Published on: 02/02/2026
A new monthly service has started up at St Leonard’s Thrybergh, focusing on being a more informal and interactive counterpart to the existing 10am slot. Having first launched on Sunday 25 January, it will take place every fourth Sunday of the month and is designed to be a place where everyone can feel relaxed and join in with the singing, games, conversation and prayer.
We caught up with Revd Helen Terry and Revd James Gould about the new initiative.
How did the idea for a new service come about?
We wanted to offer something different for the community in terms of worship. For a while we had run a ‘Messy Church’ in the local (wonderful) school, but this had run its course and although we tried a few changes, it was not as successful as we hoped. That was on a Wednesday after school. Our regular 10am service is more traditional and Anglican, which is wonderful for some but we are aware that it is not easy for everyone to engage with. In some ways we tried to adjust the regular service sometimes, but it sort of ended up being a bit of what no one wanted. We decided that the 10am service could be great as it is, and we have worked to improve the liturgy, music, prayers and spirituality – and decided an additional service could be different, and engage people in worship in a different way. In our other church, St Francis’ Bramley, we have a monthly Family Service at 4pm on a Sunday and the time seems to work well for people, and some of the people we know in the community would find it easy to attend a service at this time.
How will the service be different?
It will be more relaxed in style, and less structured in terms of liturgy. The music will be more modern in style, and Helen will get to show off her dance moves sometimes. There will not often be communion, but there may be sometimes. There will be a talk, but it will likely involve more props and congregation participation, and our prayers will involve more moving around church, sharing, writing, drawing etc. We also hope people stay around after the service for some soup together, for a chance to chat and get involved with a craft.
What are your hopes for the service?
Ultimately, we hope more people come to know Jesus and those that do know him find the service a helpful way to walk closer with him. This is something different to what we have done before, and we hope it is enjoyable and helpful for people. We hope that it feels a more natural place to allow people to engage how they feel comfortable (especially if children need to make a bit of noise, and their parents don’t need to feel bad about that – we know, even though they are told it is fine, parents often feel guilty or pressured if their kids are noisy in church).
What’s the response been like from people hearing about this?
It has been good. The regular congregation has been positive about it, and encouraging although it is not their thing (which is sort of the point anyway). People in the community have seemed interested, engaged with content on social media, and responded well when we have spoken to them about it – but we won’t know until we are a few months in really. It may not have been the best to start it in January because it hasn’t been as easy to publicise as we might have liked because we were so focused on Christmas services in December. There is a good chance that it will be a slow build, starting with a few people and hopefully growing to be a good-sized community. We are excited to see how it grows.
Everyone is welcome, if an informal engaging Sunday afternoon service is for you, we would love to see you (even if you are a member of another church but for whatever reason struggle to make it to a regular service there).
If you want to explore starting something new, contact John.Marsh@sheffield.anglican.org
