We had a talk last Sunday giving us some good reasons to go to church: to encourage one another, to grow both individually and collectively, to worship, and to spread the good news.
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Boundaryless God
I recently enjoyed a series of talks by James Riley on a 'Boundaryless God'. Jesus challenged the boundaries set by the religious system of his day (e.g. Who is my neighbour? How many times must I forgive?). But where does this leave us in living out our Christianity? Are boundaries useful at all in terms of our fellowship, worship, and services? There is certainly some guidance in the Bible to suggest that boundaries can be useful in some of these areas - but where we choose to set them may be more a product of our cultural context than absolute 'right' or 'wrong'.
Read MoreHe's got the whole world in his hands
Beautifully done by the African Children’s Choir!
The essence of church
We had a home group recently discussing the essence of church. The term ’church’ is often used to apply to a building in modern times, but this is not the Biblical sense. The word for church in the Bible (‘ecclesia’) is probably best translated as congregation, or group of believers (although it can be translated ‘mob’, which is an interesting idea). This post tries to summaries the essence of church: what it is, and who it is for.
Read MoreIs it ever ok to lie?
Sometimes a lie is a lot easier than the truth: when you have done something wrong, or when the truth will hurt somebody’s feelings. But we teach children to tell the truth and not lie, so why should adults be allowed to tell a ‘white lie’ every now and then? Jesus instructs us to worship God in spirit and truth (John 4:24), and this means that lying is never ok!
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