Community

Week Beginning: Sunday 13th January 2013

Question 1: Who is Jesus?

Bible Readings: Matthew 16:13-20, Isaiah 9: 1-7

Discussion Questions:

1. Who do you think Jesus is? What images, words, thoughts, feelings come to mind?
2. Having heard the talk in one of the services this week, has your concept of Jesus changed, how and why?
3. How do you respond to what Jesus said about himself? (e.g. “I am the way the truth and the life”, “I am the light of the world”)
4. If you had a chance to meet Jesus, how would you feel and what would you say to him?

Further resources for those exploring…

Websites:

www.rejesus.co.uk

Books: “Questions of Life” by Nicky Gumbel

“The Case for Christ” by Lee Strobel

For those who want to go deeper…

“Four Gospels, One Jesus?” by Richard Burridge

“The Jesus I never knew” by Philip Yancey

During the cold nights St Martin’s are taking part in the city wide Winter Night Shelter and will be housing eight guests, selected by Street Outreach Teams, for an evening meal, night, and breakfast.

We will be hosting one night per week during the 6 week period.  A number of churches across the city are working together so there will be beds every night of the week.

Please pray that our guests will be renewed and refreshed during their time with us. Pray that all the preparations will go smoothly. Please thank God for our volunteers and for equipping us to host our guests during this cold winter period in the city.

Click here to see an article with photos about the shelter on ITV.com

(Photo: Dubber, Flickr)

St Martin’s HOTS – January 5th 2013

 Once more the weather was almost spring like in January. It was pleasant. There was some   cold wind but from time to time the sun appeared.  Passers-by were not rushing as much and they appeared to enjoy the unusual January weather.

A good number of people from St Martin’s HOTS team turned up including some we had not seen for a while. It was a blessing to see you again.  A big thank you to you all. Also, thank you for your encouragement when we gathered together to pray before and after the session.

Before we went out to pray we read a Bible passage from John 1: 43-50 about Jesus calling Philip and Nathanael. Three things were pointed out of this passage:

1. Verse 46 ‘Nazareth! Can anything good come from there? Nathaniel asked.’ We too may be tempted to ask this question when we see places where we don’t see much peace, order or goodness.
2. Verse 48 ‘How do you know me? Nathanael asked Jesus.’ Jesus answered: I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you’. – This assures us that even before we pray for folks Jesus has already seen and knows them.
3. Verse 51 ‘you shall see greater things than that. You shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of God.’ We went out to pray on the street knowing that we were not alone. Angels would be ascending and descending from heaven as God’s work was being done on earth.

Here are some stories of God’s work being done on Earth.

• We prayed for a lady who had been having some pain in her toe. We prayed that the Holy Spirit would wash over her. I think the Holy Spirit did more than ‘washing’. As she sat on the chair we could see great peace and stillness within her. She said she felt refreshed. We hope to hear that the pain in her toe stopped. Watch this space.

• A young lady with past drug addiction wanted God in her life. The team members prayed for her arms spoke to her about Jesus. He always has open arms to receive those who want to come to him.  She was given to leaflet ‘Who is Jesus’. Please, pray for her.

• A mother came for prayer for her son who has been in prison since he was 14 years old. He is now 18 and is serving a 10 year sentence. Her request was ‘come home soon’. This reminds me of the parable of prodigal son in the Bible. The father was constantly waiting for the son to come home. And one day the son came home.

• Prayers by proxy for folks in Ukraine continue.  Eyes are better and vision has improved for one of them since last time.

• A man came to the chairs with a prayer request to ‘get right with God’. He drinks and abuses substances at weekends. What a request! I think this one was picked by one of the angels ascending and descending on the son of God.

God’s work was indeed done on Edgbaston St by St Martin in the Bull Ring.

Blessings

Elsie Blair-Chappell

(Photo: Praying Hands by C Jill Reed, Flickr)

8th Feb: Bantock Quartet (String);

15th Feb: Brass Concert.

22nd Feb: Trio: Clarinet, Piano, Viola.

