Past Preaching Programme

The stories within Genesis are foundational for understanding what our Christian faith is all about. During 2014 we looked at the first eleven chapters of Genesis which seek to teach us foundational truths about the nature of the world in which we live. From chapter 12, Genesis starts to reveal the nature of God’s rescue plan which begins with the call of Abram/Abraham. Abraham is depicted in the New Testament as a great hero of faith but many of his actions recorded within Genesis appear to show a man who had as much that was flawed about him as faithful. During this series we will look at the key episodes in Abraham’s life and seek to understand how all of their elements played a role in the development of God’s plan of salvation.

The Old Testament can sometimes seem rather strange to us, particularly the book of Genesis with its seemingly bizarre and off-putting stories. The role of this very first book of the Bible, however, is to teach us foundational truths about both the nature of the world in which we live and the nature of God’s rescue plan for it. During this series we will study Genesis through the key characters presented within it and seek to understand what God has to say to us today through this ancient book and its relevance to our everyday lives.

One of the greatest Christian virtues is joy. Gaining joy is about reaching a sense of internal well-being that is not dependent on outward circumstances. When Paul wrote his letter to the church at Philippi he was in prison and yet every aspect of the epistle reflects the joy that he had found through his faith in Jesus Christ. During this series we will look the different ways in which Paul’s faith in Jesus contributed to this joy with the aim of discovering more about how our Christian faith can produce something similar within our lives.

In successive weeks we will see how joy is produced by seeing how God can bring good out of bad situations (Philippians 1), developing an attitude similar to that of Jesus (Philippians 2), sitting lightly to the human status markers (Philippians 3.1-11), being clear about the Christian hope (Philippians 3.12-21) and learning to relate well to others (Philippians 4.1-23).

One of the greatest needs that we have as human beings is the strength to face up to our hardships and those things that we fear. One of the ways through which this can come to us is through encouragement when we receive words and support from others that quite literally give us the courage to face up to our fears and become more fully the people that God made us to be. During this series we will consider both the encouragement that God wants us to receive in various aspects of our lives and the ways in which we can, in turn, be part of passing this encouragement onto others.

The Ten Commandments within Exodus and Deuteronomy are perhaps the most famous part of the Old Testament. During this series we will look at the first five of these commandments and, in the light of the teaching within the New Testament, consider how they reveal God’s will for our lives today. Rather than simply considering the individual application of the Ten Commandments to our lives, we will also consider the ways in which they were intended to shape the communal life of God’s people and the implications of this for our life together at Christ Church.

Easter is the most important festival within the Christian year because we are celebrating is God’s new creation and resurrection life breaking into this world and changing it forever. The truth of Easter should therefore change everything about our lives from the way in which we approach our work, recreation and relationships to the way in which we consider how to vote in May’s General Election.

During all of our April services from Easter onwards – 9.30, 11.00 and six30 @ ccnm – we will be considering how Easter should change our approach to life. The aim of these series is that both our individual and family lives and our life as a church community will be further transformed by the truth of Easter.

Easter is the most important festival within the Christian year because we are celebrating is God’s new creation and resurrection life breaking into this world and changing it forever. The truth of Easter should therefore change everything about our lives from the way in which we approach our work, recreation and relationships to the way in which we consider how to vote in May’s General Election.

During all of our April services from Easter onwards – 9.30, 11.00 and six30 @ ccnm – we will be considering how Easter should change our approach to life. The aim of these series is that both our individual and family lives and our life as a church community will be further transformed by the truth of Easter.

Easter is the most important festival within the Christian year because we are celebrating is God’s new creation and resurrection life breaking into this world and changing it forever. The truth of Easter should therefore change everything about our lives from the way in which we approach our work, recreation and relationships to the way in which we consider how to vote in May’s General Election.

During all of our April services from Easter onwards – 9.30, 11.00 and six30 @ ccnm – we will be considering how Easter should change our approach to life. The aim of these series is that both our individual and family lives and our life as a church community will be further transformed by the truth of Easter.

At the heart of the Christian faith are a number of historical events and truths that we confess our belief in. But what practical difference should it make to believe in these truths? During this series we will look at a number of these – the resurrection appearances of Jesus, the belief in our future resurrection, the ascension of Jesus into heaven, the coming of the Holy Spirit and understanding God as Trinity – and ask what difference these truths both should and can make to our everyday lives.

