As part of Christ's Church in Taunton, in Somerset and the Nations we place huge value on embracing our community. Here are some of the local and international initiatives happening across the churches in Taunton.

Riverside Church Initiatives

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Messy Church is another way of being church for families involving fun, creativity, hospitality and celebration.
It is held once a month (usually on the 4th Saturday of the month) at 11am at the Exchange.
We are currently meeting in person in a Covid safe way.

Messy Church Logo Copyright Bible Reading Fellowship © 2016. See www.messychurch.org.uk
Messy Church is also available online via our Facebook Page. Previous sessions can be accessed and enjoyed there at any time.

Friends & Ministries


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Restoring The Foundations		Kingdom Dance
Restoring The Foundations ministry UK & Europe (RTF UK&EU) is part of the Healing House Network UK that is based in England with a UK, Ireland, European and Scandinavian network of trained, qualified and accredited ministry teams active since 1999. RTF UK&EU actively provides covering for our well established network of accredited ministry teams as they minister / teach individuals and within organisations.		The Director of Kingdom Dance Resources Limited is Marie Bensley, who is the Co-ordinator for the Bristol & West region of the Christian Dance Fellowship of Britain, and Joint Co-ordinator of the Flags & Banners Network of the International Christian Dance Fellowship. She has wide experience in the realm of Christian dance, and especially in the use of flags and ribbons in worship. Together with her husband Andrew, she leads workshops and seminars on these subjects and has also taught at various locations and conferences abroad. Marie and Andrew are members of Riverside Church.

International Mission

Our major overseas outreach is to the Fire Baptised Church (FBC) of Zambia. Our involvement began in 1991 and with teams visiting usually annually to engage in leadership training, crusade evangelism, and conferences for men and for women. We also support them financially on a month by month basis helping to pay salaries and fund capital projects.

Linden Church in Swansea and Resound (formerly BCF) in Bristol have also been involved from the start. FBC also run the Mutende Children’s Village for orphaned children and the Harold Mwenge Memorial School which is run as a centre of excellence in education in Zambia and helps support the Mutende project financially. One of our members, Karen Roberts, spent three months in early 2015 helping to develop teaching in the school.

FBC has grown from 25 to over 100 in Zambia with several more in southern Democratic Republic of Congo during our involvement with them. Occasionally we host leaders from Zambia in the UK as well as teams going there.

How can you get involved?

Pray – as you do you will find God’s heart for FBC
Give – there are opportunities to sponsor children at Mutende, contribute towards events we run out there, and projects we support
Experience - Join a team going out

Over the next few years we expect to run the Partners in Harvest International Leaders School of Ministry (ILSOM) in different centres around the country. These schools gather leaders from the churches in that town or region and immerses them in the Father’s love, developing intimacy with God, restoring the heart, and equipping to extend the kingdom of God. We will need to gather a team for each of these schools and there will be opportunities for team members to grow in many areas of ministry during one of these weeks. You will of course need to be familiar with the course material yourself.

Support Teams – from time to time teams go out from the churches involved to do maintenance or development work for the school and Mutende projects. There may be opportunities to join these teams. NB Team members are responsible for raising their own finance to cover the costs involved. Typically it costs around £1000 to cover an individuals costs for a two week stay. You will also need to consult your doctor regarding medical precautions in good time before the trip.

Hello and welcome to our church. If you are a new visitor, we have a page for you to get to know us and learn more about planning a visit.
Click here to see more.

Visitors click here

Planning your Visit

A Warm Hello

The following information is specifically for those planning a visit, so that you know, beforehand, what to expect on a Sunday morning.

Where and When

We meet at the Church Building (details here) for our Sunday Service starting at 10:30am. For your first visit, we recommend arriving 10-15 minutes early to ensure you get a parking space and find somewhere to sit before the service begins. When you arrive, you should be greeted by someone on our Welcome Team who will be wearing a Welcome lanyard.

We serve tea, coffee and biscuits after the service. We hope you have time to stay a while as it's a great way to meet people. All refreshments are free.

Accessibility: There is wheelchair access, and a sound loop for anyone who needs it. Please let one of the Welcome Team know on your arrival and they will help you to get set up. There are disabled toilets in the main foyer.

Our Service

The main service begins at 10:30am with a warm welcome from one of our team members. Then follows a time of sung worship, led by our band or streamed worship. We typically have 4 or 5 songs lasting approximately 30 minutes. Sometimes a person might pray out loud or read a small passage from the bible. Sometimes people share things that they believe God is saying to the whole church family. This might seem strange the first time you hear it but it’s all part of our connecting with God. We then share news and notices, usually about what’s going on in the life of the church. We will then share an encouraging bible based message that we can apply to our everyday life. We value the presence of God and creating space to encourage one another so there is always an opportunity to receive prayer at the end of the service.

images: Services

What about my kids?

We have a great programme lined up for primary aged kids:

Creche (0 months to 3 years). Children under 6 months are welcome but must be accompanied by their parent/grown-up at all times.
RiverKids (4-11 years)
RiverKids is a group for primary-school aged children based around Bible stories, prayer and worship as well as discussion, games, craft and other activities. Once a month the children will take part in CATS (Creative Arts Training School) where they will use songs, dance and musical instruments to praise God in a creative way. Each Sunday the children are invited to participate in a time of worship with the whole church through singing and/or dancing with ribbons and flags before the RiverKids leaders take them out for their activities.
Children stay with their parent or grown-up at the start of the service for the welcome, songs and notices. We really value worshipping God all together as a family. At the end of the notices someone will announce that it’s time for the younger members to go to their various groups. You will need to go with your children to their groups and register them as part of our child safety policy. Whilst you are dropping your kids off at their groups, we pause to take time to chat to someone sitting near or next to us, giving folk a chance to come back before the sermon begins.

The kids group activities vary depending on the age but usually there is a friendly welcome, bible stories, testimonies, praying, music, craft, drama, fun games and free play. Please pick your children up as soon as the service finishes.

Getting Connected

Small Groups

While Sundays are a great way to meet new people, it is often in smaller gatherings that you can really get to know someone. Being part of one of our small groups allows you to make new friends, share together and support each other. We have a variety of groups that meet throughout the week, some afternoons and some evenings. We can put you in touch with a leader who will be more than happy to give you information on how to connect with a small group.

Serving and Volunteering

If you want to get involved in the life of the church and help us make Sundays run smoothly, you can sign up to serve on a team.

Other Ministries

We also run the following ministries:

Messy Church
BBQ & Prophetic Encouragement
Coffee & Connect

Get in touch with us to plan your visit

If you would like to come and visit the church beforehand you are more than welcome! Get in touch and we can arrange a time that suits you.

Name:

Telephone:

Email Address:
Comments / Questions or anything you would like to say?

Next, we will contact you by email to say hello and help arrange anything necessary for your visit.