Your First Visit – What To Expect – Mitchelton Presbyterian Church

What to expect

It’s not easy visiting a new church for the first time. You might feel like a fish out of water. Do I belong here? Am I really welcome? Will the people be unfriendly? Or too friendly? Am I welcome if I’m not yet a Christian?

We want to make sure your visit to MPC is an enjoyable experience – easy, stress free, and encouraging. We want Mitchelton Presbyterian Church to be a church people love inviting others into… and it will only be like that if people like you love to be our guests! The fact is, almost half the people you’ll meet in our 10.30 service are new to MPC in the last few years, and quite a number had no church background.

When you visit a new church, it’s good to know what to expect, so here’s a brief overview.
We have four services on a Sunday – family services at 9.00am and 10.30am, Youthchurch at 4.30pm (during school terms), and Latechurch at 7.00pm.

YouthChurch LateChurch

Getting to MPC

Our morning services are at 9am and 1030am. Sometimes parking might be a bit awkward at the 1030 service, as the early crowd is leaving while the second congregation arrives. We encourage regulars to park around the corner in Blackwood St, or in the SDA Church or Railway car-parks (also in Blackwood St) so there ‘ll be room for newcomers in our own parking lot. Parking along Ruby Rd is limited – make sure you observe the yellow ‘no parking’ edge lines.

View the map

Grab yourself a coffee

As you arrive at the door, someone will say hi and hand you the weekly bulletin and a Bible. Hopefully, you’ll be identified as a newcomer and someone will offer help with any questions you have. (We have newcomers every week, and it’s easy to miss a new face in the crowd, so please introduce yourself.)

If you have pre-highschoolers, you’ll need to sign them in for Kids Church – families stay together for the first part of the service, and kids leave for their program after about ten minutes. There’s a baby care room at the back of the auditorium on the Ruby Rd side, and a toddlers creche area near the disabled toilets on the railway side. Our kids ministry co-ordinator, Meryl, will be happy to help you.

After the service, you can grab a tea or coffee at the servery, or head out the door for a free cappuccino at our Newcomer’s Tent. This is the ideal gathering place if you’re keen to meet up with members of our Welcome Team or say hi to our senior ministers Phil and Doug.

If you have highschoolers, we have plenty for them to be involved in. Apart from Youthchurch (4.30pm Sunday) there are Youth socials each month and also each small group has an active and exciting social program. Contact our Youth Pastor at youth@mpc.org.au for more info.

Church Bulletin

Our weekly bulletin includes the week’s announcements and an outline of the bible talk, with space to take notes if you like. There’s also a tear off slip, which is an easy way for us to make contact; you can ask for any kind of information or assistance, make comments, and leave us your details if you’d like a response, or to be included in our email list.

If you’re looking for a church home, or simply want to know more about mpc, indicate on the form, drop it in the green box at the door, and we’ll get in touch – or simply email new@mpc.org.au to make contact.

Our 9.00am service aims to start right on time, and runs for around 55 minutes. The 10.30am service may sometimes start a little behind schedule due to carpark congestion as the 9am crowd disperses… but we use the few minutes before formalities start to chat, and especially to say hi to anyone new. We strongly believe “church” is about gathering for fellowship and encouragement, and not just a ‘formal service’!

The Services

All our services are designed to be simple and straightforward. Our 9.00am service is a little more traditional, while our 10.30am service is contemporary. Each service features songs, prayer, announcements, a bible reading and a talk. Our goal is to keep everything pretty much in plain English. If you haven’t been to church much, and you’re not comfortable singing, feel free to just listen. All our music, whether modern or old, is to designed to ‘let the word of Christ dwell in us richly as we sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in our hearts to God.’ (Colossians 3:16) In other words, we sing songs that say what the bible says, and focus on Jesus. That’s the goal of the weekly Bible talk too. We work through whole books of the bible, one section at a time. That means you won’t find the preacher choosing favourite “hobby horse” passages. It also means we tackle the tough bits of the bible as well as the popular bits, and that issues are handled in the same proportion as they come up in the bible. At all times, though, our focal point is Jesus, because we’re convinced that “all the scriptures” testify about Him. (Luke 24:27)

Our mid-week ‘Growth Groups’ are a vital part of church life. If you’re wanting to get to know people and really feel part of the MPC community, joining a group is an essential starting point. If you’re joining us at the start of the year, fresh groups are always starting, so you can soon be part of a brand new group. Email (office@mpc.org.au) and we’ll help you find a group through the year.

Finances

A word about finances. Our support comes completely from our committed regular attenders, so if you’re still looking for a church, or if you’re simply investigating the Christian faith, there’s no pressure to give. (When you do decide MPC is ‘your church’, we’d love you to join in enthusiastic financial partnership with us. You may prefer to give by direct bank transfer – details of our account are in the bulletin each week.)

That’s it!

After the service, we hope you’ll stay around, meet some people and enjoy morning tea. Again, if you’re new we’d love you to head out to the newcomer tent and join us for a first class coffee. It’s a good way to meet a few regulars, and others who are just starting out at mpc.

That’s about it. People often say they feel comfortable and “at home” at MPC. We hope that’s your experience too. Please take the opportunity to introduce yourself – our pastors Phil and Kim would love to meet you, and help you take your first steps at Mitchelton Presbyterian Church.

Your First Visit?What to expect at MPC