Who We Are

Contributed by Duncan Moore

Running for six years LES is now one of the oldest established recognised alternative worship services in the country.

The concept of providing such an service in Lancaster was born following the success of the 'Nine O'Clock Service' in Sheffield. It came to fruitition in 1991 after a great deal of initial planning by our (then) youth pastor, prayer seeking God's will and the full support of the clergy.

In the early days we attracted a congregation of around 20 young people, mostly drawn from the families of those already attending the church. We sang to home produced backing tapes and to faded words hastely written on acetates and projected via OHP. We decorated the church with brightly coloured banners, manufactered a false ceiling and incorporated technology into the service by using audio/video equipment begged and borrowed from wherever we could. This helped us put the message across in a way we felt was relevant and attractive to young people. We've seen the average age of our congregation increase over the years: in the early stages it was the young teenagers who made up our service members. This has now changed and the average age is now around 23. We also attract some of the more wrinkly 30 and 40 somethings! from the wider church and they are most welcome. The LES has moved on a great deal in the last few years. With a term-time congregation of around 180 LES appeals to the youth/student population and our services continue to be tailored in this direction. Outdoor services, schools visits, the sharing of knowledge and experience, enabling other alternative services to start up, and more importantly the encouragement given to young people to seek Christ is what we feel has been achieved. But there is still much to do and we are always looking for new and relevant ways of getting closer to God and enabling more people to experience a side of church they perhaps didn't know.

Many of the current leadership team have been involved from the start, this is balanced by a membership of long and short term leaders. This ensures that we don't get stuck in a rut or become too complacent as there is always an influx of new ideas and suggestions. Hence the b:real event that took place at the end of August.

LES offers a contemporary approach to worship including our legendary poor sketch scenarios, video, mood lighting, audio/visual media and introduced for 1997 The Great End of Service Ball Game. We hope we see you there.

For further information contact the Rev. Peter Guiness on 01524 62987 or Duncan Moore, LES co-ordinator on 01524 61586.