We are often puzzled by the strange fabric of life – a mixture of what we call good and bad. That’s not how a believer should view his or her life. God makes no mistakes and everything he allows into the lives of his children works out for our good. We see this in the life of Joseph so clearly.

His brothers meant to harm him, but God meant it for good, was his testimony. And so it is with us.

New sermon series, starting Sunday 3rd June

Post expires at 3:32pm on Sunday July 22nd, 2012

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password:

What a Day!

Post expires at 6:45pm on Saturday May 5th, 2012

Church Planting

On this page we will list a number of helpful resources //blogs//articles//videos for those actually involved in church planting and for churches who are sending teams..

Under Construction……

(1) An important article from Tim Keller: Why plant churches?

http://download.redeemer.com/pdf/learn/resources/Why_Plant_Churches-Keller.pdf

Boxing Day dawned mild and dry and the two teams assembled shortly before 10am at Northwick playing fields to continue the annual rivalry that has built up over the recent years.

City Church were attempting to bring Manor Park’s unbeaten run of 3 years to an end and fielded a large squad of about 20 players, including the first girl to play in this fixture. Manor Park brought a squad of 16 with a good mix of youth and experience. The younger Manor Park players were confident and had spent more time prior to kick-off discussing what goal celebrations should be used, rather than tactics!

City Church kicked off, but were very quickly put under pressure by the one-man whirlwind that was Olly Reakes-Williams who won the ball from a nervous defence creating the first clear chance of the game within 30 seconds. His shot, whilst well hit, was pulled wide of the left hand post.

But this set the tone for the first few minutes with Manor Park dominating both possession and territory. After 3 minutes the ball was fed through to Sam Eastwood inside the City Church penalty area and he skilfully turned his defender who took his trailing leg for a clear foul and the referee had no option but to give a penalty. This was dispatched coolly by Captain Ben Mitchell low to the keeper’s left to give Manor Park an early 1-0 lead.

Reakes-Williams continued his blinding start by almost producing a second goal out of nothing on 8 minutes when he hooked a right-foot shot from the edge of the area and had the goalkeeper scampering across his goal to claw the ball away preventing it from finding the top corner.

City Church played their part in an entertaining first half which kept the large group of supporters fully entertained. Manor Park’s passing game looked to unlock the opposition defence, whilst City Church tended to rely more on the long ball or long throw-ins as attacking options.

Manor Park continued to create regular chances, but were guilty of a number of scuffed long range shots when in good positions, which did not trouble the opposition keeper. Sam Eastwood, Matt Leary, Luke Summers and Ben Mitchell created a solid unit across the middle of the park which was able to boss midfield and kept City Church early chances to a minimum.

There was a physical edge to the game as well and a number of crunching tackles from both sides in the early exchanges. Matt Leary, making his debut for Manor Park, was the victim of a vicious tackle mid way through the first half and although the City Church player avoided a caution, Matt had to be replaced by the significant figure of Johnny Wilson.

City Church picked up the pace in the latter stages of the first half and keeper Andy Wilson was called into serious action for the first time saving a shot low to his left. Manor Park’s play became a little disjointed and the team were unable to keep the ball in the way they had in the earlier stages. But City Church were not able to make any pressure tell thanks to a well organised defensive unit marshalled by Simon Knowles and Joel Summers as the centre back pairing. Andy Wright again showed pace and determination at left back in keeping younger opposition players at bay and Greg Eastwood had a big game at right back putting in some intimidating tackles.

Manor Park looked to relieve the pressure towards the end of the half with some quick breaks using Joe Lovell’s pace to good effect in the attacking third. A slick passing move linking Luke Summers and Lovell rapidly swept the ball out of defence into attack and only a last ditch tackle prevented a goal. City Church conceded a corner and from the ensuing cross, the keeper fumbled the ball which was pounced on by Reakes-Williams who stabbed home to make it 2-0 with 42 minutes on the clock. Despite all the pre-game planning the goal celebration which ensued was shambolic!

The half time whistle went and despite the score-line, the game was far from over.

The second half saw some changes with the talismanic Jerry Reakes-Williams entering the fray to renew his partnership with Knowles at centre back. However, Reakes-Williams had been carrying an injury from a few weeks earlier and this proved to be significant as a groin injury just past the hour mark meant he had to be replaced. This heralded the introduction of man mountain Dave Collett who, whilst not as mobile as in his youth, was still able to put in a commanding performance at left back. Sam Davenport started the second half on the right wing and his injection of pace was to influence the game.

