Churchcentral Birmingham: Talks: Recent Episodes
Churchcentral Birmingham
In today’s talk, Josh explores whether our words have power and how we can harness them for good.
Who is free? What does it mean to be living in freedom? Today James examine Paul's letter to Philemon, to see what we can learn.
To grow in wisdom, we’re instructed to have a “fear of the Lord.” What does it mean to fear the Lord? Does this mean we should be scared of God, or something else entirely? In this talk, this theme is explored. We learn why it’s necessary for wisdom and how we can take steps to grow in our fear of the Lord.
As we head towards summer, Rich speaks some key messaging to refresh and mobilise us half way through year 2. Consider this a 'hydration break team talk' - a quick chance to input key reminders to enable us to play the game.
Even God's furniture points forwards to Jesus! Chris explores how we can find gospel gems in ancient texts.
We are spending our summer in the book of Proverbs. Today, Jonny looks at the calls of wisdom and folly to prepare us to get the most out of this wonderful book of the Bible. And as we'll see, this is not a casual matter. It's a choice between life and death.
The Israelites have been freed from slavery in Egypt. But to what purpose? Here in Exodus 24, we see a clear answer: They are called to live for God.
Jesus knows money talk creates anxiety and worry in us. So, he gives a huge chunk of time to addressing worry. We look at 7 deep breaths the worried can take, to help move from anxiety to trust, slowly but surely.
To encourage and strengthen one young woman at her baptism, Beccy facilitated four women of different life stages in our church sharing stories and scriptures of the wonder of Jesus. Get ready to be encouraged!
On Father's day, we consider what purposes God has for us, and how that should feed into our sense of identity.
We return to matters of our conscience. How should Christians engage with a culture that has different opinions and behaviours than we do? Do we run away? Engage? Compromise? Separate? Jonny explores.
We've looked at all the ways we can USE our money... but how do we get it in the first place? Does the word of God give modern people any guidance and guidelines around our income? Yes yes yes.
As we baptised Ava and Caleb, we heard from Rach about the wonderful good news of Jesus, whose love pursues us wherever we are.
Warnings from history are a tremendous gift to help us avoid the mistakes of those who've gone before us.
The Israelites have been saved out of Egypt by God, but who is this God? What is God like? And what does that mean for them? They get answers at Mount Sinai.
How should we engage in saving money? We learn about the wisdom of saving and the warnings about saving that are found in Scripture.
We live in a time where many of us are overwhelmed with busyness. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to find time to rest. Yet, even when we do get time to recover, we seem to have forgotten how to properly rest. Hours of streaming tv and scrolling on phones leave us more tired than when we began. In this talk, we explore the practice of the Sabbath as an ancient response to modern condition. Journeying through the scriptures we learn about the gift of Sabbath and how it’s fulfilled in Jesus.
If the Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast, what does that mean for us, who are part of that Kingdom?
What does the Bible teach about giving our money away? Why would we do such a thing? Where should we give it? Jonathan Bell came to encourage and strengthen our foundations in this key belief and practice.
Spending is where the vast majority of our money goes, and yet disciples often struggle to know how Jesus impacts how we spend.What does a Jesus-honouring spend look like? How does our faith help us at the till, or when our online basket is filling up?
Stuart Crane from Real Life Church came to give us some advice on how to survive in the wilderness.
Jonathan explores how we can be more like Boaz, because lives can change when someone is truly seen.
In this talk we learn how the highest use of our freedom isn’t to assert our rights, but to lay them down.
Money is a sensitive subject that brings all sorts of risks when we chat about it. So why teach about it? We look at a range of reasons, then compare and contrast worshipping God and worshipping money.
Is it possible to be radically holy, AND engage meaningfully with the wider world we live in? Jesus did it, but can we?! Jonny unpacks from this passage.
The practice of witnessing to others about the work of Jesus in our lives is as old as the Church itself. How can we do this in our cultural moment? Becky speaks, followed by a panel of real stories.
It's hard enough to quiten blame and guilt and shame when we know we haven't done anything wrong. But what about when we HAVE done wrong? The gospel has two answers to make us blameless, and we round off 1 Thessalonians looking at them.
This passage explores a load of instructions and actions for the church. How could it be summarised? Growing in the visible FRUIT of our Christianity in our lives.
What is the power of hope in our lives? And what specifically IS our hope as believers in Jesus? Wishful thinking? Blake shows us.
In a shortened and interactive talk, we explored two key values for a mature church - the quality of our love and the quietness of our lives.
Jonny looks at Paul's teaching on singleness, and sweeps us all up in the huge purpose of God for our lives - undistracted devotion to God.
Jonathan unpacks a range of passages that help us understand God's heart on the sensitive issue of divorce and remarriage.
Our friend Adrian Hurst visited us from Oasis Church Birmingham to invite us into life in full. He spoke about how we can rest from all that makes us weary and burdened to rest in Jesus’ ease and lightness.
Chris rounds off our series on Luke with an exploration of what the resurrection of Christ means for us
Our passage today is all about how we are to live as Jesus' people - the dos and don'ts, the rights and wrongs. How is this stuff good news? How should we think about holiness and how we become holy?
In this talk, Chris explores God's response to that question as God unveils what would happen when he steps away.
How joyful does your Christianity feel? Do duty, responsibility and habit play a bigger part than joy right now? In a passage that's filled to the brim with joy. Kirsty takes us digging for 'joy reasons'. We see a load!
James examines one example of how the Exodus story is remembered in the Psalms and why.
On We are One Sunday, Tim Brown came from Hope Community church to share a message about the power of Faith, Love and Hope lived out.
We were blessed by CC South sending us Emily and Jonny and families for the morning. After hearing news from South, we were equipped brilliantly by Emily on the power of sowing seeds of encouragement in one another's lives, amidst the sorrow and joys of life.
Kirsty via video) from Shenley Community Church, we looked at Jesus' 'why' behind all his (and our) kingdom activity and sacrifice.
There is a wrong way to think about sex but there is definitely a good way to think about it as well. The Bible writers thought about sex and wrote about it a lot. Before he gets on to marriage, singleness and divorce in 1 Corinthians 7, Paul follows suit. Let’s see how he helps us think about this topic biblically and wisely.
It seems God does NOT promise to keep his church from pain and suffering. But how does God grow us in the midst of it? Mike shows us.
We explore the principle of generosity / the provocation for generosity / the power for generosity / the practice of generosity.
James examines how Moses early life mirrors both the future life of the people of God, as well as Jesus.
We take some time to consider the power of praying together with other believers. Why is this different to just praying by ourselves? How do we actually pray for another believer in a meeting or gathering? Rob helps us.
What should our response be as a church to the words of the Bible? How do we grow in a godly receptivity to teaching from Scripture, even when it challenges us or costs us? Annabel takes us through!
