Going Deeper in God’s Word - WTC Open Evening

Many of us have just come back from an amazing three days at the Wildfires Festival. There was so many good things about being there, but for me one of the highlights was the coming together of an emphasis on both the word of God and the Spirit of God. Historically most churches resolve the alleged tension between word and Spirit by placing an emphasis on one or the other, but as we contend for revival in our nation we need to go deeper in both (to that end you might want to take a look at this prophetic word from the evangelist Smith Wigglesworth given in 1947). Wildfires saw both a longing for more of the Spirit (powerfully expressed in healings, the prophetic, tongues and interpretations and the unforgettable ministry of Pastor Enoch Adeboye), along with a desire to go deeper in the scriptures (with the likes of John Mark Comer, Pete Hughes, Lucy Peppiatt and Matt Lynch). 

To that end I’m delighted that we’re going to be partnering with the Westminster Theological Centre (WTC) to host a Thames Valley hub which will allow any of us to do, on a part time basis, everything from a Certificate in Higher Education all the way through to an MA in Kingdom Theology. There are already nine people from Kerith in the process of signing up to study with WTC, and I’m hoping by the time we kick off in Septmber we’ll have quite a few more. 

WTC isn’t just for those who feel called to preach or lead a site or a church. It is for anyone who wants to go deeper in their relationship with God through a better understanding of the Bible, and who wants to be better equipped to serve God in whatever they do in life. Over a year it involves twenty Tuesday night study evenings, two five day residentials, essay writing and lots of reading, and costs around £3,250 so this isn’t an easy option, but one which will repay the time, energy and finances invested in it.

For anyone interested we’ve got a WTC Open Event on the 11th June from 7-9.30pm in the K2 building on our Bracknell site. There will be the opportunity to experience a  study evening with refreshments, worship, a talk from Lucy Peppiatt on what Jesus taught about himself, Q&A and an opportunity to meet our hub director, Karen Dack. You can register here. 

For those wanting to do something a step before studying with WTC we’ll have two other options. The first step is The Bible Course which is an 8 week course run as a small group. There will be new groups running this kicking off in the Autumn. The second option is Equip, which will be a two year journey through the story of the Bible from Genesis through to Revelation. This will run on a Monday night, people will be able to opt in our out on a termly basis, and will academically be around GCSE level. 

Let’s make a commitment to be people of the word and the Spirit, and use these opportunities to go deeper in the word of God.

Hope you have a great week.

Simon

Don’t miss the opportunity to sign up for a small group

We had a brilliant time yesterday evening gathering the leaders of all the new and existing mainland Kerith small groups for a time of encouragement, equipping and prayer for one another.

It was so exciting to see the army of existing small group leaders being joined by a whole load of new leaders who are adopting the termly small group format. There was a buzz of excitement in the room at what God might be about to do as we enter a new chapter in the story of small groups in Kerith. 

Our termly small groups start next week, and if you’re not yet in one it’s not too late to sign up. There are groups running the growth track courses, praying for revival, dog walking, mountain biking, combining craft and Bible study, getting people from couch to 5K and much more. Over 200 people not previously in a group have already signed up to join one, but there are still lots of space for more people to add to that number. You can even sign up for more than one if you want to! 

You can see all the small group options here. You can also filter down the options by site and by the day of the week the groups meet to find one that works for you. Please step out (even if you’re a shy introvert like me) - it will do you good and you will do others good.

Blessings,

Simon

New Series - 40 Days with Jesus

On Sunday we start a new six week series looking at the life transforming encounters different people have with Jesus after His resurrection. This week we’ll hear about the first person to meet the resurrected Jesus, Mary Magdalene. 

The series is based on a 40 day devotional book written by a good friend of ours, Dave Smith who leads KingsGate Community Church which has sites in Peterborough, Cambridge, Leicester and London. If you’re not currently immersed in a different Bible reading plan then I’d really encourage you to get a copy and go deeper with what we’re going to be teaching on the Sundays. 

We’ll have a limited number of copies of the devotional available to buy on Sunday at our three mainland sites priced at £4 - please bring cash as we don’t yet have a way to easily process card payments (we’re working on it!). You can also order the book online from Eden where it costs £3.99 (plus £2.50 postage if you spend less than £10, so you might want to buy something else). If we sell all the ones we’ve ordered we’ll get more for next week.

Sunday is also the first time our Kerith Blackwater Valley (BV) site meets at the Village Hotel in Farnborough. If you’re not part of our BV site please be praying for them, as they’ve got a big launch Sunday with the mayor and several local councillors coming along. If this is your site then have a great Sunday in our new location. All very exciting. 

Wherever you’re going to be I pray you have a fabulous Sunday as we continue to celebrate that “He Has risen!”. 

