How do we respond in a time where there is so much uncertainty, where our very foundations seem to be shifting around us? We pray. Looking at the life of Jesus, we see that prayer was His very centre-point. And as we unpack the Lord’s prayer together, we find that prayer also lies at the very core of our relationship with Him.
Did you know that God has created a rhythm for your week? Rather than an arbitrary day off, the Sabbath day was created as part of a life-giving rhythm for how you live. As we look at our second Spiritual practice, we see God’s design for the Sabbath, the benefits it brings and practical tips on how we can practice the Sabbath in our modern world.
In a world where we’re constantly being bombarded with noise and the lie that we have to ‘do’ rather than ‘be’, our first spiritual practice, Silence and Solitude, shows itself to be the perfect antidote. Modelled by Jesus throughout his earthly ministry, we look at the 5 benefits to silence and how we can position ourselves for His grace through this discipline.
We are delighted to welcome Chris Birch-Evans, STEP Charity Director, as our special guest speaker! He'll be inspiring us with stories of how STEP works with young people, and drawing out lessons we can all learn to engage and build up the young people around us.
Do you ever find yourself tired? Anxious? Run ragged by the 'breakneck pace' of life? We live in an age of advanced technology, empowering us to stay more connected, do less manual labour and enjoy a wealth of leisure time that past generations could only dream of. But if we've never had it so good, why do we all feel so wrecked? As we introduce the second part of our Encounter talk series, we consider spiritual practices that we can easily adopt every day to enable us encounter Jesus, wherever ...
When we encounter Jesus, it is always an invitation for more. As we look at the story of Jesus calling His first disciples, we learn practical kingdom insights about moving out into our calling. But more than that, we also see that, just like the fisherman, we have a choice as to whether we stay with our nets full of fish or go deeper and follow Jesus.
Denise reminds us of the importance of personal connection with Jesus and that He wants us to come just as we are.
We all have those moments where the heat of the day gets too much, and we take shade under our fig tree of choice. Looking at the story of Jesus calling Nathanael from under the fig tree, we see how the invitation to walk with Jesus is an invitation to experience an altogether different way of living, being transformed as we encounter Him.
In this talk, Wendy explores all that encountering His presence releases to us: Healing, Provision, Peace, Hope, Joy, Life and Wisdom.
Have you found yourself running dry? Needing God to step in? As we continue in our ENCOUNTER series, we look at Jesus’ first miracle, changing water into wine at the wedding at Cana. As the groom encounters Jesus, He encounters God's mercy. But more than that, we see the wedding story foretelling the wedding which is to come and the new wine which Jesus brings – and everyone is invited.
Mark kicks off a brand-new series entitled, ENCOUNTER. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be exploring stories from the gospels of ordinary men and woman encountering Jesus and the transformation that encounter brings. In our first talk, we look at the story of the woman with the issue of blood, and in it we see five hallmarks of encountering Jesus and what it means for us today.
Rushing headlong into 2020? Determined to keep your New Year resolutions? After Christmas we tend to charge into the New Year all set to accomplish our new ‘to do’ list. But if we read the scriptures, God regularly prompts us to pause and take time to reflect upon what He has done. With that in mind, we decided to take this Sunday to look back at 2019 with thankful hearts. In Mark’s talk, he offers us five good reasons to adopt the ‘attitude of gratitude’, and challenges us to introduce a perman...
Isn’t Christmas supposed to be more than a story? Isn’t Christmas supposed to tell us our lives will never be the same again. Christmas is supposed to mean something of universal importance has happened. But what? Richard dives into the end of this series to find out.
We come to the part of the Christmas story telling us about the arrival of our Saviour Jesus. But unlike the momentous arrival of Hollywood superheroes, His arrival is a remarkably unremarkable affair, born out of sight in a overlooked manger. As we read on into the story of His birth, we see Jesus came to bring peace to all mankind; visiting them as three key groups: the insiders, the outsiders and those who are distant.
As we continue to look at the arrival of Jesus this Christmas season, we come to Part 3 of our story, the journey of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem. We learn that the fulfilment of God’s plans and purposes always require us to go, and that Mary and Joseph’s journey uncovers 3 characteristics which are still relevant for us today.
In this talk our Founding Pastor, Chris Lane, takes up the title “First Contact” and encourages us to believe that God is always reaching out to us. He concludes by asking the question “Where are you?”
Long before Marvel stories about superheroes saving the planet, and sci-fi movies with visitors from outer space, there was the story of Jesus coming to planet earth to save the human race. Although unlike a tale of Hollywood, this is not science fiction. As we look at the story of Christmas and His ARRIVAL, we see that He came in peace, bringing His light to break into our darkness, and in so doing, setting in motion the most amazing adventure story ever told.
Following the GIFT series we take time to listen to how Jesus has revealed himself through the testimonies of our church family. In this short talk, Richard looks at how testimonies tell us who God is and what he will do again.
Mark brings our series to a close by repeating the question he poised at the start, ‘What gift has God put in your hand?’. Looking at the story of Moses and the burning bush, we learn 5 truths that set us on a path to responding to His call and in so doing, being a gift to others.
Continuing our Gift series, Mark focuses this week on another team who serve so faithfully, the Trustees. We take some time to talk to outgoing Trustee Mark Bevis and our Chairman Tim Winfield, and we also welcome our newly appointed Trustees, Andrea-Taylor Cummings, Bruce McKinnon and Ruth Robb.
We read in the Bible of a God who is compassionate and just. What does this mean for us as followers of Jesus, how should we respond? And how can i use what is in my hands to serve our community and make a Kingdom Impact.
Representing a third of our church each Sunday, our kids and youth are changing the world as we know it, but who will they change it for?
Continuing on from the ‘Gift’ series we focus on the Sunday teams. Denise also looks at what we give out to others often reflects what we have received.
Kicking off a new 6-part series, Mark asks the question, ‘What’s in your hands?’ God has placed various ‘gifts of grace’ in the hands of each and every one of us in order that we can serve. How we respond to this opportunity determines whether we in turn become a gift to others.
Isabel encourages us to live in the place of ‘God said’ and not limiting God by what we know.
In the finale of this series, Richard shows how embracing courage, in the face of fear, could be the tipping point to something extraordinary.
In the final part, we look at the 5 main ways God speaks today and practical tips on how to test the word is really from God.
Did you know that God is speaking to you? In this two-part talk, we look at the story of Samuel and how he positioned himself to listen to God, learning that we too can hear from Him today.
Many are sick and tired of being sick and tired…but God’s plan is for us to have abundant life in Christ through the Holy Spirit, and for His joy to be in us in overflowing measure! How do we live life to the full, and experience the power of His presence at all times, even when things are tough?
In an age where it seems people are increasingly feeling hopelessness, we learn that certain hope can only be found in Jesus. Looking at Hebrews 6:19 we learn that when the storms of life rage, our hope in Jesus is an anchor to our soul.
