The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father in Heaven,
hallowed be your name
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on Earth as in Heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins,
As we forgive those who sin against us
Lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil
For the kingdom, the power
and the glory are yours,
now and forever.
Amen
Children’s time to share
Closing prayers
Lord, help us be people that demonstrate our faith through the way we love and care for one another.
Give us grace as we work to make our church a safe place for all.
Help us have the courage to follow Christ’s example and to love as he first loved us.
Amen.
Closing Hymn: In Christ Alone
A sending out prayer
As we have been welcomed today,
So may we offer welcome to friends and strangers. As we have been touched by God’s love today, So may we give love to everyone we meet. As we have found safety today, So may we create safety for all who need it. Amen.
Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.
In the name of Christ. Amen
Some material included in this service is copyright:
© The Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England, 2000
Some material is Copyright
© Roots for Churches Limited
Hymns and songs are reproduced under CCLI numbers:
742099 (St John’s)
493867 (St Leonard’s)
154120 (St Saviour’s)
The Benefice of Clent and Hagley
Worship for 16 November 2025
Safeguarding Sunday
‘Actions speak louder’
Call to worship and Opening Prayer
Come into this safer space
And meet a God whose arms open wide in welcome
Come into this caring space
Where God’s arms wait to wrap you in warmth and love
Come into this space of refuge
And rest in God’s loving and comforting embrace.
A Gathering prayer
We come to find you, Lord
The sad and the lonely,
The bruised and the broken.
We creep into your arms, Lord
The anxious and the doubtful,
The scared and the suffering.
We rest in your love, Lord
The tired and the tearful,
The angry and the silenced.
Be with us all,
Today and always,
Amen.
Hymn: - 324 There’s a wideness…
An act of commitment
As the people of God, we are called to follow in the way of Christ, to walk humbly and love mercy, and the speak up about injustice so that the church may be a place of safety and refuge for all. In acknowledging the role we all have in making our churches safer places, let us join together and pledge our commitment before almighty God:
Will you treat everyone with respect and dignity and seek to never knowingly hurt or harm others by what you do, or say?
All - With the help of God, I will
Will you actively support the work of safeguarding in this church?
All - With the help of God, I will.
Will you support the Safeguarding Lead and all those who have safeguarding responsibilities?
All - With the help of God, I will.
Will you use your voice to speak up about the injustice of abuse?
All - With the help of God, I will.
Will you make space to listen to those who have been hurt and harmed in our community?
All - With the help of God, I will.
Will you commit to never knowingly hide or keep quiet about abuse that you know of or suspect?
All - With the help of God, I will.
Will you call on the wider church to take steps towards change in this area?
All - With the help of God, I will.
May the God in whom we trust, strengthen this commitment within us that we may truly be a place of safety and refuge for all.
Amen.
Activity – You by Donna Ashworth
Hymn: 220 Make me a channel…
Reading: James 2:14-26
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
But someone will say, ‘You have faith; I have deeds.’ Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that – and shudder. You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.
In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
Hymn: Our God is a great big God
Reading: 1 John 3.16-24
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: if our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: we know it by the Spirit he gave us.
Reflection
Hymn: 25 Be still for the presence…
Intercessions
Response: God keep us safe in your love