The Quiet Evangelism
of Evensong

The Revd Steve Hilton SCP, Priest-in-Charge, Parish of North Perth

On Sunday 9 August, St Hilda’s North Perth launched a new monthly Choral Evensong. It was, in many ways, a simple beginning: a choir, an organ, the ancient words of Scripture and prayer, and a congregation gathered as evening fell. Yet there was also a real sense that something significant had begun.

One of the things I have become increasingly convinced of is that the Church does not always need to respond to a noisy and anxious world by making more noise. Sometimes our gift is to offer something different: beauty, stillness, music, prayer and space.

Choral Evensong does this remarkably well. The service itself asks very little of those who attend. Much of the prayer is carried for us by the choir. We are invited simply to be present: to listen to the psalms, to hear the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis sung, to receive Scripture, and to allow the music and prayers of the Church to do their quiet work.

That makes Evensong particularly accessible to people who may be curious about faith but unsure about coming to church. There is no pressure to know the responses, to sing unfamiliar hymns or even to understand everything that is happening. You can simply come and sit. In many ways, it is less demanding than a eucharistic celebration.

Our first Evensong was sung by The Chapel Choir, directed by John Beaverstock, and included Stanford’s Evening Service in B-flat and Charles Wood’s O thou, the central orb. The church was transformed by the sound. But what mattered most was not simply musical excellence. It was the way the music served prayer and created a space in which people could encounter something beyond themselves.

For St Hilda’s, this new monthly service is also part of a wider aspiration to make the church a place of encounter for the whole community. We want to recover the confidence to say that the Anglican tradition has something beautiful and generous to offer - not as a museum piece, but as a living tradition capable of speaking deeply into contemporary life.

Our next Choral Evensong will be on Sunday 13 September at 5.00pm, during the Church’s Sustainability Month. The address will be given by Professor Peter Newman AO, Professor of Sustainability at Curtin University, and long-time member of St Paul’s, Beaconsfield, who will reflect on the theme “Creating Net Zero Diamonds…”

That combination feels entirely appropriate. The ancient prayer of the Church should never detach us from the world God loves. At its best, worship enlarges our vision: drawing us more deeply into the beauty of God and, therefore, more deeply into our responsibility for one another and for creation.

Our hope is that Choral Evensong at St Hilda’s becomes a regular breathing space in the life of North Perth: a place where believers, doubters, music lovers, neighbours and those simply searching for a moment of peace can come together.

Sometimes evangelism begins not with an argument, but with an invitation: Come in. Sit down. Listen. There is room here for you.

Published in Messenger September 2026