Once a month in the Looe Valley Benefice worship takes a different approach, with the congregation finding themselves on village greens and by holy wells, in riverside spots in the town and cattle sheds on local farms. Outdoor Church is a different way of being church.

Outdoor Church is headed up by Revd Clive Gilbert, but is a team effort involving the entire benefice. Clive said of outdoor church: “It has drawn together people from across the benefice in a way that few other things can. People seem able to set aside their particular tradition and worship with others who appreciate different traditions.”

With no expectation of format that sometimes comes with a Sunday service, perhaps people feel freer to engage with creation and creator more freely. The ethos of the outdoor church gatherings is to keep Christ at the centre, but to do so in new ways. Members of the benefice are invited to regular planning sessions to help think of new places and ways to worship in a way that by its very nature is a witness to the wider community.

Revd Clive points out that Outdoor Church has allowed some people who are not comfortable worshipping in our churches to be involved in church activities – thereby reaching beyond the normal congregations.

This has been particularly evident in village communities like Herodsfoot, where outdoor church services on the village green combining the love of Christ, the history of the village and the environment we worship in, has seen curious residents first come for a look at what was happening, and then stay and engage for the whole time of worship.

Outdoor Church has also ventured into areas more unusual for church gatherings. At the summer solstice a service was held at the Duloe stone circle. This event saw people of other spiritualities join and see what Christian worship could be about, in a different and perhaps unexpected context. Good conversations following that would simply never present themselves in a usual church context.

The lack of expectation of formality has helped to begin to develop new leaders too. People who had long sat in the pews and worshipped, have been invited to help lead sections, and have feel enabled and empowered to do so. Several people have made first steps into realising they can lead worship too.

Outdoor Church is liberating, free from regular church constraints, but keeping Christ at the centre. It is enabling, offering people the chance to be involved in leading worship, without the formality and pressure of a regular service in a building.

Carols in the Cattle Shed

If you are interested in seeing what it’s all about, the next Outdoor Church is on December 23 at 3pm and will be ‘Carols in the Cattle Shed’, a Christmas service taking place at a real working farm – Bucklawaren Farm. Having attracted 60 people last year, this service is not to be missed!