Lyn starts by looking at the call of Abraham to leave his home, and how this Biblical theme is a challenge to us. She then goes on to reflect on wider themes of ‘home’ and ‘homelessness’ in the Bible, and encourages us that whatever situation we are in, we do faithfully and well, whilst at the same time extending God’s hospitality to others in todays world in many and various ways. Watch at https://vimeo.com/339976102
Steve Burnhope continues from last week’s talk (“What does it mean to ‘love Jesus’?”) and explores what it means to be ‘in a relationship’ with Jesus. He offers some practical suggestions for how we might go about that and the importance of creating space in the busy-ness of modern life. Watch at https://vimeo.com/339065668
The dictionary tells us that love is “An intense feeling of deep affection.” But as Christians, is that what God is wanting from us, or is it something more? Steve Burnhope suggests five key things to have on our personal checklist for what a biblical perspective on ‘loving Jesus’ looks like. Watch at https://vimeo.com/337261715
Steve Burnhope speaks from Ezekiel 47, where the prophet experiences a dramatic vision of a river of blessing flowing from the presence of God in the temple, a river that pictures an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, in which Ezekiel is invited to go deeper and deeper. Steve asks us the question that no doubt God was asking Ezekiel: “How far do you want to go? Just watching from the sidelines? Ankle-deep? Knee-deep? Waist-deep? Or plunging in, out of your depth?” Sunday 12 May 2019
When all the titles and labels that define us are stripped away, do we still feel valued and significant? Georgia Gasson unpacks what it means to know who we are in Christ. Watch at https://vimeo.com/334837588
What does a church look like when it is filled with Jesus? Luke Martin reflects on Acts 4, looking at some of the key features that made the early church healthy and influential, and how we might apply that to today. Watch at https://vimeo.com/333145277
Steve Burnhope talks about the significance of Jesus’ resurrection, why we can trust the authenticity of the accounts of what happened on that first Easter Sunday, and the connection with being baptised. Watch at https://vimeo.com/332058278
Assistant Pastor, James Tweats, begins with the story of Jacob in Genesis 32 and then shares some of his own experiences of how life so often scars us — physically and emotionally. Our scars are an unavoidable part of our history, but how are they going to affect our future? Will they defeat us, or empower us? As with Jesus’ scars, will we allow them to become a place of blessing and victory and healing? Watch at https://vimeo.com/330491663
Lyn Burnhope continues on from Steve’s recent talk (3 March 2019, ‘Pictures of the Church — the Body of Christ’) to explain what that looks like in practice in Aylesbury Vineyard, and particularly as it relates to our joining to one another and how we all give and receive pastoral care. Watch at https://vimeo.com/329660744
Guest Speaker David Graham, Lead Pastor at Southcourt Baptist Church in Aylesbury, talks from John chapter 4 about Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well, where we see Jesus as the great ‘Influencer.’ David encourages us to become imitators of Jesus in four ways: his ‘personal’ influence, his ‘present’ influence, his ‘boundary pushing’ influence and his ‘place changing’ influence. Watch at https://vimeo.com/328304636
Becoming a Christian is often thought of as a one-off ‘event’ — where everything is about crossing a boundary — moving from being ‘out’ to being ‘in.’ Steve Burnhope suggests that the reality is more complex and that for each of us, the ‘before’ and ‘after’ that pivotal moment is like a journey with waypoints — which in turn needs to impact how we think about the journey to faith of our friends. Watch at https://vimeo.com/326407314
Nicola Neal speaks from the story of Jesus’ feeding of the 5,000 in John chapter 6 and encourages us to see ourselves, believe about ourselves and say of ourselves not what the world around us sees, believes and says, but what Jesus sees, believes and says. Whose opinion are we going to come into alignment with? Watch at https://vimeo.com/322827631
The Bible never talks about Church as a building, or something we “go to.” But it has a lot to say about what it means for us to “be” Church, mostly through metaphors (or, ‘picture language’). Steve Burnhope looks at one of the New Testament’s favourite metaphors, ‘the body,’ and what it looks like for us to be putting that into practice in “being Church” together today. Watch at https://vimeo.com/321429324
In the third and final talk in our latest ‘Big Questions’ series, Steve Burnhope looks at how Jesus made us right with God. He starts with what the New Testament and Early Creeds tell us about that question and what the Bible means when it talks about Jesus ‘redeeming’ us, ‘ransoming’ us, ‘paying the price’ and becoming ‘a sacrifice’ for us. Finally, he addresses the widespread but mistaken assumption that the good news of the Gospel is — and ‘has to be’ — all about an angry God of wrath being p...
