Our new Assistant Minister Andrea finishes off our Every Member Ministry series looking at Ephesians 4:1-16. God gives us a community with people with different gifts in order to equip us and enable us to serve one another and grow in our unity in the gospel.

This series has taught us:

Week 1: We are all given the same identity in Christ no matter who we are.

Week 2: We all have the same access to God through Jesus and we can all encourage each other by meeting together.

Week 3: We are all gifted in different ways to serve one another.

Week 4: We are all equipped by others in the church to do the work of ministry.

So far in our series, we've seen that as Christians we all have a shared identity in Christ given to us through faith in Jesus. We've also seen how we all have the same access to God and can serve each other by meeting together to remind ourselves of God's grace past, present and future.

This week we turn our minds to the Spiritual Gifts. God not only saves us but also gifts us to serve His church. No matter who we are, no matter what our gift, we matter as individual members of the body of Christ.

As we continue our "Every Member Ministry" series we look at Hebrews 10:19-25 and see that as Christians regardless of our role all of us have been given this remarkable access to God through faith in Jesus Christ. We're encouraged then to meet together regularly to remind each other about what God has done for us, what God will do for us, and what God is currently doing in and through us as we approach Him confidently in prayer.

As a church May marks the beginning of a new season in our mission and ministry together as we welcome our Assistant Minister Andrea Hensher to the staff team. One of the dangers of moments like this is we think that our ministry staff are the ones who are called to do all the work, and we the congregation members are just participants. This series reminds us of the shared responsibility all of us have for sharing the gospel and declaring the praises of God.

Week 1 of the series kicks off with a look at 1 Peter 2:1-10 and the "Priesthood of All Believers".

What wonderful news it is that Jesus Christ has risen from the dead! But what a hard thing to believe! Even Jesus' first followers had a hard time wrapping their heads around it!

This Easter we're invited to hear the first witnesses of Jesus tell their story of witnessing something almost unbelievable, and we're asked by God to consider whether we'll accept his gift of salvation through the death and resurrection of His son Jesus Christ of Nazareth!

As we reflect on the story of Good Friday we see that it is only through the death of Jesus we can find hope in the midst of a world full of sin and brokeness.

As we consider the story of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday some 2,000 years ago, we see that there are a variety of ways people can respond to Jesus.

Lamentations 5 finishes with a sustained prayer to God recounting their suffering and seeking God's promise to restore His people.

In 587 BC the people of Jerusalem faced the destruction of the city after it was seiged and then sacked by the Babylonian Army. The Babylonians were ruthless in their victory causing great suffering and despair amongst God's people. Part of what made this worse is the people had placed their hope in the wrong place and instead of trusting God were looking to God's gifts or earthly powers. Even worse, their leadership did not help the people stay faithful, but were also guilty of ignoring God.

As we dive into Lamentations 4 we learn about the deep despair of the people of Judah and Jerusalem and we see that there are a few lessons for us as we live our lives today.

In the middle of deep tragedy and pain, the writer of Lamentations reminds himself of God's true nature and faithfulness. He does this without minimising the deep pain of God's people, and the judgment of God.

God is faithful, loving, and just no matter what we're going through. And even when we know that to be true, it does not minimise the trauma or pain we are presently experiencing.