We’d love to hear about the creative activities that you have been getting up to during your lockdown, please let us have picture or videos via social media or email.
Also, this Sunday is Global Partnerships Sunday and we will be hearing from different people about different places, it would be great to have an atlas or a globe available to see where people are talking from and about.
We’d like to start by saying a huge “thank you” to everyone who has worked to make our weekend gatherings a success over recent weeks. Many of you have been doing things you’ve never done before, in ways you’ve never done before, and we thank you for your enthusiasm. It’s been wonderful to see so many people getting involved.
This week’s gathering is still available online here.
Next Sunday – Global Partnerships Sunday
Next week is Global Partnerships Sunday when we will be hearing from and about some of the organisations that we work with around the world. It might be a great idea to come prepared with an atlas or a globe so you can work out where some of the places are.
Book Review
Please find below a CD review and a couple of book reviews from the Christian Resources Centre in Preston. You can still order from them via email on cbcpreston@aol.com which is now the only way to get in touch with the Christian Resource Centre, the shop is closed as per the Government guidelines. Some of their suppliers have closed so they are limited to what they can source but they have a few of each of these in stock.
IDENTITY TO DIE FOR – Paul Mallard – £9.99
Who am I and do I really matter? This is a heartfelt cry today, articulated in different ways, often even among professing Christians. Paul Mallard shows us what the Bible teaches us about our identity as human beings and, more specifically, as Christians. We look at our relationship with God, with the church, with our family and in the workplace. The starting point is the NT book of Ephesians, which is far more relevant than we might think. The author brings us right into the heart of his family, explaining how Abe, his young grandson, in spite of severe disability from birth, was made by a loving and kind Creator, with unique value and immeasurable dignity. In fact, our dignity as humans stems from the fact that God has created us in his image – how amazing is that! This is a book which will orientate and reassure us, offering genuine confidence, but it will also move our hearts to praise God for investing such value in human beings like us.
COLD CUPS OF TEA AND HIDING IN THE LOO – Annie WILLMOT – £8.99
Sleepless nights, being covered in vomit, bottomless laundry baskets – oh, the joys of parenting!
Whatever age your child, this book will remind and encourage you that parenting can be a mixture of joy, worry, frustration, tears, laughter and love. However, when we share and connect with each other, we can breathe a collective sigh of relief that none of us (unlike Mary Poppins) are practically perfect as human beings, never mind as parents.
Annie’s openness about parenting is both reassuringly relatable and very funny, and provides a much needed reality check in the midst of the pressure to do it all. So choose vulnerability and have deeper conversations with friends, family and God – even if they do take place over cold cups of tea!
AWAKE CD – HILLSONG WORSHIP – £8.33
Hillsong Worship has always represented the ‘sound’ of Hillsong Church. The opportunity to capture and express that through studio recordings was a catalyst for a sonic experience that is utterly true to the spirit and legacy of Hillsong Church whilst being significantly unique in the current worship music landscape. The songs of “Awake” rouse the listener. Community, humanity and divinity tangibly inform the sounds across the record as worship leaders’ voices are set against everything from harps to horn ensembles; synths to human percussion; spontaneous worship, small vocal ensembles and big choir to soaring guitars and the rustling, rumbling texture of intercession. “Awake” exists to shoot adrenaline into the souls of every worshipper as they magnify Jesus and to arm the Church with songs that shift realities by the power of the Holy Spirit, fuel a move of God on the earth and bring Christ the most glory possible.
Join us as we gather together from our homes this Sunday, 19th
Our speaker this week will be Andrew, and we’ll also be hearing from our Children and Youth teams. There’s a bit of a quiz, so you might like to have a pen and paper handy.
This week we are thinking about an encounter between Jesus and Thomas that happened about a week after Easter Sunday. You can read about it in John 20:24-31.