In the second talk of our latest ‘Big Questions’ series, Steve Burnhope looks at the Old Testament passages that seem to command what we would now call the ‘genocide’ (or ‘ethnic cleansing’) of the Canaanites. Can these passages be reconciled with the Jesus of the New Testament who taught ‘love your enemies’ and if so, how? Watch at https://vimeo.com/317989717
Surveys showing declining church attendance have led to the media projecting the death of the Church in this country within the next 50 years, if not well before that. In the first talk of our latest ‘Big Questions’ series, Steve Burnhope explores whether the surveys are right. And if so, what the Church can do about it. Watch at https://vimeo.com/316434077
Guest Speaker Matt Hyam, the Senior Pastor of Southampton Vineyard, looks more deeply into what Jesus said in that famous verse John 3:16, and explains how what Christians typically assume it to be saying may actually be missing the point ... Watch at https://vimeo.com/315284924
Lyn Burnhope continues from last week’s passage, Jeremiah 29, and explores what it looks like to live faithfully to God’s design for human life in the key areas of money, sex and power.
Many Christians assume that God does indeed have a detailed, individual plan for their lives — the only problem is, finding out what it is! Steve Burnhope looks at the famous verse of Jeremiah 29:11 together with some of the other things the Bible has to say about this important question! Watch at https://vimeo.com/312906729
Assistant Pastor and Head of Storehouse James Tweats encourages us in ‘pursuing God’ in this New Year of 2019 — starting with how the conversation went, when they discussed his pursuing of God in 2018 …
Steve Burnhope talks about what it means to be the ekklesia (the New Testament Greek word for ‘the Church’) — a group of people who are both ‘called out’ and ‘gathered together.’ Watch at https://vimeo.com/309931643
At our Christmas Guest Services 2018, Steve Burnhope borrows from a Paris Hilton tweet earlier in this year and challenges our over-familiarity with the Christmas story. What we expect in the story, now, is very different to what the original first-century audience would have expected, then.
Steve Burnhope’s 10-minute talk from this year’s Christmas Carol Services: ‘Christmas Essentials’ … Sunday 16 December 2018
At our all-age Thanksgiving Services, Lyn Burnhope encourages us to be thankful for the things God has already given us. Watch at https://vimeo.com/303067491
In this season of Remembrance and Thanksgiving, Young Adults Pastor Rachel Martin looks at the story in Joshua 6 of how by listening to God, obeying what he says, and having faith that he can make the impossible possible, the Israelites overcame the city of Jericho that was standing in the way of what God had promised them. Watch at https://vimeo.com/301668919
Guest speaker, Sus March, from St Luke’s Church in Kentish Town, London (https://www.slkt.org.uk), reflects on Psalm 139 and what it reveals about the God who knows us intimately. Watch at https://vimeo.com/300271477
In the lead-up to our annual Thanksgiving Services, Steve Burnhope talks about money and giving. He starts with why it’s his ‘least-favourite talk of the year’ and then answers three questions: Why, as Christians, should we give at all? What does everyone’s giving go on, at Aylesbury Vineyard? And last but not least, what exciting things can we achieve in the coming months if everyone who is able to give does give? Watch at https://vimeo.com/299044054
Steve Burnhope talks about the Kingdom of God and explains the puzzle of how Jesus could say that the Kingdom had come already in his life and ministry, but, that it was still to come as well! Watch at https://vimeo.com/297697599
Continuing our series of updates during Aylesbury Vineyard’s Birthday Month (21 year anniversary of the church, 5 years since Steve and Lyn Burnhope became the Senior Pastors), Steve interviews Mim and Margaret about ‘Make Lunch,’ ‘Tuesday Teas’ and ‘Link Lunch.’
On the day we welcomed our friend Marc James as guest worship leader, Steve Burnhope spoke about … worship! Including, answering a question he’d been asked earlier that same week: “Does God have a bit of an ego problem? Why does he demand people worship him? Does he have some kind of deep-rooted insecurity, looking for praise and affirmation all the time?”
