PIP‘N’JAY is an evangelical church that, in the words of its vicar the Rev Canon Malcolm Widdecombe (brother of Ann), “survives on fanatics”. In the early 1960s it was almost closed down because of a dwindling congregation and financial troubles, but it recovered itself and is now thriving. At today’s Sunday morning service there are more than 150 people, of all ages and backgrounds. The style of worship reflects the recent “charismatic renewal movement” but services vary significantly. According to Canon Widdecombe, if you want to experience Pip‘n’Jay properly, you have to attend for six weeks.

The music is the main variable, with traditional organ-led services only about once every two months. Today the worship leader is 27-year-old Adam Stone, a student at the Bristol Old Vic theatre school. He describes his music as “U2-ish soft-rock”, and his band has drums, a piano and bass, acoustic and electric guitars. Sometimes there is half an hour of solid singing, punctuated by the occasional guitar riff. “It’s great to get into the presence of God and stay there for a while,” he says.

On the front of the service sheet are the words “I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago”. As part of the Sunday evening service, people bring health problems to the attention of the congregation and everyone prays for their recovery. “We’ve had a great number of miracles,” says Ralph Thomas, a councillor at the church, “so many that I am planning to write a little book about them.”

For anybody from a liturgically more conventional church, Pip‘n’ Jay takes a bit of getting used to. Even the service sheet, which is luminous green, is quite arresting — and likewise the hymn book, which looks slightly like a computer manual. Perhaps the most notable innovation is a very large screen attached to the partition between the nave and the chancel.

When a lady stands up to ask the congregation for help with some church maintenance work there appear on the screen two towering clip-art men — one holding a ladder, and another knocking a nail into a wall. During the sermon I look on in wonder as the preacher’s main points — as well as assorted quotations from the Bible — swoop jauntily into view.

Here newcomers are welcomed with great energy: within ten minutes of my entering the church three people introduce themselves and engage me in conversation, and when I sit down I find a bright orange card in front of me: “We are always delighted to see new faces,” it says,“— especially yours!” It invites me to write down my details so that somebody can ring me, or even visit me at home, to welcome me to the congregation.

The congregation is powerfully sociable, and I am amused when the lay reader tones down the Peace by requesting that it be “more of a turnaround than a walkabout”. This does not stop a man to my right saying to his neighbour: “What was the rugby score?” instead of “Peace be with you”.

After the service, when the parents are drinking coffee and the toddlers are careering around with illegal biscuits, everybody is in conversational full-flow. Benjamin is telling me about Sunday school: “We did a play,” he says, “about um Israelites. First we were um flies then we were um locusts and then we were um boils”. I ask him if the last were difficult to act. “Well, we had round stickers and we all stuck them on the leader.” The throng disperses and Benjamin disappears. A jolly couple issues an invitation, and I am whisked off in their car to a large roast lunch, and tiramisu, and an afternoon stroll.

A FIVE-STAR GUIDE

VENUE: Pip‘n’Jay, (the church of St Philip and St Jacob), Bristol

PREACHER: Graham Loader

SERMON: the implications of “your Father sees that which is done in secret” (Matthew vi, 4)

ARCHITECTURE: The oldest parts of the church are 13th century. A spacious extension for Sunday school and other activities was completed in 1984

MUSIC: Mostly modern hymns in a “U2-ish soft-rock” style

SPIRITUAL HIGH: a generous welcome and deep commitment

AFTER-SERVICE CARE: coffee and tea in the chancel, and an invitation to lunch for the lucky ones