Chris explores how God's people were living and growing, even as they were away from God's place
Dave introduces our Exodus series by zooming out and taking a look at the bigger picture, starting with promises made 400 years before
This chapter is about marriage, but it’s also, once again, about wisdom. Jonny looks at how, in chapter 7, Paul applies his teaching on wisdom and making right judgements from the first 6 chapters.
Leadership is desperately broken, everywhere we look, with abuse and toxic leadership touching the royal family, Westminster, and sadly the church. So, should we just scrap leadership to keep ourselves safe from the issues? Or, could this passage have some values to draw from, to help become a church with a healthy leadership culture?
how we’re to live to three core truths: Our bodies matter / We are united with Christ / We are not our own.
to believers in their region. What about them was exemplary? James explores their input, their output and their impact.
As we celebrated a baptism, we started a new series in 1 Thessalonians. We see the definition of the church as those who belong to God. How can that quite intense, 'ownership' language be good news?
In the final episode of our Church Activated series, we learn an accessible, practical, highly reuseable tool to explore any Bible story. This method - known as Discovery Bible Study - is being used across the world to help people discover Jesus. Jenni joined us for the morning to help us explore it ourselves!
. But the kingdom of God is one with the DNA of generosity pulsating through it! Matt Partridge - our beloved friend and father in the faith from our Catalyst family - came to stir us and provoke us towards living with generous hearts and hands.
While we were unable to meet in person, Dave recorded this talk to explain how the Last Supper helps us make sense of life in the now and not yet.
Judging Others. Kicking people out of churches for sinning. Lists of behaviours that won't be tolerated in the kingdom of God. It can all seem very petty and moralistic. Jonny explores Paul's further instructions on how we should make right judgments in our churches and encourages us to open our eyes to the immense purposes of God that lie behind these tricky topics.
We were thrilled to welcome local friend Andy Boxall to equip us, on this key phrase 'people of peace'. Jesus says we're to invest our time in disciple-making among those who receive us with peace. What does that mean? How do we spot such people? How do we meet such people? Andy shows us the way!
Jonathan opens up a passage around a scandalous and shocking situation going on in the church in Corinth. We see why that situation is so unhealthy, and what the church should do about it.
Chris explores what Gideon's story has to say about how we approach our vision for the Church
Between 'generally approaching people with blessing' and 'someone coming to Christ', what do we do? How do make progress in our relationships with those we'd love to come close to Jesus? Rich explores.
HOW? Disciple Makers Go Wide With Blessing // Luke 10:5 // Rich Pitt // Shenley CC 14.12.25 by Churchcentral Birmingham
Sarah tells the story of her family's journey into adoption and links it to the Christmas story.
Jonny invites us to follow the example of the wise men, by coming close to Jesus, however far away we're starting.
More equipping from Jesus in disciple-making, as he tells the disciples they are like lambs among wolves, and not to take a load of provision with them.
We explore the practice of biblical hospitality. What is it? How could we do it? What if we face barriers to usual ways of doing it? Rich explores.
Who are you imitating? What kind of an example are you setting to others? What actually makes someone worthy of imitation? Jonathan explores.
Jesus tells the disciple makers to go, but NOT to greet others on the road! What's he saying? How do we live it out?
Saturnin came to help us (in his first language) from Hope Community Church, think about the living water that activates the church! Marc translated into English for us line by line.
Deji came from CC North down the road to CC South, to encourage us in our journey as the 'mothership' church in the Churchcentral story!
On We Are One Sunday, Jonathan Bell helps us to see how we as a local church are to be for the good of the city
Chris explores how Jesus fulfills the role of Prophet, Priest and King in the lives of his people
We all want to see our life's work count for something in the end. How do we ensure that? Paul gives us some clear teaching on the 'building projects' we put our hands to.
Jonathan helps us explore how an unhealthy focus on the individual personalities in the church can lead to a tribalistic attitude, corrupting the church.
Deji explores how Jesus turns a place of ruin and curse into transformation and blessing
We explore the first active instruction in Luke 10's equipping from Jesus, and find it's not to go and DO anything, but to ask God to do work instead.
Dave helps us consider how faith helps us to know our final destiny and spot the route markers along the way
, where we explore the practices upon which our spiritual lives can flourish. Here, he digs in to the 'why' of a practice-based, active discipleship.
We explore how Jesus's death can be viewed in two ways - either as utterly embarassing foolishness, or the supernatural wisdom of God. What do you reckon?
What do you see when you see the cross of Christ? Weakness and defeat? Paul tells us it's actually wisdom (more next week) and power (today's message). How can that be the case? Listen in.
We see five mindset shifts we will need to engage in together if we're going to be serious about making disciples who make disciples.
Jonathan kicks off a new series for us at South in 1 Corinthians. We see an extensive list of things that were messy in their church, and seek to learn for our own!
We dive further into Habakkuk's relationship with God and see more of how he engages God in prayer, and the impact that has on his inner life.
As we baptised a new believer, Blake helped us understand more of what it means to be children of God, who help others become children of God too!
Why should we lovingly engage with our community to make new disciples? We explore a story of what motivated Jesus loving engagement with his community to find out!
What is God doing in the world? What about in our nation? What happens when the things we see aren't of the type we'd like to see? Jonny helps us to see from the two chapters of Habakkuk.
Our church family has lost a beloved member. How do we respond? Jonathan pastors us as we gathered for the first time since summer, and helps us in our grief.
What does Jesus say about suffering? Dave explores how Jesus responds to suffering in Luke 13.
We hear the first two chapters of the Old Testament prophetic book Habbakuk. Then Jonny helps us see some lessons about our approach to talking to God.
We make five observations from Jesus calling two young men to follow him and fish for people.
We take our first look at a story we'll return to a lot this term. We begin a conversation about seeing 'fishing for people' as central to our following of Jesus together.
What do we do with... you know... THOSE Psalms, the violent and vengeful ones? Jonny rounds off our series by diving deep into that very question.
Ever felt swept along by your emotions? Or longed for certain emotions that made life feel more alive? What even IS a godly approach to our emotional life? Daniel takes us into an emotionally-charged psalm to explore.
It doesn't sound appealing, but confession and repentance can be routes to the joy and freedom we crave. Jonathan helps us see how these ancient practices can unlock a fresh experience of God's goodness.
Why is singing to God such a feature of the Christian community? What if you have an average voice, or hate the awkwardness of singing together?! Aaron explores the biblical command to sing exuberantly to our Father in heaven.
Rob takes us through a fantastic psalm exploring the Kingship of God, a theme that runs all the way through the Bible. How will you respond to the King?
The first Psalm in the songbook is a meditation on the glories of God's word! However we feel instinctively about the Bible, Tom takes us on an exploration of why Scripture is a source of amazing blessing.
Are you in the right story? Today, we discover from Luke 11 the true and better story of the Good God
Jonathan Bell visited us to speak a message of hope and potential into our fledgling new church community!
What if there's something that is worth giving everything to get? What if there's something that is of ultimate worth? What if it's the Kingdom of Jesus?! Good questions! Listen in!