Famously there is not one single mention of God in the story of Esther. This, however, is precisely because its writer wants us to do the hard work of discerning God’s presence behind the events that it narrates. During this series we will use this exciting and disturbing story to try and see further where God is to be found within our current lives and those situations where he can sometimes appear to be to be just as noticeably absent.

One of the foremost marks of the Holy Spirit is the way in which he gives God’s people gifts to do his work within the world. St Paul’s writings contain four lists of such gifts – two in 1 Corinthians 12 and another two in Romans 12 and Ephesians 4. The lists are not exhaustive but grouping similar gifts together, we will use these lists in this series to understand further the gifts that God has given us to continue his work.

Romans 8 is one of the greatest chapters in the whole of the Bible as St Paul speaks of the range of blessings that the Holy Spirit brings to Christian believers. Much of it is very dense but packed with wonderful truths and during this series we will look at how the Spirit brings us the power to meet the law’s requirements, the assurance that we are children of God, the power to pray and confidence of the ultimate victory God will bring us.

Pentecost is the time when we remember the coming of the Holy Spirit to equip the church to continue the work of Jesus within the world. This emphasis should continue beyond Pentecost Sunday and during this short series (interrupted by Father’s Day on 21st June) we will use the Acts of the Apostles to consider certain distinctive marks of a Spirit-filled church in the power that the Holy Spirit gives us to heal, to stand firm and be a people who radically share with one another the things that we possess.

Very often it is the Old Testament that is seen as containing all of the parts of the Bible that are most difficult for Christians. However there are a number of passages within the New Testament that are equally problematic. Often our response can simply be to ignore such passages. However when we hold our nerve and seek to grapple with their meaning a great deal of value will often follow – even if it is usually extremely challenging! During July we will seek to do this across all of our three services at Christ Church looking at a number of the trickiest passages contained within the New Testament and trying to understand the challenge that they are bringing us both as a church and in our daily lives.

Very often it is the Old Testament that is seen as containing all of the parts of the Bible that are most difficult for Christians. However there are a number of passages within the New Testament that are equally problematic. Often our response can simply be to ignore such passages. However when we hold our nerve and seek to grapple with their meaning a great deal of value will often follow – even if it is usually extremely challenging! During July we will seek to do this across all of our three services at Christ Church looking at a number of the trickiest passages contained within the New Testament and trying to understand the challenge that they are bringing us both as a church and in our daily lives.

Very often it is the Old Testament that is seen as containing all of the parts of the Bible that are most difficult for Christians. However there are a number of passages within the New Testament that are equally problematic. Often our response can simply be to ignore such passages. However when we hold our nerve and seek to grapple with their meaning a great deal of value will often follow – even if it is usually extremely challenging! During July we will seek to do this across all of our three services at Christ Church looking at a number of the trickiest passages contained within the New Testament and trying to understand the challenge that they are bringing us both as a church and in our daily lives.

At the six30 service during June we spent time looking at the various different gifts of the Holy Spirit mentioned within the New Testament. This formed part of encouraging us to locate and use the individual gifts that God has given to us. During this series we will build upon this by hearing the stories of how five members of Christ Church have used their gifts in God’s service. Once again the aim is to inspire all of us to further thought on the gifts that God has given to us and how he wants us to be using them as part of building up the church and his continuing work in the world.

During the autumn a number of members of Christ Church are travelling to other parts of the world. In each case it is prompted by their calling to serve God in that place and amongst its people. During this series we will hear more of why Mercy Teete, Josh Evans and Ros Sainsbury are travelling to Athens, Bangladesh and Sierra Leone respectively followed by Roger Pearse from the Baptist Church speaking about his involvement in mission in South America. The aim is to inform us so that we can support and partner these people in mission more effectively and be further inspired in developing the mission of Christ Church – both here and overseas.

One of the most important truths of Christianity is that Jesus Christ came to establish one, worldwide family united across all those boundaries and barriers that normally separate and divide the people of this world. Sadly, we rarely reflect this radical unity and during this series we will seek to remedy this by considering what Christ Church has to learn from the church in Kenya, India, Peru and Papua New Guinea. All of the churches in these very different places are grappling with very different issues and as we learn about their response to them, we can be inspired to grow further into the church that God wants Christ Church to be.

One of the most important truths of Christianity is that Jesus Christ came to establish one, worldwide family united across all those boundaries and barriers that normally separate and divide the people of this world. Sadly, we rarely reflect this radical unity and during this series we will seek to remedy this by considering what Christ Church has to learn from the church in Kenya, India, Peru and Papua New Guinea. All of the churches in these very different places are grappling with very different issues and as we learn about their response to them, we can be inspired to grow further into the church that God wants Christ Church to be.

In Romans 12 St Paul calls us to ‘no longer conform to the pattern of this world but to be transformed through the renewal of your minds’. Part of the calling of Christians to work on allowing the Holy Spirit to transform our thinking and attitudes towards every aspect of our lives so that they can more fully reflect God’s perfect will for them. This is a difficult task with so much pressure upon us from our surrounding culture to conform to its thinking and attitudes. During October, across all three services at Christ Church, we will consider how to develop a Christian attitude to a number of very different issues. This won’t be easy but the aim is to question the thinking and assumptions that we are under pressure to uncritically accept and consider the radical alternative held out by a Christian response to these issues.

In Romans 12 St Paul calls us to ‘no longer conform to the pattern of this world but to be transformed through the renewal of your minds’. Part of the calling of Christians to work on allowing the Holy Spirit to transform our thinking and attitudes towards every aspect of our lives so that they can more fully reflect God’s perfect will for them. This is a difficult task with so much pressure upon us from our surrounding culture to conform to its thinking and attitudes. During October, across all three services at Christ Church, we will consider how to develop a Christian attitude to a number of very different issues. This won’t be easy but the aim is to question the thinking and assumptions that we are under pressure to uncritically accept and consider the radical alternative held out by a Christian response to these issues.

In Romans 12 St Paul calls us to ‘no longer conform to the pattern of this world but to be transformed through the renewal of your minds’. Part of the calling of Christians to work on allowing the Holy Spirit to transform our thinking and attitudes towards every aspect of our lives so that they can more fully reflect God’s perfect will for them. This is a difficult task with so much pressure upon us from our surrounding culture to conform to its thinking and attitudes. During October, across all three services at Christ Church, we will consider how to develop a Christian attitude to a number of very different issues. This won’t be easy but the aim is to question the thinking and assumptions that we are under pressure to uncritically accept and consider the radical alternative held out by a Christian response to these issues.

The Sunday during November during our morning services at Christ Church will involve taking a fresh look at familiar themes. 'All Saints Day' is rarely marked at Christ Church but this year we will use it to think afresh about what it means to be joined to all of God’s people throughout the world and down the ages. This will be followed by ‘Remembrance Sunday’, when we will think about our response to wars, both past and present, and in particular those who have died. ‘Mission Sunday’ will then take place as we reflect on the nature and challenge of Christian mission in other parts of the world followed a ‘Vocation and Discipleship Sunday’ when we consider how God is calling us to serve him in our daily lives.

The Sunday during November during our morning services at Christ Church will involve taking a fresh look at familiar themes. 'All Saints Day' is rarely marked at Christ Church but this year we will use it to think afresh about what it means to be joined to all of God’s people throughout the world and down the ages. This will be followed by ‘Remembrance Sunday’, when we will think about our response to wars, both past and present, and in particular those who have died. ‘Mission Sunday’ will then take place as we reflect on the nature and challenge of Christian mission in other parts of the world followed a ‘Vocation and Discipleship Sunday’ when we consider how God is calling us to serve him in our daily lives.

All four gospels emphasise the significance of the ministry of John the Baptist in preparing the way for the ministry of Jesus. Quite often, however, John’s importance is neglected helping us to miss or downplay crucial connections between the Old Testament and the New. As well as baptising in the River Jordan (including Jesus), John preached about the meaning of repentance, the importance of Jesus and eventually went to his death for challenging Herod Antipas. During this series, which runs into Advent, we will look at these different aspects of John’s ministry and seek to understand more fully how they point us to Jesus.

It is sometimes said that the Old Testament is ‘a story in search of an ending’. Malachi is the final book of the Old Testament and certainly reinforces this sense with its emphasis upon the continuing problems of God’s faithless people after their return from exile in Babylon, the return of Elijah to preach repentance and the coming of the LORD himself to put things right. Mark’s gospel begins with a quotation from Malachi (merged with one from Isaiah) finding its fulfilment in the coming of John the Baptist and then Jesus. During Advent we will therefore use the prophecy of Malachi to seek to understand these events more fully.

Much of the first two chapters of Luke’s Gospel recounts the events surrounding the pregnancies of Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist and Mary, the mother of Jesus. A key theme here is the fulfilment of the long and winding story of God’s interaction with the people of Israel. During this Advent series, we will examine the stories of the arrival of these two babies, the reasons for the detail they contain and what they can help us to understand more about Jesus Christ as we approach the celebration of his birth at Christmas.