Worship is at the heart of our life at STETS and we are committed to worshiping God together, regularly. The pattern of worship on STETS weekends and during the eight-day Residential School is designed to extend and deepen your experience of worship by exposing you to the riches of other worship traditions, as well as your own.  Most worship takes place in college, but there will also be opportunities to share in the worship life of the Cathedral, Salisbury Methodist Church and other churches in Salisbury.

In addition to the fundamental principles of giving glory to God and building up the people of God, worship at STETS residential periods seeks to:

• root all activities in worship;
• establish a rhythm of worship;
• use a variety of texts, rites, etc;
• respect the integrity of different denominations / traditions;
• engender collaboration in the preparation of worship;
• encourage good practice in the leading of worship;
• offer experience in planning and leading worship within and outside your own tradition.

STETS believes that worship is a central aspect of doing theology:

• Theology, as the study of God, must take place before God. It stands in the presence of the object of its study – and bows before such a presence. It cannot speak of this God without speaking to this God. Its ground is prayer.
• Theology takes place in dialogue with others. It steps into a tradition of speaking of and speaking to God. It sits with others who have been enthralled by the same God.
• Theology takes place with the world. By standing before God, we are standing before the God who created the world and made us as part of this work with a place to be and a part to play. By stepping into the theological tradition we do not step out of the world. We remain in the world. The difference is that the tradition calls us to a deeper love of the world and service to the world that God’s purposes for the world may be fulfilled. Our theology, which is rooted in God and formed in the community of God’s people, will be shaped by both our place in the world and by our calling to serve the world and to seek the coming of the reign of God in the world.

This is a doxological way of conceiving the theological task. Worship takes place before God, in community (even when we are alone), with the world. It is not self-generated – it is inspired by the Spirit of God. It is not self-sustaining – it is nourished through our share in the body of Christ. It is not self-fulfilled – it looks to, prays for and equips people to work for the coming of the coming of the reign of God. Worship is in the Spirit, through Christ and for the Father. Worship is the experience of God’s mission – it involves receiving all that God has done for us and is doing for us in Christ and, additionally, anticipating everything that God has for us in the eschatological fulfilment of his purposes. And worship allows us to celebrate these realities and so to live in their truth.