Bouncing off the famous 'be still and know I am God' verse in this Psalm, Rich introduces us to the background, the blessings and the blockers for the Christian practice of getting alone with God, sitting still and shutting up!
Dawn shows us some key inspiration for how to draw strength from God in the challenges and opportunities of our workplaces.
"Lord, teach us to pray", James explores how Jesus response to this request from his disciples should set the foundation for our prayer life.
Jonny landed our weekend with an immensely practical call to invest in making other disciples of Jesus. This will require us to be radical disciples ourselves, and to live with a willingness to invest in others as examples in the faith.
Friend of the church, Samir Deokuliar, preached to us on one word of Jesus - GO! What type of church goes? How do we become that sort of people?
Jonathan kicked off our Weekend Away teaching sessions, by exploring two astonishing confidence-boosters in the words of Jesus!
We celebrated our first baptism as a new church community. It was epic! In this message, we dived deeper into the reasons behind this special morning.
James helps us understand more about different types of prayer, and what it can look like to do this alone and together.
What does it mean to worship God? Why is this a central part of being a Christian? What's the dynamic between doing this TOGETHER, or in our own lives?
Desperate times come to us all, even God's people. What do we do when everything goes dark? Jonathan explores.
We begin a new series in the ancient prayers of the Bible, known as the Psalms. In this Psalm, Rich explores how we can cultivate passion for God when we don't feel naturally in love with God every moment!!
Sarah explores how our understanding of Jesus identity impacts our understanding of our own identity
Jonny wraps up our series in the Gospel Of John. We see two images for Christian activity in the world, and hear Jesus' call for us to embrace both as his church.
We spend the morning dreaming and yearning for what the Bible calls 'signs and wonders' (the miraculous stuff!). After looking at dozens of spiritual stories from friends in Shenley and beyond, we think about two stumbling blocks and three building blocks if we're to become a community that sees the supernatural.
The first church were radically generous with what they had! Wow, it raises a mix of emotions in us straight away, right? Blake helps us navigate that, and see the beauty and blessing in being crazily generous together.
Jesus gives his disciples - and us - an exciting picture of the abundant life he invites us to.
An early disciple struggles to believe that the resurrection can really be true. Relatable? YES! How does Jesus approach this 'doubter', and what can we learn for our own inevitable times of doubt?
Dave explores how Luke is telling not just Jesus' story, but also the story of God's people.
The verse says the early disciples loved sharing meals, including something called 'the Lord's supper!' Rich explains what this is, shares some new possibilities for how we think about it in our church family, and invites us to share our own wisdom around living this out well.
Kirsty superbly guides us through three barriers we often face to the ancient Christian practice of sharing food together - the caviar barrier, the alphabetti spaghetti barrier and the ice lollies barrier!
Blake helps us think through the early church's radical approach to community together, and what it could look like to take a step towards that.
Jesus turns up in a room of disciples, and does seven things. We take time to notice them, so that we can be on the lookout for the same stuff when we gather!
As part of our regular rhythm of Generosity Sundays, we turn our attention in this training session to being generous with our words! Why is encouragement so important? How do we do it? Jonny and Emily bring us some teaching and equippping.
A horrid passage today, where the crucified Jesus is taken from the cross, and buried. What do we learn in the darkness of this story? How does the light of God shine through even this?
As we begin our look at the key habits and passions of the early church, we start with their devotion to the 'apostle's teaching'. We're translating that to mean, devoted to the Bible. Why does this old book matter? Rich offers a tour, a warning and a reset.
As we head toward's our first Easter as a church community, we set aside this gathering to look closely at the death of Jesus. What does it mean? Why did it happen? How can it help us? Blake teaches.
Emmanuel explores Jesus temptation and what we can learn to resist temptation in our lives
The disciples experience a storm, and they can't row their way out of it. What do we learn from Jesus' response to them? Cara teaches.
In this passage, Jesus is tried and killed. John doesn't explain all the theology, rather he gives us a narrative. Not a creed, but characters. So we explore eight tones and trends in the story that lead to Jesus being killed.
Chris Yeo from Churchcentral North came to help us think about following Jesus in a city with poverty. How would Jesus have us be in this city? With help from Michael & Ali McMillan who share at the end some of their experience and wisdom.
We get a zoomed-in look at Peter in this passage. We see some great things and some eye-watering failure! Let's learn from him together.
Jesus pours out 7 big warnings to the religious leaders. How are we at risk of the same errors? How can we avoid them? Blake teaches us.
So much of life is a battle to stand. How do we find strength to stand? And how can we stand before God? Jonathan helps us explore these crucial questions.
Someone comes to Jesus and shows him extravagant love and enthusiasm. He says we have plenty to learn from this moment, so explored it together.
A rich, young, powerful man turns up in this week's conversation. He's quite different to many of the character's we've been learning about. So, how will Jesus react to this man? James shows us.
As Jesus prays before his arrest, he pours out a request to the Father, that the church may be one! What does this mean? Why is it important? How do we apply it? Rich explores.
A family is torn apart by grief. It's a story replicated around the world every day. What does Jesus do when he interacts with such a family? The answer is astonishing.
Not The Ending We Hoped For? // Nehemiah 13 // Dave Williams // CC North // 2.3.25 by Churchcentral Birmingham
At our Baby Thnaksgiving celebration, we saw why Jesus uses children as one of his key illustrations of what being a Christian is all about.
After a review of the story so far, Jonny takes us through Jesus famous prayer in John 17, and draws out some lessons for hard times.
When Jesus meets not one, but two hurting people, how will he respond? Annabel shows us that for a powerful man and a powerless woman, Jesus has everything they need.
Guest speaker Andrey Bondarenko joined us for the morning. Andrey is a Ukranian church planter and movement leader, now based in the UK. In this talk, he encourages us to look and see the harvest fields around us.
What will Jesus do when he is confronted by a load of kids? How does this moment in his life shape our home lives and our church life? We see lessons about children, parents and communities of disciples.
Whatever destination we're heading to, a common problem that can throw us off course is being distracted! How do we stay focussed on the right things, to ensure we travel to where God wants us for the future? Jonathan takes us through various passages to explore.
What do you do when you've got nowhere else to go? In this story, see some desperate actions from some desperate people, and Jesus' amazing response to their crazy steps of faith!
In this story, Jesus meets a person who was viewed by her community as an outsider. How will he treat her? What does that mean for how he treats you? And how we treat others?
In this four-week series we explore how to get from where we are to where we ultimately want to be. In part one, we see that the path we’re currently on will dictate where we end up.
We explore a story of a person trying to do all the right things, who ends up distracted and missing out on the life they've always wanted. We see Jesus' response to her and what we can learn for our own distractedness!
New Year can be time of anticipation and excitement but also a time of anxiety and dread. Psalm 116 helps us to approach times like this in a healthy, faith filled way and leads us towards a lifestyle of restfulness at all times of the year.
We began our series looking at Jesus' conversations with a whole load of different people. In this gathering, we explored a story involving four people who are seeking, searching and yearning for more...
What's in the heart of Jesus for His friends on dark nights? Rich explores, in an online message, after our Sunday meeting when it was going to be preached took a different turn!
Jesus tells his disciples that it's better that He goes, so He can send the Spirit. REALLY?! SERIOUSLY?! Jonny reflects on these surprising words!
Jonny unpacks Jesus' famous image of the vine and the branches, and explores what it really means for us to abide or remain in Jesus.
How do we handle opposition in the Christian life? When people are against us, we can draw on the words of Jesus here who wisely prepared us for these inevitable experiences.
Deji explores Nehemiah's approach to facing opposition as the work of rebuilding continues
We're at Jesus' closing meal with his friends, with death arriving tomorrow. In this weighty scene, Jesus speaks to two themes dear to His heart. How can we embrace them, and live in light of them?
Jonathan explores John's Revelation vision of the Bride of Christ in all her glory, and what it means for us today.
How does Jesus help us engage with the disillusionment and disappointment of our city? How do we process our own disappointment so that we are renewed as agents of hope to our neighbours? Becky teaches brilliantly into these themes.
Jesus brings us LIFE! But what sort of LIFE? Is that a now thing or a 'when we die' thing? Is it a here thing, or a 'heaven' thing?
Emma from Urban Devotion explores what we can learn from Nehemiah's prayer for Jerusalem
What changes for God's people, how can they move from curse to blessing?How can we know and enjoy God's blessings today?
Jonny talks on the topic of 'How does the Holy Spirit form us and what part do we play in this?'
How do we deal with life when things don't go as planned?James unpacks what Haggai had to say to a people who were starting to lose heart
Haggai 1 informs us of God's desire to see his dwelling place on earth established and built. What are you building your life on?Haggai Summary video shown: https://youtu.be/juPvv_xcX-U?si=JAYRP6FLj9JR8Woy
Jonathan unpacks the question, 'What is baptism in the Holy Spirit?' and looks at three big points to notice in Acts 1:1-8.
Are there times and places in our life beyond Christ's reach?Joseph's experience in Egypt helps us answer the question.
In this message, Chris introduces our summer series on Joseph, exploring the love of his father, the betrayal of his brothers, and the way these two components parallel the life of Jesus.
We look at a story of extravagant worship. But how do we become like that? Is it just a personality thing, for the extrovert emotional types? Or can we each take steps to cultivate a heart that loves to worship Christ?
What are we to do when God doesn't seem to be acting? When stuff is hard, or a specific grief or pain comes against us, what is Jesus doing?
The Bible is full of 'shepherd-sheep' language. How does this translate into our modern culture? Who are our options for shepherds? Why does Jesus trump them all?
Jonny surveys the story of Scripture as it relates to slavery. Then, we see some applications for our relationships in the workplace today.
What is the Bible's wisdom on parenting? Chris & Zoe show us some of Paul's words, and how they've sort to apply them with their kids.
In a changing and scary world, where do we know security? What makes us safe? Jesus has beautiful words of reassurance for the sheep.
Jonathan kicked off our Weekend Away teaching tracing six ways the Spirit works, according to the New Testament.
Wendy shares some convictions about how a hunger for the Spirit can shape church gatherings.
In this message, we notice a repeated theme that keeps coming up in John, and pause to pray for God's Spirit to change the spiritual temperature of our culture.
Dave & Sarah look at Paul's wisdom on marriage, and how it represents Christ & the church.
Walking the walk is even more important than talking the talk in the Christian life! James helps us see what that might mean.
Drawing from her experiences working alongside older people in Birmingham, Helen shows us God's heart and invites us to share His heart for those with more years than us.
How do we actually live in light of all the amazing Jesus good news we've seen in Ephesians? What does a changed life look like?
Jemma helped us understand the place of art in the world and the Bible, and how we can play our part in seeing art serve our city.
In a divided world, how do we actually build community that doesn't disintegrate or divide? This passage helps us see the importance and pathway to unity.
One of the most famous Jesus sayings is featured in this passage. But does the truth always set us free? We see three barriers to walking in the freedom Christ offers us.
An amazing passage of Scripture that is mostly a prayer to God for the church in Ephesus. What can we learn today? Dave shows us.
How great a transformation is available for all who believe in Jesus! We see the greatest rags to riches story can be ours through him.
We love a mystery. The gospel of Jesus IS the greatest mystery ever, but now it's been revealed and we can get in on it!
What happens to a person when they become a Christian? Through the famous story of the woman caught in adultery, we see four things that mean her story can be our story, if we put our faith in Christ.
If we side with Jesus, we're offered living water. John tells us this by referencing some Old Testament stories, which we discover are all fulfilled in Christ, the one who truly gives us living water.
In the midst of a catalogue of errors from those speaking with Jesus, we see the crucial need to see beyond appearances, under the surface, and consider the reality of God in all things.
We follow a story of a crazy bunch of 'imposters', and what we can learn from it for today.
Chris kicks off a new series in the letter to the Ephesians. We see that God's amazing blessings are the best fuel for us as a church and as individuals.
Behind every action we do 'for God', are important invisible questions. Why are we doing it? When is the right timing? How should we go about it? Honing in particularly on leaders, Rich explains why the motives, moment and methods are crucial to keep us doing Jesus' stuff in a Jesus way.
Last words reveal so much about a person's deepest heart! Here we explore the final words of the great leader Joshua, and see what his deepest heart message is for God's people.
Jonny shares phenomenally honestly about his own experiences of doubt, including a crisis of faith in recent years. What do we do when we experience huge doubts in our walk with God? This passage and Jonny's story are sent to help us!
Jesus spends a lot of his teaching time in the gospels focussing on the subtle but crucial difference between a true follower and a false follower. This passage is one such place. What's the difference? How do we test ourselves to check our discipleship is genuine?
The words in this passage are reassuring, but also controversial and complex. It's great that the Father draws people to Jesus, but why does He not draw everyone? Jonathan takes a look.
We don't have the privilege of seeing Jesus physically (just yet), but we're told in this passage about the importance of seeing him. What does this mean for us? And what does believing in Him really look like for us today?
Where do you go with your soul ache? Jesus explains that He's like bread, uniquely able to meet our needs, whatever they may be.
Jesus does some terrifying stuff in this passage, feeding people with miraculous power and even walking on water. Is the disciples resulting fear something we should also experience? Or should our fears be comforted by knowing Jesus?
The Israelites are at the bank of the River Jordan. What happens next teaches us so much about God, and ourselves, and what it means to step forward in faith.
What sort of church is God looking to build for Birmingham in 2024? Owen helps us by showing us some core Christian teachings - around being sent, and around moving to the margins.
Doreen shares about the amazing story of Rahab, and how she shows us so much of the gracious, saving power of God.
Aaron has cultivated this prayer walk session beautifully! It leads us through both a devotional time with Jesus as we walk, and a time of interceding for our area. Use it in a moment of walking around your neighbourhood.If 37 mins is too long a walk for you, use the first 14 minutes as a devotional, then head out to your 'neighbourhood' for intercession!Isaiah 62 is referred to, if you want to have it open.BACKGROUND MUSIC courtesy of Chris Donald & the Kings Heath Community Group, the lockdown sessions!
Verena uses a cycle of Scripture, reflection and space to pray, to help us engage with God in different circles. Starting with ourselves, we then gradually zoom out to pray for those we live with, those who live or work near us and finally for our whole city.
Beth leads us through a psalm, pausing to pray over from each verse. A great example of how to worship, confess, intercede & thank, all sparked by simply reading a psalm...BACKGROUND MUSIC:Fluidscape by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100393Artist: http://incompetech.com/
Christians have long used A.C.T.S as an acronymn to be guided through a time of prayer. Jummy takes us through each point, giving a verse to inspire us and then leaving lots of space for us to engage in Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication...
Esther invites us to slow down, breathe in, breathe out, use short simple phrases, and our imagination, to centre ourselves on the peace of Jesus and help us connect with the still, small voice of God.BACKGROUND MUSIC:Almost in F - Tranquillity by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100394Artist: http://incompetech.com/
Jesus says He's the Son of God... but how do we know we can trust Him? Jesus generously points us to four of the countless evidences of who He is. We apply each point to seekers (those wondering if Jesus is trustworthy) and disciples (those wanting to win others to trusting Him).
Jesus was the true Son of God! In his life, we see - among other things - an example for what living as a child of God truly looks like. Here, we see that to be a child of God is to be a dependent doer.
We begin a new series in Joshua, exploring the advancing story of Joshua & the rest of God's people.
So many of us live life with a low-level exhaustion permeating everything. How does the gospel speak to this? How does Jesus offer true rest? This unusual story tells us.
Sharing from the Bible and the Keong family story, Dawn helps us see the adventure in staying for the long haul - even when we're unsure, restless, or finding it tough.
When was the last time you could say you 'earnestly prayed'? And what should we expect when we ask God for amazing miracles like healing? Chris helps us see the Bible's precise teaching on this theme.
Getting our relationship to money right is a major part of the Bible's teaching. James helps us see how crucial this is, and fight back against the ungodly love of money.
Our speech is a massive discipleship theme in Scripture. Two forms of speech that we're often warned about are gossip and slander. What are these, why do we struggle with them, and how do we replace them with words of life? Rich explores.
We were thrilled to have Sean Green from Reading Family Church come and preach God's word to us. We see the amazing role God has for his people, even in tough circumstances.
Faith is a huge part of John's Gospel, and the whole Christian message. But what is true faith? How do we foster it in our lives? We look at the second miraculous sign in John to find out.
As we approach the birth of Jesus, what do all the glorious names and titles given to Jesus mean for us today?
When infighting or bickering rises up in our lives, what's the solution? James 4 shows us the way.
Words are a huge part of our lives! The words we speak, and the words spoken to us. How does faith in Jesus shape our speech? James helps us see!
How does prayer unlock things in our serving of Birmingham? Blake teaches us three things to help us grasp the power of prayer as we look outwards to our communities.
Is Christianity a religion of works? Or a religion of faith? In the book of James, we see a surprising answer, but one crucial to our understanding of what being a follower of Jesus is meant to look and feel like today.
We join the immediate aftermath of Jesus' meeting the woman at the well, and as the disciples struggle with Jesus even speaking to a woman, we see a model of discipleship from the unlikely source. We also see the gospel in her words, and advice for those who are just looking in on the whole Christianity thing.
Jesus' conversation with the woman at the well shows us our deepest needs in life, and how Jesus can meet them.
John the Baptist had a lot going for him - a big crowd and a decent following! How will he respond as Jesus seems to begin surpassing him? We see an example of what it looks like to live with Jesus as the main character.
Sometimes, everything's going so quickly in and around us, that things can get out of shape, out of place, out of step with our relationship with others and with God. James' advice in chapter 1 verse 19 of his book is to 'slow down'. Dave helps us understand.
Becky helps us to consider how ready we are to clearly articulate our faith, and lead someone to a point of responding for themselves.
Dave helps us see the place of faith and trust in our relationship with God, when things aren't turning out as we'd hoped.
Chris starts a new series in the book of James, focussing in on the essential but often 'hard to experience' reality of JOY!
How much do you think you need God? Your answer will directly impact your gratitude, your joy, your dependency on Him. We explore Jesus' conversation with a relgious leader to find the answer.
We explore the story of the miraculous child of Abraham. A laughable promise, but how do the different characters respond to God's word?
We find Jesus in this passage NOT gentle, meek and mild, but overflowing with anger. What's that about? Is passionate, zealous, even angry emotion good, bad or ugly? What does it look like to be zealous like Jesus?
We explore the famous story of the wedding at Cana, of 'water into wine' fame. What's the significance of this story? What does it mean that Jesus reveals his glory at, of all places, a wedding party? How does this shape our expectations for our own experiences of Jesus?
We start a new series in the life of Abraham. Lorrie helps us see how central to everything in Abraham's story and ours is faith!
The world has so many visions of what a Christian really looks like. So do churches. So do we! But what were the first disciples called into? What did it look like at the start? In this passage, we see Jesus calling four people, and we explore what it means for us today.
In this passage we meet the first witness to who Jesus is in John's Gospel, John the Baptist. We see the power that Jesus' identity can have to unlock our own sense of self, as we learn who we're not, and who Jesus is!
Chris gives us a stirring vision talk as we begin the term, helping us see how we join in the fight to see God's kingdom extending.
We kick off a new series in John's Gospel, exploring the life of Jesus. We look at John's 'blurb' to see a summary, before diving into the opening passage that begins with those familiar words, 'In the beginning...'
Jonathan Bell - team leader for the wider Churchcentral family of churches - joined us for the morning to open God's word. We explore a strange story in the Old Testament to see what we should do when we're running on empty.
When we're gearing up for a time of activity, busyness and challenge, where do we start? Rich speaks to this from a moment in the gospels, with a sprinkle of specific application to parents and carers.
As we begin the term, as a church family a large number of us are facing real challenges. What does God say to us when we're feeling empty? Jonathan explores a bizarre but brilliant story tucked away in the Old Testament that's strangely relevant for us today.
We pick up the story to see what will happen to Ruth, Naomi and Boaz. We see how it relates to our lives today, and this world's great need for a Redeemer!
How on earth will Naomi and Ruth find redemption? Episode 3 of the story shows us the audacious plan, and provides a picture of our own Redeemer.
Ruth is on the edges of society in a whole host of ways. How will Boaz treat her? And how does that model our own lives today in a diverse city?
Jonathan introduces our new series, reading the whole book of Ruth. We see how even random or tragic moments of our lives can be weaved into the big story God is writing in the world.
How does our hope as Christians impact us when despair overwhelms us? Blake wraps up our series by exploring this sensitive but urgent theme.
This passage calls us to four Cs in our faith - carrying, comparing, cultivating and closing. Chris (another C!) explores.
How does our future hope as believers shape our attitude towards the material things we own? In this thought-provoking message, Blake helps us towards a life that enjoys God's material blessings but isn't controlled by them.
Doreen unpacks the penultimate chapter of Galatians chapter 5 for us, asking us to reflect on 'where are you standing?' in terms of our lives with God.
Are we righteous? Are we good enough? How does God answer these questions about us? Nana helps us explore the amazing answers in Galatians chapter 4.
As we explore our New Creation hope found at the end of the Scriptures, what does it have to teach us about race and ethnicity? We see one amazing Bible verse and four big truths to shape our thinking and doing on these themes. We conclude with a time praying through the Lord's prayer.
How does our future hope shape our values and views on the environment? Rich shows us four theological truths to build upon in this area.
David picks up right where he left off, helping us see how we live for Jesus in an attractive way, in a context where there's much opposed to God and his kingdom.
David Devenish - a long-time friend and father in the Churchcentral story - joined us for two sessions exploring what it looks like for communities of disciples to demonstrate the gospel in an ungodly environment. The two sessions hang together, so to get the best out of it, listen to both.
Jonathan kicked off our teaching at the Weekend Away, taking lessons from a short but powerful story Jesus told.
We see the conclusion of the whole book of Revelation, with vivid, soul-stirring imagery of life with God in a renewed world! Jonny urges us to thirst for all that the passage puts before us.
What do we do when the truth of God's word is not being lived out? When do we speak and when do we not? Lorrie looks at Galatians 2 to help us find the answers.
Chris opens a new series for Churchcentral North in the book of Galatians. Freedom in Jesus is our theme!
Becky helps to equip us in the 'how' of engaging in meaningful, loving, Jesus-like spiritual conversation with those who don't follow Jesus right now.
What difference do our prayers make? How does God respond when we call out to Him? We look at Psalm 18 before turning to prayer!
We get hints at the end of the chapter that Nehemiah's response isn't only going to be prayer...
Why is sin so serious? How can we find joy and closeness to God when we grapple with so much sin in our lives? Psalm 51 has the answers!
Day 2 of the Week Of Prayer, we dive in and see one bitesize lesson to fuel our prayers.
As part of the Week Of Prayer at Churchcentral South, we're uploading a short episode of fuel to help us pray.Slightly longer in this episode, Rich sets the scene of the section of the Bible we'll be in - Nehemiah chapter 1 - and shows one bitesize lesson to put into practice.
We return to chapter 21, to meditate more on the imagery used for the church of Jesus. We see that the church is the pinnacle of the Revelation narrative, even outshining the new creation itself!
What do we do in times of despair and sorrow? How does God relate to us in those moments? Chris explores.
We land into the beautiful passages about the new creation at the end of time. We see some things that won't be there, and some things that will.
As Dave comes into eldership at Churchcentral North, what is eldership really all about? How does the Bible speak of those in leadership in the church? What does it mean for each of us in our lives today? Jonathan Bell, who leads our family of churches, came to North to share.
Evil has had many names and many faces in this book but in Revelation 20, evil is finally defeated! Amidst some pretty obscure details, Jonny shows us how the coming downfall of evil motivates us to persevere in our walk with Jesus.
Jonathan takes us back in to Revelation as we now walk towards the great crescendo of the book. In Revelation 19, we see what it really means to be on the right side of history.
We celebrate Resurrection Sunday! Jonathan helps us to explore the relevance of Jesus' rising from death.
Jesus has died. The Messiah lies in a tomb. What can we learn from this 'in between' day in the Easter narrative? How might it help us in our own Holy Saturday moments? Blake explores.
We begin a zoomed in, slowed down look at the central weekend in the Christian story. We start with Friday, and engaged with the story a little differently to normal...
'Babylon' is a big deal in Revelation and it's not a good place! But is 'fleeing' Babylon the only posture of the Christian in the world today? How do we flee while also serving and engaging our world?
Dave shows us the immense comfort there is for God's people by showing us the good news of Isaiah chapter 40.
Dave takes us further into the book of Isaiah to meet the God Isaiah knew and worshipped!
In a dramatic passage, we say goodbye to one of the major players in Revelation - Babylon. But as Babylon falls, we see two starkly different responses. What about you? Are you for or against Babylon?
As a church one of our vision strands is to be 'for the good of the city'. But what does that look like? Several times a year, we have Serve The City Sundays, mornings that dial up the volume on this part of our calling as disciples. In this session, Karen shows us what it might look like to begin to live out a costly love for our neighbours.
We start a whistle-stop tour of the book of Isaiah in the run up to Easter. Today, we're in chapter 6 exploring the theme of idols.
We see more of the story of Jonah as God comes to him, despite his many failings, with an amazing calling.
Revelation is given so that we might see things as they really are. Here, we get given a very vivid image of a prostitute riding a beast. Rich helps us explore it and calls us to live in light of it.
The seven bowls take us deeper into the themes of justice & judgment, and show us not only some sobering truths about God's wrath, but some stunning truths about his patience and kindness.
Revelation 14 provides a vivid picture of the end of time. What will happen? And how should that impact how we live now?
Chris starts off a short series in the story of Jonah! What's this story all about? How does it relate to our life as the church in north Birmingham?
Jesus thinks that what we do with our money reveals and shapes the health of the whole person. What does he mean? How do we live in light of this teaching of Christ?
We return to Revelation and meet the infamous 'beast', with his mark and his number 666. Jonathan shows us that the symbolism reveals a very present threat, and a choice we all face.
Our response to the love of God in Jesus is to lean on Him in utter dependence and devotion. James shows us more in the poetry of the Song of Solomon.
When we are wandering from closeness with Jesus, he'll often come knocking on our door! What do we do in that moment? How must we respond? James explores.
The Song of Solomon (or Song of Songs) is a love poem! How could this possibly be language to describe a relationship with God? James helps us in the first of three talks on this book of the Bible.
Jonathan continues walking us through some of Jesus' most beautiful teaching, of us as the branches and Jesus as the vine. What does connection to Jesus look like practically? There are five things explored...
Jonathan brings the first of two messages around the centrality of us connecting with Jesus.
The river, the desert, the mission // Mark 1:9-18 // Rich Pitt // CC South by Churchcentral Birmingham
Death can show it's face in so many areas of our lives, but the resurrection life of God is available through Jesus! Lorrie shows us all this in the life of a disciple.
Revelation gets even crazier with the introduction of a dragon! The symbolic storytelling has much to teach us, and Jonny takes us into the story.
Apologies for the audio dropping out in areas, we think you can still get the gist of things! In a sequel to last week's talk, we finally find the seventh trumpet. Or do we? Rich walks us through and shows us seven big things we need to remember while we're waiting for Jesus.
Chris Yeo and Eunice Smith combined to help us get a vision for some of the marginalised in our city.
What on earth is going on when a woman pours perfurme all over Jesus?! Doreen shows the beauty and power of this scandalous interaction.
Chapters 8-11 of Revelation are among the strangest of the whole Bible, but they speak of desperately important things. In the first of two talks, Rich shows us the 7 angels blowing 7 trumpets, and asks five questions about what we see.
On the morning we heard the news that one of our church family had died, Jonny took us back into Revelation 7 looking for hope.
When trials, tribulation and ultimately God's judgment come to the world, who can stand? Revelation 7 is the answer.
Last week we saw a scroll in the hand of Jesus. This week, he opens the seven seals that are on the scroll and what's unveiled is overwhelming and should strike us to our core.
As we dive back into the book of Revelation after a six month break, we're met with a stunning explosion of imagery and truth! We might not get all the details, but we can certainly capture the heart of it; to see Jesus afresh in all his glory.
What barriers do we put up for others? What barriers do we experience ourselves? Dave explores how Jesus speaks into our barriers and ultimately removes them!
Jonny wraps up our series by showing us the wartime tone of the end of the letter, and encouraging us to put on our armour and fight.
We look at some practical outworkings of all the gospel truths Paul has taught us in the letter so far. We look at some hard themes for our individual lives and our relationships, and seek to lean close and listen to what God might really be saying to us.
At the baptism of Phoebe & Dave, we explored a passage of practical contrast for Christians and those who don't follow Jesus.
James takes us through another breathless chapter of Mark's gospel, and shows us our need for bread.
As our nation enters a period of mourning for our late Queen Elizabeth II, we continued with our pre-planned Thanksgiving Celebration for five children in the church. Rich spoke on three reflections on the last week, and applied it into the lives of the parents involved.
We finish the series with a look at the biblical narrative of God pursuing a bride. We see two implications for our relationship with Jesus, and two implications for our relationship to the church.
In the penultimate talk of the series, Jonny opens up the imagery of us as a temple, exploring what this meant in the ancient world and what it means for us today.
The New Testament teaches we are an army! Rich unpacks and helps us understand some reasons for caution and some truths to believe and apply too.
Jonny hones in on the biblical metaphor of Christians as 'foreigners'. By drawing on Israel's experience in exile, he shows us what it looks like for us to live as foreigners and exiles in Birmingham today.
The New Testament is full of 'body' language! It means loads of things, this talk & discussion touches on some of them and hones in on one big aspect. It closes with Becky Deare landing it into our relationships outside the church.
As part of our online content for Summer Sunday gatherings in homes, Jonny unpacked the implications of Jesus picture of 'yeast in the dough'. We see how this simple metaphor has huge relevance for our lives outside the gathered church.
Jesus calls people out in this chapter for their hypocrisy! Chris helps us understand what it means to be a hypocrite and how we can avoid it.
Jesus heads to his hometown with good news, but they don't see his glory and goodness! Zoe unpacks what this means for us, our lives and our callings...
As we switch to meeting in homes in our Community Groups for the summer, this talk / discussion prompt from Rich helps us explore Jesus' description of his followers as being 'salt and light'.
Are we to be full of grace, or committed to godliness? Are we to be radically hosptiable, or radically holy? The answer, according to Ephesians, is... YES. Rich unpacks.
In a world of disconnection and fragmentation, how do we model something different in the church? Jonathan - and the Apostle Paul - give five big keys to unity.
Jonny unpacks the immense fuel for prayer in Paul's own prayer for the Ephesian church.
In the second main session of the Weekend Away 2022, we now apply Joseph's story to our own lives, and to the journey we're on as churches. Jonathan touches on some of the difficulties and delays we've experienced, but casts a vision for future dreams in our city and beyond...
At our Churchcentral-wide Weekend Away, we had two sessions from Jonathan exploring the theme of 'Time To Dream Again...'.
In part 1, we saw the staggering story of Joseph and his dreams. We learned that things tend to turn out 'very different' to how we imagine.
Do you feel like an outcast? Do you feel too far gone? Do you feel no good for anything? You're exactly the sort of person Jesus loves to meet, as we see in Mark 5!
As we celebrated Alice and Vicky's baptisms, Rich explored God's vision for the church to be a family where anyone can belong.
Jonathan looks at how the good news of Jesus breaks down hostility between different groups, then applies this to our relationships inside the church and outside. Audio quality slightly poor, apologies.
Mike unlocks Jesus' famous story of the seeds and the soil, showing us two things the story ISN'T, and two things the story is! Fresh insights land with power!
Doreen walks us through an amazing chapter of the life of Jesus, where His desire to have compassion and forgive comes through in abundance!
As Christians, we can forget the wonder of what Jesus has done for us. But we mustn't! We must remember and live in the good of the incredible transformation Jesus has worked in our lives.
Jonny helps us see the importance of knowing God better, and shows us several key ways of pursuing that in our lives.
We begin our look at God's plan for the church by seeing eight massive reasons for us to be a community full of joy.
At North, we launched into a fast-paced adventure through the Gospel of Mark. Buckle in as we start the journey!
At a joint gathering of CC West and CC South, Jonathan encouraged each of us as individuals to give ourselves to the body of Christ, the Church, and to play our part in God's community moving forward.
With more changes to come for our community, Rich takes a moment to invite us into a fresh experience of generosity.
As our journey as CC West wraps up in the coming weeks, Jonny set our endings and beginnings in the context of God and the wonderful story He's inviting us all into as we move forward...
West joined with South for Easter Sunday, and saw some of the powerful switcharound that Jesus does to our lives and our deaths.
In light of the news about the future of CC West, Jonathan was with us and sharing on God's invitation to lament these painful and difficult moments.
To the CC South family, Jonny shared important and difficult news from our wider Churchcentral family. From Isaiah 6, he then called us to look to God in a time of endings and beginnings...
Jonny brings the final of Jesus’ message to the churches. It contains some of Jesus’ sharpest words, and some of his most comforting too.
As we celebrated Joy's baptism, we continued at CC South walking through the letters to the churches, and explored again what Jesus requires of his followers...
Jesus speaks to a church that had a good reputation, but the reality was lacking. We see several practical steps to be taken to become the church we were made to be.
Jonathan unpacks Jesus' message to a church that was muddled on the relationship between love and holiness. Jesus comes to make things clear and demand a response.
As we continue exploring the theme of rest, Jonathan Bell joined us to invite us into a rhythm of sabbath.
The letter to the church in Pergamum is challenging, but for those with ears to hear, Jesus' words have the power to do us so much good! Jonny walks us through...
In two shorter talks, Rich explores what we can glean from Jesus message to a persecuted church in the city of Smyrna.
Jesus invites us into a place of rest, today we consider how the ongoing attitude of our hearts is important in moving forward in that rest.
