Easter Coffee Morning

Apr 5, 2026

Our thanks to all who came and to all who helped at our Easter coffee morning. In addition to home baking from Stacey, Julie, Bev, Beckie and Janet, we had a table top sale and tombola to raise funds for the Parent & Toddler Summer Trip to York Maze. The 53 people who attended raised a whopping £222! – thank you very much indeed.

We also gave out Easter leaflets and creme eggs:

And we took silly photos of us as Easter bunnies…

We Are Redeemed

Apr 5, 2026

On Good Friday we enjoyed a fellowship meal together before our service. During that service we looked at the fact that by His death on the cross, Jesus redeemed us from our sins – a fact prophesied before His birth! (see Luke 1:68) In Colossians, we read ‘For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.’ (Col 1:13-14) In Ephesians 1:7-8, Paul writes, ‘In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us.’ (Eph 1:7-8) These verses remind us that part of our identity as God’s people is that we are redeemed.
‘Redeemed’ and ‘redemption’ are words we don’t us a lot nowadays, but this means to be bought back, rescued from the enemy’s ownership and restored to God. Paul tells us that ‘Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.” He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.’ (Gal 3:13-14) Good Friday sees Jesus paying the price for our sin and therefore we can enter into God’s blessings now.
Forgiveness of sins means the slate is wiped completely clean; we are now given a new legal status, that of justified people. The redemption Christ has purchased for us is eternal: ‘He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.’ (Heb 9:12) The Israelites were rescued from slavery and redeemed and led into a new country. (Deut 7:8) They knew freedom; they were God’s people. We too have been set free and redeemed, forgiven, justified and given a fresh start as God’s people, all because of Christ’s death for us.

Taught By God

Mar 29, 2026

Today we looked at our identity as people who are taught by God (see John 6:45, Isaiah 54:11-13). It’s a privilege to be called God’s people, and this gives us access to a personal relationship with God whereby we can learn directly from Him (see also Jeremiah 31:31-34).

To be taught by God is not to belittle human teachers (including our parents, family members, other believers, church pastors, apostles, prophets, evangelists and teachers, who can all have a massive influence on our lives.) It is, however, the privilege of all believers to be known personally by God and to be taught in ways that are meaningful to us (since there are so many different learning styles.) Jesus Himself (known as ‘Rabbi’ or teacher) taught in different ways:

  1. using stories or parables (Matthew 13, Mark 4:2)
  2. using illustrations or examples (Luke 7:31-32)
  3. by having them work alongside Him, watching Him and then doing what He did (Luke 9:1-6)
  4. by looking at current affairs and drawing spiritual lessons from these (Luke 13:4-5)
  5. through questions (Luke 18:8)
  6. through proverbs (Luke 7:45)
  7. through metaphors, particularly in John’s Gospel with the ‘I am’ statements, John 9:5, John 14:6)
  8. through sermons and lectures (e.g. the Sermon on the Mount Matthew 5-7, Matthew 24)
  9. through provocative language (e.g. calling Herod ‘that fox’ in Luke 13:32)
  10. through one-to-one conversation (e.g. with Nicodemus in John 3 or the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4)

Generally speaking, now He teaches us through His word (Heb 4:12, 2 Tim 3:16-17), through life’s circumstances (which often seem so contrary to us!) and through His Spirit (1 Cor 2:10-14). There are many things He teaches us, but perhaps the most important lessons involve:

  1. loving God and other people (Matt 22:37-40)
  2. trusting Him (Prov 3:5)
  3. following Him (Matt 4:19)
  4. obeying Him (Matt 7:24-27)

God is that perfect parent and teacher and so we can learn vital lessons of love, trust and obedience as you follow Him and walk with Him every single day of your lives.

