Welcome to St. Bartholomew’s Church. As a parish in the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta, we open our doors to all who seek God or a deeper knowledge of God. Our mission statement clearly articulates our primary goal: to be a nurturing, inclusive community centered in Jesus Christ, called to grow in our faith through worship, ministry, education, and service. We come here to celebrate what we believe about life and to be nourished and renewed for our daily living: in the workplace, at school, among family and friends, and in times of solitude or loneliness.

Worship is the center of our community’s life together, and the Eucharist is the center of our worship.  While St. Bartholomew’s has a rich liturgical tradition and outstanding music program, neither the facilities nor the people are overly formal. The joy we feel in our worship is evident even on the most solemn occasions.

If you are attending a service at St. Bartholomew’s for the first time, here are some things you may notice, especially if you are not familiar with the service:

It is a central tenet of our worship that there are no spectators; all are participants. Different people have different roles, but all roles are important. The people in the congregation are no less participants in our worship than those with different functions who sit in the front.

We refer to our services as liturgy, which means the official corporate worship of the Church (corporate being what we do together as a body, as opposed to what we do as individuals). The word liturgy comes from the Greek meaning “a work done by the people”.

For our services, we provide a bulletin to assist you. The bulletin contains the liturgy that comes from the Book of Common Prayer (the red book in the chair rack) and material from Enriching Our Worship 1, along with page numbers that refer to the Hymnal (the blue book in the chair rack).  We recognize that our liturgy can be somewhat confusing the first few times. Indeed, many of us remember when we were new-comers, and are sympathetic to your initial confusion. No one expects you to say every word of the service the first few times you try.

The first time or two, it is perfectly acceptable to simply let the sights and sounds of the liturgy wash over you, and worry less about page numbers than about opening your heart, mind and senses to the experience of worship. Then you can begin to learn to participate more actively in the service. Don’t be shy about asking those around you for assistance; we are happy to help.