Our Worship ...
SUNDAY MORNINGS
We believe that the opportunity to come together as a church family is something to get excited about, particularly so on a Sunday! We want people to feel free to express their love for God in worship, to enjoy relevant biblical teaching and to spend time chatting with other Christians over coffee!
Our meetings begin with refreshments at 10 am, and we gather for worship at 10.30. The style of the meetings is lively and informal. We have worship leaders and musicians who bring direction to the meeting, but we strongly encourage everyone to participate by praying, bringing a reading from Scripture engaging in the prophetic or even starting a song!
The most important thing is that we experience the presence of God among us and He often reveals His presence through the use of spiritual gifts (see the Bible, 1 Corinthians, chapter 12).This means that believers will be inspired to bring a prophecy or speak in a spiritual language or tongue.
We aim to be a church that is not only open to the Holy Spirit, but also committed to learning and applying the Bible in our daily lives. We therefore make time for preaching that is both relevant and life changing. We recognise that children and young people need teaching and activities to meet their needs. On Sundays, there is a crèche, a lively children's work and teaching aimed at teenagers.
In some ways, describing Sunday meetings is not easy! No two Sundays are alike, because we want to be open to the Holy Spirit's leading. Visitors are very welcome, so why not come and see for yourself?
WORSHIP
"..a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and His worshippers must worship in spirit and truth” John 4:23-24.
We believe that this is central to who we are. We believe worship is a lifestyle and not just something we do for half an hour on Sunday mornings. We believe that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are for today and fully expect God to speak to us during these times as we seek to encourage and build one another up in the faith. We call ourselves a Charismatic church (charismata = spiritual gifts). This means that grace given gifts are in evidence amongst the people as the Holy Spirit is free to move. We believe in allowing the Holy Spirit to have freedom in our gatherings and at the same time helping people step out in faith with their gifts.
When we gather as a family for corporate worship we love to praise and thank God for who He is and what He has done in our lives. We believe that true worship must be biblically based and Spirit led. So we focus primarily on the objective truths of Scripture and who God is rather than our feelings and emotions. However our meetings are anything but emotionless! As the truth about God is revealed to us afresh, our hearts are stirred to respond in joyful, heart-felt adoration towards our Saviour and King!
PREACHING
We love the word of God and recognise the value of sound biblical teaching. We aim to provide relevant, understandable and anointed teaching on a regular basis, believing in the power of the word of God to change lives. We preach Christ crucified above all else - based on a reformed understanding of the grace of God. If you love and value God’s word, join us on a Sunday morning to hear challenging preaching that is anything but boring!
PRAYER
Jesus said that without Him we can do nothing. Prayer is the powerhouse of life and provides the church with the power to do all that God is calling us to. We regularly meet together to seek God heart for the church, our lives, our communities, the district, Essex and the nations.
EVANGELISM
Everything that we do as a church has an evangelistic edge to it. We believe that evangelism is not for the gifted few - rather it is a spiritual discipline expected of all believers. We love to reach out to a needy world and every event is a useful platform for the church to share the gospel with others. If you would like the adventure of sharing your faith then join us in our programmes of social action and other events.
WORSHIPPERS
As worshippers we desire:
To be a church where Jesus Christ is worshipped and acknowledged as Lord.
To be a people who express and reflect the biblical description of the church being the city of God and the joy of the whole earth.
To see every member actively involved in building the Kingdom of God - not independently, but with and alongside their fellow church members.
To hold to the word of God, the Bible, as inspired and as the final authority for all our teaching and doctrine.
To see charismatic worship regularly entered into and practised by the whole body of Christ and in our small groups.
To see God's leaders followed and submitted to prayerfully, willingly and joyfully.
To be a church where evangelism affects every aspect of church life, believing that God desires that all might be saved; therefore we show no partiality to any individual or people group.
To be a church that is strong in prayer: personal, devotional and corporate, who:
Believing in the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the ministries God has given to the church as found in Ephesians 4, by God's grace reach out to meet the needs of the sick and suffering, encouraging, helping and comforting as many as possible through the power of the Holy Spirit, and seeing people's lives transformed and changed as they learn to trust and work.