 

The Mission of the Church

Mar 22, 2026

This afternoon our Bible discussion focussed on the mission of the church. Archbishop William Temple said, ‘The church is the only organisation which exists for the benefit of non-members.’ Our focus must always be on those who do not know God, seeking to bring them closer to Him.
The proclamation of the good news of Jesus Christ is the mission of the church (as seen in Acts 2.) The church may well have events to reach out to the community, but individuals within any church must be prepared to share their testimonies and speak of what God has done for us. Our own experiences show that both events and personal witness were important in bringing us to Christ, and this remains true for others.
As a local church, we try to reach out with the good news through our coffee mornings, Parent & Toddler group, by singing at Parkside Care Home and through Mindful Moments. We will be giving out Easter eggs and booklets about the real meaning of Easter on Saturday 4 April outside Asda (from 10 a.m.) as another way of reaching out to others. Join us for this if you can!

Called To Pray

Mar 19, 2026

On Sunday we looked at our identity as people of prayer. God’s people, who are called by His name, are to live in a relationship which involves listening as well as talking. We looked at 2 Chronicles 7:13-15, where God highlights our part in the relationship as well as promising His response of blessing if we do these 4 things:

1. Humble ourselves
2. Pray
3. Seek His face
4. Turn from our wicked ways
Humility pleases God. We do well to follow the example of Jesus, who washed His disciples’ feet (John 13, Philippians 2:1-11). When we serve God in humility, realising that greatness comes through lowliness, we reflect God’s way of doing things.
To pray is at the heart of our relationship, and we have been looking at Matthew 6 recently to see the framework of prayer and how not to pray!
To seek God’s face means we prioritise Him above everything and everyone else. (Jer 29:13) David shows us a desperation in his prayers (e.g. Ps 27, Ps 63) which reflects our hunger and thirst for God. Sometimes it’s as if He tests us at times to see how earnestly we will seek Him.
When God highlights sin in our lives, we must turn from those things in order to follow His ways. In Revelation 2 and 3, Jesus speaks to churches, commending what is good but rebuking what is wrong (the Ephesians’ lack of love, for example.) The only way back in these circumstances is through repentance.
When we live out our identity as God’s people who humble ourselves, pray, seek His face and turn from sin, we will live in the favour of God.

Wise Words To Live By

Mar 6, 2026

At our Bible study last night, we also looked at the words of Jesus in Matt 7:1-12, which look at a range of subjects about how best to live as people in God’s kingdom. His words on prayer remind us of the need to persevere: we must ask, seek and knock, but again, He balances what we must do with a secure knowledge of what God does for His children, reminding us of His generosity and provision. We may struggle at times with prayer, for God sometimes seems to test us by making us wait for answers, but Jesus shows us the generous nature of God to assure us that He is not mean.

Jesus also wanrs of the dangers of judging others, speaking humorously about the ‘plank’ in our own eyes while we are keen to remove the ‘speck’ from someone else’s. We can’t always see others clearly and need God to reveal to us our own sin before we speak about other people’s (see John 8:1-7).

Jesus also reminds us that we need wisdom; it’s not always the right time to speak of spiritual matters to those who are deliberately ignoring God’s ways.

In these verses, Jesus gives us examples of good behaviour (befitting of the kingdom of God) and poor choices which are not going to help in the long run.

1. Worry is a poor choice which will lead to anxiety and keep us in a place where we are depressed and unable to serve God effectively. (Matt 6:25-31) It is pointless, fruitless and a total waste of time and energy. To say that ‘I’m a worrier’, implying that we have no choice in the matter, is a lie. We worry by choice. Jesus urges us to choose an alternative to worry.

2. We are to choose to put God first in everything and are assured that God’s provision will meet all our needs. (Matt 6:32-34) Nature itself demonstrates to us God’s perfect care and attention to detail. This should encourage us to have faith and to trust.

3. God’s nature means we should treat others as we would like God (and others) to treat us. (Matt 7:12) This will mean refusing to live in a self-righteous, judgmental, over-critical way. It will mean giving people the benefit of the doubt and refusing to treat sacred things in a profane way.

The words of Jesus are wise pointers we do well to heed if we want to live well.