United Church Dorchester

Worship and Faith: Services

The range of Services in the United Church is designed to fit everyone's needs, whether you are young or older or require a lively or more peaceful style.

Services therefore range in style from traditional to a less formal, contemporary feel to meet the broad variance of members’ needs. A full list of services can be seen in the Services Diary, and recordings of most Sunday morning services can be found on the UCD YouTube channel.

Our services now take place without specific Covid-19 restrictions. Nevertheless, the wearing of masks around the building, or during services, remains a matter of personal choice; and hand gel will be available for 'self-service' use by those who so wish.

Sunday services
The regular Sunday morning service is now back to its usual time of 10.30am​. This is our main worship event of the week, and Holy Communion is normally taken on the first Sunday of each month. 

Everyone is welcome (including children, who join us for some of the service, and then move on to their own Junior Church activities); and all are encouraged to join us afterwards for refreshments in the Church Hall.

Evening services take place at 6.30pm, twice per month.

'Afternoon Tea and Hymns' takes place once per month, and is an informal event in the Church Hall. It starts with at 4.00pm with sandwiches, cakes and tea, and is followed by singing of favourite hymns, a bible reading and a time of prayer.

For full details of all services, please see the Services Diary.

Wednesday services
These are designed to offer a time of quiet, reflection and support on the day when Dorchester is busy with Market Day business.

They are short services, starting at 10.45 and lasting around 20 minutes. They include hymns, a short address and prayers.

Everyone is encouraged to join us in the Church Hall afterwards for refreshments.

Church music
Music is central to the worship and wider life of the church. We welcome anyone who wants to contribute by playing or singing, which encourages many people to be actively involved in music-making opportunities. 

Some groups contribute on a regular basis to the weekly services: these include the choir (a traditional, four-part harmony choir, which rehearses on Friday evenings at 7.00pm), and the music group (a selection of instrumentalists who accompany Sunday morning worship).

There are also occasional, more informal groups which take a role in outreach by visiting local care homes or taking part in local events.

If you think you might like to be involved, please explore the information below, or contact our Director of Music directly.

Beyond the church building
We offer a range of service provision beyond the traditional services in church: