Not everyone chooses to go to church, but if you do I will tell you about the International Congregation at the cathedral.
We belong to an Episcopalian church in New Hampshire, but didn't seek out a church community here until friends from home asked us why we weren't going to church. We decided to go for Lent and after some searching on the internet found that there is an English speaking service at the cathedral at 4:00 pm every Sunday. We went to our first service and were happy to find that we already knew people in the congregation. (Turku can have a small town feel!)
The congregation is small and meets in a side chapel of the beautiful cathedral on 3 Sundays of every month. On the last Sunday of the month the congregation meets on in in Aurelia, Aurakatu 18, on the other side of the river for a children's service.
I must emphasize that children are part of every service and our daughter enjoyed the Godly Play Sunday school program at the cathedral. Three services each month, including the children's service, are led by Lutheran ministers. One Sunday a month is led by an Anglican priest from Helsinki. Here is the link for contact information about the pastors.
After the service there is coffee and tea in the cafe under the cathedral. Above you can see some happy children standing outside the cafe entrance.
Being part of this community made us feel truly at home in Turku.
An update! From a friend's FaceBook page:
ReplyDeletevery Sunday at 4pm there is a Holy Communion Service in English at Turku Cathedral. Each month - 2nd Sunday features Taize music, 3rd Sunday is an Anglican Service (others are Lutheran), last Sunday is an All Age Family Service. The Family Service is in the Agricola Chapel, all others in the Tarkk'ampuja Chapel. We also have Junior Church for the younsters and a Lenten Course starting on 23rd February. For more info find TCIC on facebook or ask me!
:) :) And Junior Church still uses the Godly Play format, in fact much more fully now (although you might see a downside in that we are a little more separate from the grown-up congregation as a result). But I love it - we have "all the time we need" and the children know that it is a special place and time set aside especially for them.
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