Tim Lovell sacrificed his place in the playing team to referee the second half and ensured that both teams were well behaved for the remainder of the game.

Manor Park started the second half as they had the first, with good neat passing football and a hatful of chances, all of which came and went without finding the back of the net. This sustained pressure and three corners in quick succession suggested that Manor Park were about to make the game safe with a third goal, but from the final corner City Church broke quickly and their striker was able to turn a couple of defenders before slotting home a powerful shot which gave keeper Andy Wilson no chance. Suddenly, at 2-1 after 65 minutes, the game was wide open and despite Manor Park’s possession and chances, it was all to play for.

City Church wanted to exert some sustained pressure but the Manor Park team dug deep and did not abandon their passing game and they were able to ride out a 10 minute storm with some solid defending.

The front unit continued to threaten and their pace proved decisive after 75 minutes when Ben Mitchell linked with Greg Eastwood and Sam Davenport, who cut in off the right wing to rifle home a powerful low shot into the left hand corner of the goal and re-establish a two goal cushion.

Immediately after the goal Matt Mitchell was introduced into the front line and despite his young age, he was able to demonstrate good skill and awareness, linking play and creating a number of threatening chances in the final 15 minutes.

City Church desperately went in search of another goal to reduce the deficit and despite a couple of close calls, the defence stood firm. Manor Park’s answer to the Barmy Army started to make themselves heard, lead by Johnny Wilson, Luke Summers and Cornel Hrisca-Munn with renditions of ‘Winter wonderland’ and ‘One man went to mow’, keeping both supporters and players entertained.

For some time it looked like the final score line was going to be 3-1 again; the same as the previous two times these teams have met. But in the final 5 minutes Manor Park ensured this was not the case, as their superior fitness finally told.

A string of chances ensued, Matt Mitchell’s clever lob from 20 yards had the keeper scrambling back to tip over the bar; Matt Leary streaked clear of the defence to see his shot go narrowly wide. From an attacking throw-in Lovell’s shot was turned around the post by the keeper.

Matt Leary took the ensuing corner from the left into a slight breeze, and he was able to deceive everyone with bend and the ball dropped over the keeper’s head into the goal direct from the kick. With only 3 minutes left, this was the goal that effectively sealed the win and ensured that the trophy was retained for another year.

From the kick off, the ball was regained and a good passage of play with Davenport, and Matt Mitchell involved saw another shot from Leary. The keeper seemed to have it covered, but somehow the ball slipped through his grasp and dribbled across the line for a 5-1 lead.

In the dying seconds, Lovell came off to be replaced by Steve Mitchell who had spent the game organising from the sidelines.

The final whistle went and whilst the score-line may appear flattering due to the two late goals, Manor Park were deserved winners again. It is however, worth pointing out that with only 25 minutes to go, there was only one goal in it and on another day, the outcome could have been different.

SQUAD
Andy Wilson (keeper), Greg Eastwood, Simon Knowles, Joel Summers, Andy Wright, Jerry Reakes-Williams, Dave Collett, Sam Eastwood, Ben Mitchell (Captain), Matt Leary, Luke Summers, Sam Davenport, Johnny Wilson, Joe Lovell, Olly Reakes-Williams, Matt Mitchell, Tim Lovell, Steve Mitchell.

Goals Scored;
1-0; 3 minutes – Ben Mitchell (penalty)
2-0; 42 minutes - Olly Reakes-Williams
2-1; 65 minutes - Gav Murphy
3-1; 75 minutes - Sam Davenport
4-1; 87 minutes - Matt Leary
5-1; 88 minutes - Matt Leary

‘Change’ and ‘Small’.

And here’s the explanation behind those two words.

1. CHANGE

Generally, the only time we welcome ‘change’ is when we are fishing around the car looking for it to feed the parking machine! Most of us don’t like change. Change is often accompanied with fear, anxiety, unhappiness – and often all three! Change takes us out of the familiar and out of our comfort zones. Change makes us fear being dissatisfied, short-changed which results in us asking things like: “Why change a good thing? If it aint broke don’t fix it!?”

Throughout the Word of God we cannot avoid the fact that God often uses change to bring about extraordinary things.

