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During this series we want to invite you to get back to the basics of your faith, to get back to Jesus:
- Sept: Breaking the ground
- Oct: Putting down Roots
- November: Grow!
- January: Weeds, Thorns & Worship
- February: Feeding & Watering
- March: Future Harvest
The first challenge is to chose to try this out. To ‘break the ground’ of your own heart, your own faith, whether it feels like breaking through concrete or turning over good soil ready for a new sowing season. All you have to do is say to yourself that you will give this a try.
To ‘bridge the gap’ between Deeper services we are trying several new things:
- we are asking people to give us your email address, this will be used to send you a few emails each month to remind you of the topic, pointers of what is going on and reminders of things you’ve to do.
to sign up send an email to: deeper@stsilas.org.uk with the subject = SUBSCRIBE - we are asking people to take short (anonymous) online surveys. The results of this will be used in the planning each month’s Deeper so that we cover what actually matters to those who come, not just what we thing is relevant to those who come.
the first survey is now available - someone is making a video diary of their journey through this topic which will be used each month to help remind us what is going on and to introduce the series to newcomers.
a few notes about the use of your email addresses…
- by giving us your email address for this we will only use it for this series of Deeper.
- We will not retain the information within the church or passed on to third parties.
- Once this series of Deepers is complete we will delete the email addresses.
First of a new series about Organic Faith Breaking the Ground.
if you are just looking for…
| What happened this month:
The setup of the building was dark, a welcome screen as people entered, cushions (and blankets!) thrown around the main space, two sheets draped either side of the main screen back lit to brighten the place up (and because of a projector fault that stopped us using more video). We played some old time gospel music by The Blind Boys of Alabama because it would contrast with the other music later in the evening (and also as a nod towards getting back to basics). We have struggled in the past with how to set up the space and how to help people get into the right frame of mind – asking for silence, starting worship early, etc. never seemed to make a difference as people would simply come in and chat. So, how did playing loud Gospel music work?To start we faded the lights, music and video which was looping, and played an opening theme video which was made for this series of Deepers. This video will be added to each month to remind people of where in the series we are and what it is all about. This led directly into the opening worship set. Gordon’s talk to launch this series (available here on mp3) included a reminder of the talk from the last Deeper service illustration where aspects of our life (love, joy, peace, etc) were symbolically hung on a tree and asking why so many people are dissatisfied with their faith. He asked us to think about how we are feeling about our faith life right now and where we want to be with God. At this point JJ took over to lead a short period of reflective meditation. Where is my heart just now, what are the things I’m thinking about and wrestling with? To round off this time, Gordon questioned whether there should be more to faith that what we are experiencing and challenged us to rediscover our relationship with Jesus (pointing out that this will take time – there are not quick, instant answers): “Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unploughed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers righteousness on you.” Hosea 10:12 As a response to this, we invited all those present to take part in this journey with us, by giving us their email addresses… |
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For information on how to take part, sign up to the email updates and do the survery see the next post of this blog.
Deeper 