Housegroups 

The Church, God's hope for the world

Introduction

 

Our upcoming preaching series, which begins on Sunday 20th May, is entitled ‘The Church, God’s hope for the world’. 

 

Over the course of the series we’ll take a closer look at some of the defining marks of the church, the calling of the church, and the power of God at work in the church. 


This series links quite closely to the teaching series at the Houseparty in which David Bracewell unpacked Acts 2:42-47.  For this reason, if you were not at the Houseparty, I recommend listening to the talks which are available on the church website. 

 

The Housegroup notes for this series will be prepared by a variety of people and so will be different in style and structure throughout the series.  I hope the variety is refreshing and helpful. 

 

Alongside this series I’m recommending two books both of which are available to buy at St Giles’ and St George’s. 

 

The Good & Beautiful Community – In this book James Bryan-Smith helps us to reflect on what it means to live in relationship with others as apprentices of Jesus.  The book is a rallying call for a ‘full-time’ church.

 

Café Theology – Michael Lloyd presents a liberating and exciting view of the Christian life that opens up more life giving dimensions for the church community to live in. 

 

The series doesn’t follow the structure of either book, but both are helpful background reading and very thought provoking. 

 

The series will run as follows:

 

Sun 20th May – The Church is…the core of God’s plan – 1Peter2:9-10, Gen 12:1-7

 

Sun 27th May – The Church is…God’s new community – Acts2:41-47, Heb10:19-25

 

Sun 3rd June – The Church is....A joyful people – Phil4:4,  Ps100,  Jn10:10

 

Sun 10th June – The Church is…the family of God – Gal3:23-4:7, Mk 3:20-25

 

Sun 17th June – The Church is…the body of Christ pt1 – 1Cor12:12-27

 

Sun 24th June – The Church is…the body of Christ pt2 – Rom12:3-21

 

Sun 1st July – The Church is…the temple of God – 1Cor3:1-17, Eph2:19-22

 

Sun 8th July – The Church is…the bride of Christ – Rev 21:1-5, Eph5:25-33

 

Sun 15th July – The Church is…one – Jn17:1-5 & 20-26, Eph4:1-6

 

Sun 22nd July – The Church is…on the cutting edge – Acts4:5-31

 

Sun 29th July – The Church is…the light of the world & sign of the kingdom – Mt5:14-16

 

The first two weeks worth of notes are online now! 


Simon Butler, 30/04/2012