1st Mar: Jonathan Warburton, Bass Trombone

8th Mar: Madelaine Jones and Daniel Edwards, Cello and Piano

15th Mar: Juliet Alice Jefferies: Piano, songs & solo

22nd Mar: No concert due to events in the church

29th Mar: Good Friday, no concert but please join us for Good Friday events.

Watch this space for updates.

(Image: crazybobbles)

Watch this space for the exciting upcoming Chocolate Lifepaths schools programme coming up at St. Martin in the Bull Ring…

Click here to read more about Scripture Union’s Lifepath model.

Image John Loo

THANKYOU

Gordon Thornett, Sutton Coldfield Chamber Choir  &  Bournville Strings for a fabulous 9th Annual Christmas Charity Concert

Almost 300 gathered to hear and see this wonderful Christmas event again and had a wonderful time.  Money was raised for St Martin’s creative arts ministries and for St Basils, working with homeless young people. Thankyou for all who gave generously. Final figures from the collection came to £470!  If you’d like to you can comment or add your thanks to the choir and musicians here.

Here’s some info about a project that our young people, working with other young people in the city, did recently.

Transforming Church – St. Martin in the Bull Ring – St. Thomas Garretts Green

MyFaith Video Project

Just before Christmas 2011 we applied for and secured funding from the Transforming Church Fund to run a video project at St. Martin in the Bull Ring. The concept was:

– to team up with another youth group from Birmingham;

– to run training sessions for all aspects of film-making, recording and editing;

– to use workshops, activities and discussions to explore what faith is and what it means in our lives.

The working title for the project was ‘My Faith’, and we hoped that by the end of the project the young people would have developed the skills and ideas to produce several short films about their faith.

In Spring 2012 we linked up with the youth group at St. Thomas Garretts Green, and we held our first project day just after Easter 2012. Through the summer term we went on to run another four project days, including a group trip to a rock-climbing centre. We have now (finally!) finished putting in the final editorial touches and are publishing and publicising our 3 short films.

– “MyFaith 1 – The question…What is faith?” – In this film the young people introduce the question – ‘what is faith?’

– “MyFaith 2 – News flash! What is faith?” – The ‘faith’ question has gone viral, so our news team hits the streets to find out what everyone is talking about…

– “MyFaith 3 – My Faith.” – In this film the young people reflect and share what faith means to them.

We have now posted the films to the video sharing website YouTube (links below), and held two ‘Premier’ events – on Sunday 18^th November at St. Thomas’ and on Sunday 25^th November at St. Martin’s.

For us the initial project is completed, but it is our hope that these films might be an inspiration and a resource to other youth groups and workers. In light of this we want to invite other groups to think about creating video responses, or extra films to add in to this project – our work and exploration of what faith is has been far from exhaustive! We would be really excited to hear from anyone interested in this, and would be more than happy to share our few insights, experiences (and possibly even equipment…).

So get comfy, grab your popcorn, and follow the links below… Enjoy and God bless! J

You can link to the films here:

MyFaith 1 – The question…What is faith?

See the top of the post

MyFaith 2 – News flash! What is faith?

MyFaith 3 – My Faith.

St Martins Whole Church Alpha:

Exploring the basics of the Christian Faith

From  Sunday 13th January to Sunday 31st March (Easter Day) at all the services, St Martins will be exploring the questions posed from the Christian Enquiry Course Alpha. We will do this through sermons, small group discussions, questions posed in a small theme guide and over bring and share lunches that will take place after our 11am services on Sunday 27th January, Sunday 24th February and Sunday 24th March (Palm Sunday). This is an opportunity for anyone who is wanting to know more about the Christian Faith to come along listen, chat, ask questions, as well as for those who have been Christians for a while to be reminded and encouraged by what we believe.

Each service has it’s own particular flavour and tradition but essentially the pattern will be as follows:

Sunday 9.30am, Holy Communion service:

• Sermon will be given on the theme, with an opportunity after the service for an informal chat over coffee

Sunday 11am, The Crossing Service:

• A more contemporary style service with Holy Communion on the 1st, 3rd and 5th Sunday’s of the month
• There will be a talk on the theme, with some interaction during the service as well as a chance to discuss in more structured groups after the service over a tea or coffee
• On the 27th January, 24th February and 24th March there will be a bring and share lunch with a chance for more extended time of discussion, picking up on the themes of the previous weeks
• There will be prayer ministry available for anyone who would like to be prayed for.

