Last night, some of us from church attended the Worship Central UK Tour meeting in Bradford. Worship Central (http://www.worshipcentral.org/) is an organisation dedicated to teaching and resourcing the church about worship; its three key aims are to:

1) encounter God,
2) equip the worshipper
3) empower the local church.

The school of worship, which is part of Alpha International, is led by Tim Hughes and Al Gordon, and the evening was a time of teaching and worship, looking at John 6:63, where we are told that ‘the Spirit gives life’.

Using LIFE as an acrostic, we were exhorted to:
Look boldly with the eyes of faith at what God is already doing. John 3:8 reminds us that the Spirit’s work is like the wind: we may not be able to see Him, just as we cannot see the wind, but we see the effects of His work. Galatians 5:25 reminds us to keep in step with the Spirit. We need to hear God’s ‘marching orders’.

Invite daily the Holy Spirit into our lives (Ephesians 5:18), so that we are continually filled with the Spirit, acknowledging that we are not to live in our own strength, but in God’s. We were reminded that when we are pushed, only what is inside comes out… so we need God’s life within to flourish so that others may see Him in us.

Forgive freely (Mark 11:25), since forgiveness leads to freedom and release.

Expect greatly (Luke 24:49) Tim Hughes talked about how, in the Old Testament, circumstances and situations rendered people unclean (eg if you touched a dead body), yet Jesus, when on earth, touched all manner of unclean people (the woman with the issue of blood, the leper, the dead girl) and instead of Him becoming unclean, they became clean. The same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead lives in us (Romans 8:11). We can expect great things to happen because of who God is.

It was encouraging to worship with so many people of all ages, to learn new songs (Nikki Fletcher’s ‘All Glory’, Tim Hughes’s ‘Counting On Your Name’, Ben Cantelon’s ‘Not Ashamed’… (interesting to see how God is giving songs on the same theme to songwriters all over the world!)) and most of all, to understand afresh the power and purposes of God.

And just to prove we were there, some photos taken at the start. Some of you may have iPhones and want to download the free app… or you may want to go to London to be involved in the live album recording!

And if you’re interested, the set lists are given below (with apologies for any titles I’ve got wrong for new songs!)

1st set
Spirit of the Living God – Daniel Iverson
Holding Nothing Back – Tim Hughes, Martin Smith
Dance – Tim Hughes
Wake Up – Tim Hughes, Stu Garrard
Beautiful – Phil Wickham
All Glory – Nikki Fletcher, Tim Hughes, Martin Smith
Counting on Your Name – Tim Hughes, Nick Herbert
Happy Day – Tim Hughes, Ben Cantelon

2nd set
Consuming Fire – Tim Hughes
Spirit Break Out – Luke Hellebronth, Myles Dhillon
Saviour of the World – Ben Cantelon
Because of Your Love – Al Gordon, Hanif Williams
For Your Glory – Ben Cantelon, Matt Redman
Not Ashamed (Remix) – Ben Cantelon, Nick Herbert
Hallelujah – Ben Cantelon

This week, we started Bible studies on the book of Romans, which will probably keep us occupied for at least 4 months! Garry gave an introductory overview, so we will be looking at Romans 1 next Thursday.

Romans is probably the most ‘theological’ of the New Testament letters. Written by Paul whilst he was in Corinth, it tells us of his plans to visit the church in Rome on his way to Spain (Romans 15:24) and there is a lot of personal reference in it, despite his never having visited the church (see Romans 16). In the letter, Paul systematically sets out his understanding of the Gospel and teaches us so much about the state of the world, the salvation God offers us, touching on mnay subjects which are as relevant today as when he wrote the ltter. Condemnation, God’s will, what to do when you have sinned, why bad things happen… all these things are dealt with in the book of Romans.

In Acts 18:1-3, we read how Priscilla and Aquila had been expelled from Rome and met Paul in Corinth. The early Roman church, it appears, was made up of converted Jews and Gentiles were added to it. Paul, therefore, has much to say to both groups in the letter.

One of the key verses in Romans is found in the first chapter:
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” ” (Romans 1:16-17)

As Jeremy Camp says in his song ‘Not Ashamed’,
“I’m not ashamed of the Gospel
I’m not ashamed of Jesus Christ
I will stand and boldly say
This is my life.”

May we all learn to do this through our study of Romans.

The family service on 7th November looked at the topic of value and worth.

Mark reminded us, from Matthew 13:44-46, that we are all of great value to God. God sees us as His treasure, as something worth giving His best for. We looked at family photographs and thought about how much our families mean to us, and reflected on the fact that God gave His only Son to bring us into His kingdom. That places an incalculable worth on us. What is God worth to us?

As always, it was good to worship God together:


It was Beryl’s birthday:

We welcomed our newest member, baby Grace (yes, we’re no longer waiting!), and enjoyed the rewards of our games:

Some of us enjoyed posing for photos!:

And all in all, we had a great time!

For those of you familiar with TV programmes, we ran our own version during the family service: Burgin’s Real Deal! Stephen brought three valuable items to be auctioned: an ornament of a baby, a large, dusty family book and a necklace. These items, representing the baby Jesus, the Bible and a gold cross, had to be bid for by the congregation.

In the end, though, an unexpected (!) telephone call changed the outcome of the bidding, as we were reminded that these things are of inestimable worth and that it cost God everything to bring us back into his family…

Mark began his sermon today by playing a word association game with us: he gave us the word ‘lamb’ and the associations were all to do with food! (Mint sauce… lamb chops… donner kebabs etc… It’s good to see what we’re all thinking about on a Sunday morning!)

More seriously, we looked at John 1:29 where John the Baptist declares ‘Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.’ John the Baptist, who recognised Jesus even when still in his mother’s womb (Luke 1:39-45), declared the real identity of Jesus to all who would listen, including the principalities and powers. In choosing to name Jesus as the ‘Lamb of God’ – rather than focussing on any of His other qualities – John recognised the sacrificial nature of Jesus’s ministry and destiny. As Isaiah says, Jesus ‘was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.’ (Is 53:7) The lambs used in Old Testament sacrifices had to be perfect and spotless; so too Jesus was sinless and perfect, chosen by God to be the perfect sacrifice who once for all took away (removed totally) the sin of all the world. As a result of this, all our sins can be forgiven and we can have right standing before God; now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1)

What a Ssviour!

Mark was recently on holiday in Turkey and managed to visit Ephesus, which was obviously very relevant to our study of Ephesians. This week at the prayer meeting we also looked at some photos of Ephesus and learned more about the history of the place. The size of the ruins of the temple and amphitheatre was truly astounding.

The arches were made with a capstone, reminding us that Jesus is the church’s capstone and foundation:

The mosaics on the floors were amazing:

Telling stories through pictures:

This picture gives some idea of the scale of things: