Category Archives: Sermon Series

Words of Jesus

Jesus is widely regarded as a good teacher.  Other religions recognise him as a wise man or a prophet.  He is so influential we even set the calendar by his span of years – he quite literally lies at the centre of history on the BC/AD divide.  Yet loads of people don’t really know much about what he taught or said.  In fact, a lot of those who profess to be Christians are not aware of his teaching – either his public teaching or the instruction he gave to his disciples.

This term’s sermon series focusses upon the Words of Jesus as recorded in John’s Gospel; words of prayer, comfort, truth, restoration, assurance and many more.  There’s something for everyone here; why not join us on a Sunday or listen online from our main website and comment about what you hear.

 

Lenten Discipline

Here in St Albans Diocese we’re called to Live God’s Love.  This means three things:

  1. Going Deeper into God
  2. Transforming Community
  3. Making New Disciples

“Disciple” is a jargon word.  Most people quickly associate it with “the twelve.”  And dissociate it from themselves.  This is sad.  Jesus told the twelve (or the eleven, actually), to “make disciples,” so it is clear that the role of disciple does not stop with Peter, James and John et al.

A key feature of this disciple-making programme was the teaching of obedience to everything that Jesus had commanded his first disciples to do.  So, if we can get people to understand that they are called to be disciples too, we then have the tricky task of making sure that they also understand discipleship is about disciplined obedience to Jesus!  This is easier said than done, though I reckon the St Albans threefold vision is a pretty helpful summary of what that might look like.

In Jesus’ Little Africa this Lent, we’re looking at five aspects of the Christian life which support our disciplined obedience to Jesus; the Bible, Prayer, good Role Models, Church, and a life and attitude of Service to our King.  It’s my prayer that our investigation will start a fire of interest which will burn far longer than the season of Lent, becoming a veritable furnace in which our people will have the worldly dross burned off them and their faith purified to the glory of God.