When to find us

BRUU is an active congregation throughout the year. We meet every Sunday morning for worship services, with a nursery for baby care during the service, 52 weeks a year. We celebrate holidays of many traditions with special services. Typically, over 100 people attend the average Sunday Service. A Fellowship Hour provides coffee, snacks, and time for discussion, socializing, and meetings of the almost 40 different groups organized at BRUU.

Organized religious education classes for our children/youth are held on Sunday mornings from September-June. We sponsor nature hikes, softball teams, volleyball games, and family picnics in the Spring, Summer, and Fall. The Auction each November offers members a chance to sell dinners, game nights, and a variety of services that continue throughout the year, enabling people to meet others in small groups while having fun. In the Winter we are still busy, though many activities move indoors.

Our Social Justice programs, including food distribution to the poor located in the Manassas area, continue year-round. Parties and social events never stop – we are an unusually energized congregation with some sort of programming every week. It is easy to find someone at BRUU with a common interest; we have roughly 250 members, including many in their 20′s and their 80′s. Often, there are two or more events scheduled, offering some choices regarding how to engage with others within our community.

Sunday Morning Services

During the summer, and on a few other occasions, we schedule just one Sunday Service starting at 10:45am.

Between September-June, we have two Sunday Services at 9:00-10:00am and 10:45-11:45a.m. (Announcements start five minutes before services.)

A typical Sunday’s order of service might look like this:

    Announcements (at 8:55am and 10:40am)
    Call to Worship
    Musical Prelude
    Welcome (visitors are invited to raise their hands so we can recognize you)
    Opening Words and Chalice Lighting
    Hymn
    Joys and Sorrows
    Spoken Meditation
    Silent Meditation
    Reading
    Musical Anthem
    Offertory
    Sermon
    Polylogue (opportunity for the congregation to ask questions or make comments)
    Closing Hymn
    Spoken Benediction
    Sung Benediction

After each Sunday Service, we gather for fellowship over coffee and snacks in the Fellowship Hall below the Sanctuary.

Don’t be surprised if during the first music/hymn, people get up from the pews to light a candle at the front of the Sanctuary, for a personal and silent moment. Some Sundays, we structure a public “Joys and Sorrows” time during the service for members and friends to speak about major events in their lives.

Some services do not follow this model, particularly our summertime lay-led services and the two annual choir services in December and June. The BRUU music ministry presents two services each year that are devoted to music as worship. In June the adult choir presents a Spring music service. In December, there is a holiday music service with the adult, youth, and children’s choirs.

Because of the wide variety of services, we encourage you to come to two or three services to get a true sense of BRUU. In particular, we invite you to visit when Rev. Greg Ward is in the pulpit (check the Calendar) and when the adult choir is singing (usually the second and third Sundays).

Evensong Services

Evensong services, incorporating music and readings and art, are held every three months or so on Friday nights at 7:30-8:30pm.

Social Justice Projects

Social Justice projects include the Food Pantry on the first and third Sundays of each month, from 9:30am-2:00pm. The USDA Food distribution is on the 2nd Friday of every month, from noon-2:00pm Once a month, we have a “Soup Sunday” and eat lunch in the Fellowship Hall after the Sunday Service. Contributions for lunch go to the Manassas charity, SERVE.

Green Sanctuary Programs

The Green Sanctuary Team partners with the Prince William Conservation Alliance to sponsor a monthly program, First Thursday Nature Tales, on the First Thursday of each month from 7:30-9:00pm. Topics include discussion of local conservation challenges, individual species, places of special interest, etc.