Simon

Kingdom Come prayer this Wednesday

This coming Wednesday (24th April) is our next Kingdom Come night of prayer. This is part of our new rhythm of kicking off every term with an evening where we can come together as a community to worship God, and to ask Him to move in our lives, in our church, in the nation and in the nations. The evening will run from 7.30-9.30pm and is at the Kerith Centre on our Bracknell site. The evening is open to anyone who wants to come, although we will spend some of the time praying for things specifically happening within Kerith. 

The evening will be a mixture of prayer and worship, with our friend Pete Greig from 24-7 Prayer coming along to equip, lead and encourage us to pray. Pete will also be talking a little bit about the brilliant new book, “How to Pray”, and the revised Prayer Course which 24-7 Prayer have just released. 

I’d also encourage anyone who can to fast for the day, as a statement of our desire and longing to see God’s kingdom come and His will done. 

We’re asking all those able to make the walk to park at the Braccan Walk Car Park, which will cost £1.50 if you arrive there after 6pm. Please leave about 10 minutes to get from there to the Kerith Centre as you won’t want to miss the start of us gathering together.

It’s going to be a great evening, especially off the back of all God did in and through us over the Easter weekend. Hope to see you there!

Simon

Good Friday Gathering

Over the years our Good Friday gathering has become one of the highlights of the year for me. An opportunity to stop and reflect on the enormity of the events of that very first ‘Good’ Friday, and to share together in the bread and the wine remembering Jesus body given for us and his blood shed for us. 

For the last couple of years we’ve held it “in the round”, which gives it an even more intimate feel as we worship and reflect facing one another. We had so many people coming last year that we had to seat people in the balcony, which wasn’t the best of experiences for those people, so this year we’re having two meetings, one at 6pm and one at 8pm, in the hope that everyone can be seated downstairs. It’s all taking place in the Kerith Centre on our Bracknell site, and parking for everyone who can manage the walk is in the College car park.

So please come! In the middle of enjoying the chocolate, the hot cross buns and the glorious weather which is forecast this weekend (yay!), take time to stop and reconnect, to commune with others and with the God who loves you more than you will ever know. And get there on time, both to make sure you get a seat, and to be there for the opener which you won’t want to miss.

See you threre :)

Simon

Decluttering our lives of Fear, Anxiery and Worry

On Sunday we had the final week of our Declutter series. I know from the feedback that lots of people have found it a really helpful series - you can find the podcasts for all the talks here. If you missed any of them I’d really encourage you to go back and listen to the ones you missed.

This final week we looked at dealing with Fear, Worry and Anxiety. You’ve got the choice of two different versions of the talk, one from me and one from my wife Catrina. 

As part of the talk we showed a video about the two different pathways which exist in our brain when we experience fear and worry. This was teaching I first heard last year, and which I’ve found hugely helpful as I’ve reflected on dealing with my own anxieties. I hope you find it similarly helpful.

Blessings,

Simon

Could you lead a small group for a term?

At the end of 2018 I had one of those ‘aha’ moments as a leader where you know you need to help facilitate something changing. I was at one of our “New to Kerith” lunches on our Bracknell site where once a term we invite all the people who have visited Kerith for the first time and filled out one of the “Connect with us” cards for lunch after the 11.30am meeting.

There were around 50 new people, which was great, but as I went round chatting to them I heard the same comment again and again. They’d tried to join a small group in order to build deeper friendships within Kerith, but either hadn’t been able to find a group that worked for them, or had contacted a number of existing groups which were all full.

The reality is that we’ve got a set of brilliant small groups in Kerith, with some amazing leaders, but we simply don’t have enough of them. One of the main reasons for this is that people haven’t wanted to sign up to lead a small group because historically it has been an open ended commitment with no foreseeable end!

We’ve therefore decided to try a new way of running small groups with groups which run for a term, where the leader is free (within limits) to choose what the group does over the term. We’re going to launch the new structure in Bracknell after Easter, as that’s where we’ve got the greatest need, although if you’re based at one of our other sites then please speak to your site pastor as they may be able to get you up and running before the official launch on your site. For more details take a listen to our recent Bracknell site vision night. 

So would you be up for leading one of our new small groups? I’m going to be leading a group studying the Prayer Course. Would you be up for leading a group doing a growth track course, studying a book of the Bible, praying together, going out running or something else. 

You can read more details about what is involved in leading a group and register your interest here. Please take a look and consider giving it a go! Both I, and all those people in Kerith looking for a small group, will be very grateful! If you’re going to lead a group after Easter it would be really helpful if you could register by this Sunday to give us time to process the applications ready to launch groups after Easter so do it quickly :)

Thanks so much,

Simon