James and Hannah Silley join us from New Community Church, Sidcup. They share some of the journey their local church has been on and help us to see the big picture of God's vision for all nations.

The Biblical vision for unity does not lead us to a bland conformity. Instead, Biblical unity is a celebration of our diversity - our different stories, welded together in Christ, bringing glory to God.

Our true identity and citizenship is found in God - we are sinners saved by grace, adopted as His children, and citizens of heaven. As ambassadors of His kingdom, we are called to live out His values - loving, forgiving, and serving others - while representing Christ in the world but not being of it.

The grace of God helps us have a right view of ourselves and one another, and gives us the ability to reconcile our differences.

In Acts 10, God speaks to Peter through a vision that challenged his cultural, historical and ethnic prejudices. It led to the first gentile conversions. Where might we have unconscious biases based on our history and traditions that stop us being bridge builders for the gospel?

Through unpacking Ephesians 2:11-22, we see that the cross is the place where true reconciliation is found and the local church is the place where reconciled relationships grow.

We launch our news series as Jim paints a big picture of why we carry a vision for a reconciled church. Because of the gospel, our world, our church and our witness.

This Sunday, we welcomed Executive Director Nigel Goodenough from Hope Into Action (HIA), one of our partner charities. Nigel shared about the work of HIA and introduced tenants who shared their stories.

At the start of this term, Jim shares some church news and encourages us to be alert to what God is doing in the 'present time' and the opportunities it gives us to walk in the way of Jesus.

The final message in our series on Elijah. We see how he was 'taken' from this earth, and how Elisha is commissioned to continue what Elijah began. And, as always, we'll see how this is all about Jesus.