Encountering God
We live in an over-busy world and although it's true that God is
fully with us in the everyday ups and downs of life, we also need
some 'set aside' space and time to encounter Him. Connect will place
an emphasis on listening to God: waiting on God, giving space and
time.
We will not be chaotic, but we want to be as 'structure light' as
possible. We want to give time to encountering God through his
unchanging written word but also to welcoming the use of the gifts
of the Holy Spirit. We want to see God release His prophetic 'now'
word to all who ask and wait...
Encouraging Friendship
Aloneness is at an epidemic level in this country. Yet is was never
intended that we live without the warmth, enjoyment and challenge
that true friendship brings. We will place a strong emphasis on
creating a relaxed environment for building healthy, life-supporting
friendships: this will be combined with specific training in the art
of making great coffee!
Equipping for Life
There are moments when we all feel like running away from it all...
Life, real life, is often wonderful but almost always demanding.
Church needs to be about equipping and empowering us to live lives
where things like money, people, parenting, work, health and
decision-making become creative shared challenges rather than areas
of constant stress. We also need to embrace the fact that, at times,
things go wrong: how do we recover, learn and come back stronger? We
will work on this together.
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Engaging with the world
Watching the 10 o'clock news can be an overwhelming experience. So
many situations that call for a response. Our aim as a stream is to
be fully present to the heart-cry of our world. Issues of justice,
truth, right and wrong will be in our prayers and on our agenda for
action. We will look for local, national and global partners that
will help us engage with a world of need.
Exploring Faith
The UK has lost faith in the church. Having said this, there is a
massive re-emergence of interest in the spiritual. Our whole-church,
cross-stream purpose is to reveal Jesus to a meaning-starved world.
Connect will do its part in helping people grapple with the big
questions: Is there a God?; What about suffering?; What about other
religions?, to name but a few. Our focus will be to find ways of
being as accessible as possible to those who are God-curious but
Church-shy.
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