Sunday 6pm Service:

• A sermon will be given on the theme and there will be questions given to take away and ponder on, with further resources to recommended.
• Each 6pm service in the month follows a slightly different pattern:

– 1st  Sunday: Holy Communion

– 2nd & 4th Sunday: Choral Evensong

– 3rd Sunday:St Martin’s @ Prayer (a more informal and interactive creative time of prayer)

Tuesday 12.30pm, Service of Prayers for Healing:

• A more contemporary style service, with Holy Communion on the 1st, 3rd and 5th Tuesday’s of the month
•  There will be a talk on the theme, with some interaction during the service as well as a chance to discuss in more structured groups after the service over a tea or coffee
• Prayer ministry will be available after the service as well as a “listening service” for those who would just like to talk to someone

Thursday 12.30pm, Holy Communion:

• A simple act of Holy Communion, with a short reflection on the theme for that week.
• There will be questions given to take away and ponder on, with further resources to recommended.

Saturday service, 2pm – 2.45pm:

• A simple service with a few hymns, prayers and a talk about the theme
• Refreshments will be served from 1.30pm
• There will be a chance to discuss the themes after the service

The themes that we will be exploring are:

Week beginning:

13th January           Who is Jesus?

20th January           Why did Jesus die?

27th January           Why & How do I pray?

3rd February            Why & How should I read the bible?

10th February          Who is the Holy Spirit?

17th February          What does the Holy Spirit do?

24th February          Why & How should I tell others?

3rd March                 How does God guide us?

10th March               Does God heal today? (Mothering Sunday)

17th March               What about the church?

24th March               Palm Sunday (Start of Holy Week, the lead up to Easter)

Friday 29th March  How can I resist evil? (Good Friday service, 3 hours at the cross, 12-3pm)

31st March               How can I make the most of the rest of my life?   (Easter Day)

A theme guide will be available at each of the services for people to make notes in and take away to explore further questions and resources.

All are welcome at any of the services, whether you are just exploring, wanting to join us or if you have been journeying with us for a long time. Please come and bring others too.

Only by listening, being patient and worshiping God, can he work with us. We had a time like that during our prayer meeting before we went out on the streets on Sat Oct 11th at St Martin’s. Thanks for all who came and joined in singing and praying beforehand and then going out to pray for passers-by. We had a team of 15 women and 1 man.

At first the chairs were empty for some time but after we ourselves sat on them and received prayers from one another it seemed to have released something – anointing, God’s presence and power? After that the chairs were all occupied most of the time. Here are some prayers people requested.

A asked for prayer for her grandchildren

B is having difficulties in conceiving and wanted prayer for healing so she and her husband can have children

C had prayer for general health and for her diabetes, to have peace of mind and not to thinks she is alone.

D used to feel close to God and said she used to hear from the Lord but not anymore. She wants prayer for anxiety and depression she is experiencing.

E wants to be set free from drugs.

F is going to see her 5 children in Nigeria. The team prayed she will have joy and confidence. When she left she said something changed and she experienced joy and confidence.

G Wants to stop smoking

H used to be a drug user and is trying to turn his life around but feels he has not got much chance as his health is deteriorating rapidly.

J wants a job so she has a purpose, hope for the future and to become      independent.

K wants healing for problem in his leg so he can run the half Marathon

L is going to hospital for tests

M suffers from anxiety and depression

N’s cousin has cancer and he’s been given 3 months to live. The team prayed for a miracle of healing.

P wants to come off drugs and alcohol. As the team prayed for him he experienced peace and stillness came over him.

Lastly, we prayed for R’s hand a year ago. He had a scar on it that prevented him from opening his hand straight. He was passing by on
Saturday and recognised the person who prayed for him. He stopped to speak to the team member. He said that after he was prayed for he was able to open his hands straight and he has been able to do so since then.

When we read a list of prayer requests we may forget that God is behind all of them. We may never know what effect our prayers have had. However, with this testimony we had last Saturday, let’s carry on praying whatever the request! It is for us to pray and for God to heal.