Why use a church to mark a life event?
Marriage
These days there are so many places people can get married. Beautiful hotels, and wedding venues. A local church is valuable when the focus is on the long term, the wedding day is the beginning of new life together. The Vicar of the Good Shepherd will be celebrating his 25th wedding anniversary this year and offers marriage prep sessions to all the couples that are married at the Good Shepherd church, the couples are also held in prayer during the pre and post wedding celebrations. There is also the invitation for any newly married couples to regularly attend the services at the Good Shepherd to grow in faith and encounter other couples who have lived in marriage for a variety of years. No marriage is an island!
New Life
There is nothing more joyous than a baby’s first cry as they enter the world. And how wonderful it is to celebrate new life. Throughout it’s nearly 100 years of ministry the Good Shepherd has helped families celebrate new human life by offering infant baptism. During a Sunday Service the family will be welcomed in with the new baby to be prayed for and welcomed in to the local community. Do contact our church office if you are interested in having your gorgeous child baptised.
Funeral
‘…weep with those who weep’. When we face the absence of a loved one through death it can be very disorientating. Part of the ministry of the local parish church is to walk with people as they formally say goodbye to the ones they love. A funeral is the place to hold space for the loved one, to tell the story of their life and to remember that death does not have the last word. As we grieve and mourn the loss of our loved one, the church can be a place we can find support and other people who are walking the road of bereavement. The Good Shepherd has many people who are familiar with the working out of grief and learning to live life in the absence of the beloved person. We do not hold the answers, but we do hold experience and faith that God renews all things, and we are learning that every grief journey is unique.
Holding a funeral at the Good Shepherd, will include conversations with the Vicar to create the service together using the Anglican Funeral service, and then an invitation to come along to the BEES bereavement support group, and an invitation in October to attend Hope Remembered Memorial service in November. Where the names of loved ones are spoken aloud.
You do not walk the path of life alone as you experience births, marriages and deaths, your local church is here to walk alongside.