In this all-together gathering, we look at the Big Announcements the church is called to make. Announcements of welcome, to one another, to the world and until Christ returns!

We all need friends of faith. In this encouragement message, we focus on what the characteristics of friends of faith might be, how we can implement them in our church family and how we can be friends of faith to those who don't yet know Jesus. We end with a checklist for consideration and challenge!

Towards the end of Ephesians 2 we read some familiar verses that describe Jesus as the cornerstone. In this message we unpack what this means and go through verses 19-22 phrase-by-phrase. We see how Jesus the Cornerstone is placed at the very centre of both the church and our lives individually, providing a strong and stable foundation that everything else can line up to.

Continuing our series in Ephesians, Paul turns his attention at the start of chapter 4 to the practical day to day living of the transformed in-Christ life he has described in chapters 1 to 3. He urges us to walk worthy of our calling together as the One New People of God, guarding our oneness in Christ. And he gives us just the right tools to help… a new wardrobe of designer-label garments. Dare to wear!

As we read through this beautiful psalm of David, we look at what it tells us about God, and want it teaches us about worship.

Scripture tells us that ‘God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church’. In this All-Together gathering we think about how this truth can enable us to approach God in prayer, full of confidence!

In Ephesians 4 we read about the gifts of Christ to the church. So in this session we take a closer look at apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers.

As we look at Ezekiel 47:1-12, we see how God has a ‘River of Life’ that comes from heaven to bring abundant blessing on earth. We can see this river being an image of: the life of Jesus poured out for us; and then at Pentecost a pouring out of the Holy Spirit; and then as a river of life in the Spirit that flows through believers from house-to-house. The pattern of God’s increasing purpose to fill the earth is seen in the different depths of the river, and shows us how we can be led by the Holy Spirit into greater depths of fellowship together and of reaching others with the power of the gospel. Finally, we see how being led by the Spirit and drawing upon our relationship with Him will cause us to be like the abundant trees who are fruitful every month and have leaves for healing.

Jumping out of Ephesians chapters 2 & 4, in this episode, we think again about the contrast in the life of the believer before and after encountering Jesus. We explore how that change happened and then how in the church we work hard together to preserve the unity that Christ has won.

When God declared “Let us make man in our image” (Genesis 1:26) He was expressing not only His own ’three-in-one’ togetherness, but also His great purpose in creating men and women who would join together in unity and reproduce His image in all the earth!  The story of the miraculous catch and the calling of the first disciples (Luke 5) is a powerful example of what can happen when we prepare for a new day, make ourselves wholly available, go deeper, join together, and help each other handle the great increase He wants to give us!  This is the power and potential of churches working in partnership with one another…