In our penultimate message in our Upside Down series, Graham Smith takes us through the story of Paul and Silas in Prison in Acts 16:13-34. He draws on his experience as a missionary in China for 7 years to help shed some life on the experience of persecution millions have faced over the centuries up until the present day - including Paul and Silas in our passage. 

Graham finishes by asking us the following questions:

Join us next week as our Curate Mike takes us through our final instalment in our Upside Down series 🙌

As the early church grew it also faced lots of difficulties. This week Sally, one of our Church Wardens, takes us through the story of Peter’s miraculous escape in Acts 12. It’s a story that starts with the church in crisis - James has been put to death, Peter has been put in prison and the church is being persecuted. In the face of all this the church pray - both earnestly and honestly, and Peter joins in with Gods amazing rescue plan. Many Christians around the world face persecution for their faith - we get to join in praying earnestly and honestly for christians around the world, as well as asking God to help us to find freedom from the things which hold us back in our own lives.

As humans, we all have underlying prejudices. The thing about prejudice is that it's not easy to spot it ourselves- sometimes we need some help. That's exactly what we see the Holy Spirit doing in today's passage as the boundaries of the early church continue to be pushed outward. Join Mike as we find out about an unexpected character seeking God, about a follower of Jesus making space to listen to and be challenged by God, and about the widening circle of the Kingdom of God where everyone is welcome but everyone is also transformed.

Continuing with our Upside Down series, we were so blessed to have Claire McIlroy speak to us on Passion, Purpose & Perseverance through the lens of Acts 9:1-22.

This week was our Preachtastic service! Across the day we had 6 brilliant speakers give a message as part of our current series 'Upside Down'. Each speaker based their messages on the same passage from Acts 8:26-40. We've put all the speakers together in one podcast ready for you to catch up on!

The speakers this Sunday were: Natasha Gilbert, Martin Haworth, Naomi Manuel, Beth Horton, John Bakare & Debs Marks-Lenton!

We often think of the church in Acts as an idyllic community, and with the beautiful vision of community life in Acts 2 & 4 it's true — the miracle of Pentecost wasn't just visible in signs, wonders, and healings but in the creation of a new united family who shared and cared for those in need! But as with any community things quickly go wrong. Mike takes us through a story of crisis in the early church as we think about how we can respond to being an imperfect community, as we learn to live community life in both organised and organic ways and share the good news of Jesus together in both word and deed.

Jeff takes us through our next exciting Acts story in the Upside Down series looking at the first miracle which happened after the Spirit was poured out at Pentecost. Miracles are defined as extraordinary events - but they weren’t extraordinary for Jesus and they were an expectation of the early church. They saw the overwhelming need around them, responded with obedience to the call of Jesus and took faith risks. What risks is God calling us to take? Praying for healing will always be risky but perhaps not doing it is just as risky?

Rob Fowler, previous curate at St Matts takes us on a journey through the story of Elijah in 1 Kings 17, powerfully drawing out our reliance on God's unforeseen provision, the unexpected partnerships we get to embrace and and the need for instinctive love for the one. He also reminds us of our link with compassion and how each of us can get involved! If you’d like to sponsor a child why not find out more here: www.compassionuk.org/sponsorship

Up next in our Upside Down teaching series is Pentecost Sunday! Mike takes us through the story of Pentecost in Acts 2 when the Spirit fell in power and people immediately began to ask what on earth was going on. He encourages us that because of the Spirit coming at Pentecost all those years ago, today, everyone can be filled to overflowing. Isn't that good news?!

On the day of Pentecost, the Spirit fell in power and people immediately began to ask what on earth was going on. In this Try Church message, Mike takes us through the first ‘Gospel preach’ as Peter began to explain to the gathering crowds who Jesus is, why he came and what we can each do about it. You’ll also hear some top tips on sharing this message with your friends and family!