptist Church came to Trinity Church last Sunday.  He gave out invitations to coffee, mince pies, and carols at Coffee Aroma, Abingdon High Street from 18:45 – 19:45 on Thursday 15th.  All are very welcome …

Here is a fuller Church In Abingdon Christmas What’s On if you want more than mince pies and carols.

Yesterday afternoon the south aisle of St Helen’s Church was full of young children, sticking decorations on trees they had drawn, and listening to stories round the Jesse Tree.

The Jesse Tree has pictures representing Old Testament characters and events from Creation to the Birth of Jesus, including Jesse, the father of King David. It is like an Advent Tree anticipating the coming of Christmas.

On Saturday the Abingdon Vineyard Church tried something different at Reynolds Way shops. They erected a tent to invite people to come in for a cup of tea, or a chat.
The Vineyard Church meet at Preston Road Community Centre every Sunday. You can arrive any time between 10:30 and 11 when they are sharing coffee and cakes – or fruit as a healthy option.

It is quite informal. There follows a time of modern worship songs – which seem quite calm and peaceful, and those you don’t know are quite easy to pick up by the 2nd or 3rd rendition. Then somebody shares a message, and finally people can either pray in groups, or just chat and share stories, or watch a video. Or that is what happened today. This was the 5th Sunday in the month and it sounds like the 1st-3rd Sundays are more planned, and the 4th even more informal. They want to make it welcoming to people who are not used to church.