In Mark 1:29-39 Jesus had a good thing going. The entire town came to Him one night and they were healed. The next day His disciples interrupt His quiet time to tell him, “Jesus, the whole town is looking for you!” You might imagine them thinking “Come on, let’s get back and do it again! Why travel so far when the whole town can come to us! It’s a win-win!” But Jesus says to them “Let’s go somewhere else…”

If you followed Jesus for those three years you’d have began to realise this was a pattern. Not only would you have realised that every day in the life of Jesus was different but you’d also have that great sense of the adventure of following someone who lived life that way: according to the Father’s will.

Following Jesus often takes us out of our comfort zones and rarely takes the mundane and easier route through life.

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” – Matthew 7:13,14

But as we follow Him into those areas, we’ll become more aware of our need of God; we’ll realise that He has a great sense of adventure and we’ll witness more of His supernatural power and presence in our lives! And in our experience, and the experience of countless followers of Jesus, there’s no better, more exciting place to be!

2. SMALL

In our society, there’s a general view that ‘Bigger is better’. America built a nation on it…then Apple created the iPod Nano and that’s started to change things a bit!

But think about it. When the World Trade Center was destroyed and they planned to build something in its place nobody thought ‘Let’s build a two storey office in memory of it.’ In fact, the new ‘Freedom Tower’ aka ‘One World Trade Center’ is planning to be a whopping 49 feet taller than the previous WTC. Because bigger is better, right?

Again, not always. And certainly, when God is the architect, He does things consistently a ‘little’ different!

Think about Gideon in Judges 7. He’s about to lead an army to face the mighty Midianite army (135,000 strong!). He rallies up 32,000 troops and God says to him, “Gideon, it’s too many!” So Gideon separates the men from the boys and ends up with some pretty drastic and impressive cut backs, this time with 10,000 men. God says “Uhn, uhn, it’s still too big!” And finally Gideon ends up with the original 300 (sorry Sparta, you’re not as original as you thought!) And it is with that impossibly small army of 300 men that God brings the victory and makes it abundantly clear that He won that battle!

We could go from Genesis through to the book of Revelation and follow that same theme. God does great things through small things. How did Jesus prepare the church to spread the Gospel throughout the entire world? Well He began by investing three years of His life with just 12 regular guys and some women and beginning with them and without the platform of TV, Radio or the Internet, the gospel would go truly viral!

SMALL CHANGES AHEAD FOR DND

These two words were at the heart of DnD when it first started. It was a time of change which was difficult for many of us; and our desire for the youth ministry was to grow deeper in discipleship through small groups where we could build relationships with one another more easily than we could do in a larger crowd.

We remember that for the first year DnD was a core of about 6 young people and from that in recent years we’ve reached upper forties. We thank God for the growth, but we want to continue to grow deeper, not just numerically.

And so from September we’re going to make a couple of small changes.

While the St. John’s youth centre is a great place for us all to meet together, we know (and many of you know) that the home is a better place for discipleship bible study and discussion. So for two Sunday evenings out of four, DnD is going to meet in one of two homes; those from the west side of the river (St. John’s, Dines Green, Hallow, Clifton etc.) will meet either at the home of Steve and Sue Mitchell or Tim and Tina Lovell; while those from the east side of the river (City Centre, St Peter’s, Warndon, Barbourne etc.) will meet at the home of Ryan and Annie. The Miniparkers youth will also continue to meet separately in either the home of Steve and Sue Mitchell or Tim and Tina Lovell.

For the remaining two sundays we’ll celebrate the benefits of being a larger group too! On those two Sunday evenings in each month we’ll join together at the youth centre for a joint time of worship and praise and also create opportunities for us to meet up with other Christian youth through events like Life and Latte.

There are other exciting changes on the horizon for Christmas 2011 and for Summer 2012…so don’t be afraid, a small change will make a great difference for eternity!

If you live on the Green you are welcome to this informal meeting of Christians. Sing songs, offer prayers, meet new friends, hear a Christian message, drink coffee. All ages welcome! 3.00-4.00pm, third Sunday of the month at Dines Green Primary School.

Here are some photos of the first anniversary of the meeting, February 2012

KOINONIA
Koinonia is the Greek word for fellowship

Once a month on a Sunday evening we try something more relaxed…. and informal meeting with a mixture of testimonies, songs, fellowship over coffee and communion. Everyone welcome, one hour long, 6.00-7.00pm at Dines Green Primary School.