How do we experience God today? By the Holy Spirit! Jonny introduces us to Him and His work.
We begin the seven 'letters to the churches' in Revelation 2 & 3 by exploring Jesus' double-edged words to the church in Ephesus.
John's first vision begins with the stunning sight of the risen Jesus. Behold him afresh and worship Him with passion!
Starting a walk through an ancient statement of faith called the Apostles' Creed, James points us to the wonder of knowing the Father almighty!
Many people are burdened by busyness, the hurts of life and personal failures. Jesus offers a remarkable invitation to come and receive rest for the soul.
At CC South we launch into a term in the book of Revelation. It's a book that can intimidate us and overwhelm us easily, so to begin with, Jonathan gives us three truths to help us understand what Revelation is.
Rich concludes our mini-series on discipleship with a vision for a discipleship that can last.
The second aspect of being a disciple is our love for our neighbours. Jonny unpacks this key idea with three practical applications.
James introduces us to the gift of prophecy, giving quick teaching and practical direction.
What is the gift of tongues? What's it for? How do we use it rightly? How can we step out in it for the first time? Chris explores at CC North.
What does it really mean to 'put into practice the teachings of Jesus?'. Jesus helpfully summarised it into two main parts. Jonny explores the first of those...
In light of the realities of heaven, we are urged to take off the old and put on the new. In this talk at CC West, we explore what this means, and how we can live this life in the light of our true identities.
At Churchcentral North, James gives a dynamic overview of the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives!
Chris kicks off the new year at Churchcentral North with this inspiring talk on temple building, and how it relates to what God's doing in the church right now in the north of Birmingham.
As we focus this year much more intentionally on what it means to follow Jesus, Jonny begins our January mini-series by exploring the meaning of the word 'disciple'.
How do we become people who are faithful in a culture that doesn't prize faithfulness? Jonathan shows us.
We'd all love to be a 'good' person, right? What does it mean and how can it happen? Jonny explores.
Chris helps us explore our final aspect of the fruit of the Spirit with this talk on kindness!
What does it mean to be patient? How does God help us with this character trait? Nana Opong preached for us at Churchcentral North on these themes.
What is gentleness? Why is it a good thing? How do we become more like God in this? Mike shows us.
As Jude, Isaiah, Matt and Greg prepared for their outdoor November baptism (!), Rich explored the meaning of baptism, by sharing four statements that baptism is making.
What is patience? Why is it so hard? And how does the gospel produce patient people? Rich explores.
In this talk, we explore the peace that only Jesus can bring, and see three practices that can help us experience this peace more in our lives.
Time 4 Change is a city-wide partnership of churches pursuing racial reconciliation in the Church. For Time4Change Sunday, Owen Hylton of Beacon Church Brixton came to help us on our journey towards being a truly reconciled church.
Time 4 Change is a city-wide partnership of churches pursuing racial reconciliation in the Church. For Time4Change Sunday, Rich looked at Jesus' prayer for His disciples in John 17 to refresh our conviction that unity in diversity that truly matters.
What is joy? How do we get joy? How is the Holy Spirit the key to bringing us deep and lasting joy? Jonny explores!
At Churchcentral North this term, we're exploring different aspects of the fruit of the Spirit. Here Zoe opens up the theme of peace, exploring how Jesus can help us experience this beautiful reality...
We step into our exploration of a Fruitful life by looking at the first aspect, LOVE. We see why love comes first, what real love looks like and apply it into three specific areas where the Spirit wants to bring the fruit of love in our lives.
Rich introduces us to our the series on the fruit of the Spirit by examining the related theme of 'freedom'.
Having looked in and out, now we look up. We look at a story of two disciples, whose expectations of Jesus had left them searching for another story. We learn from their experience and seek to think again about which story our lives are truly a part of...
Having looked in, now we look OUT. What is our call as a church to those who aren't already among us? Could Jesus have a vision for us that exceeds our own lives, even our own church, even our own city or nation? This overview of God's mission reveals all.
As CC South gathered in the same place for the first time in 558 days, Jonathan began the first a mini-series called 'In.Out.Up.' Jesus calls us to invest our love in those three directions, and in this talk we focus inwards on our relationships within the church.
In our final talk of the series, Jonathan points us to the place of creation in inspiring our abiding with Jesus.
How do we relate to God when we've got it wrong? When we're weighed down with guilt? Or squirming under shame? Psalm 32 offers the route to joy once more.
Some of us love singing to God together. Some of us HATE IT! Why do we do it? And does it really matter? Rich rattles off eight big reasons from Psalm 150.
Jonny looks into this victorious psalm to consider how we can not only be those who abide in Jesus, but those who walk forward in faith, abiding as we go.
Abiding sounds nice in theory, but what about in the real world? Well, so many of the Psalms were written in incredibly challenging moments, and Psalm 3 is one such Psalm. We learn from David's example so that we can remain in Jesus, even when fears rise up.
What does it mean to seek God's face? How can we do this in our lives? Jonathan explores.
How can God's people be truly united? Why does it matter? Michael shows us that where God's people live in unity, God pours out his blessing!
Loving God is our primary responsibility in our relationship with Him. But often our love fades. Or maybe we don't feel any love for God at all. How do we cultivate a love and a passion for God? Psalm 66 has the secret.
Should we really prioritise making music as a church? After 18 months where we haven't really done this so much, we see in Psalm 150 that as we return to gathering, musical worship is a massive priority.
At Churchcentral South, we begin a new series in the Psalms, exploring how we can remain near to - or 'abide' with - Jesus. Jonny opens up the first Psalm to get us started...
James helps us see a great promise of the Bible, that 'many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord'. What's the process towards that? Listen in.
With so much talk of KEEP GOING, this letter can be a touch relentless! What if we're tired?! What if we're aware our efforts can never be enough? As we finish the series, praise the Lord, we see that we're not the only one doing the work...
Jonny opens up another song of God's people, this time the stirring anthem that is Psalm 91.
Jonathan looks at three short but revolutionary commands that Paul gives to the Thessalonian church, and shows how we too can take up the call to be joyful, prayerful and thankful.
What does it look like to build a healthy relational culture in your corner of Churchcentral? We look at some practical wisdom from Paul into two major types of relationship within a local church.
What is repentance? What place does it have in the life of a Christian? How do we make it more of our lives? Mike speaks.
What will the return of Jesus be like? And how do we live in the light of it today? Jonathan shows us how that coming day should both challenge and comfort us.
How can we worship God with passion, even when we feel dry? Rich takes us to Psalm 66 to explore.
Death is a coming reality for every person, including you. What happens to you when you die? And how does that impact today and the rest of this week? Listen in.
Steve unpacks the themes of the longest chapter in Scripture, the lovesong to the word of God, Psalm 119.
How does our faith impact our employment, earnings and work environment? Jonny explores.
Following God can be tough, and those who don't follow God can seem to have it easier! How do we grapple with that? Is it truly worth it to follow God. That's what Pete explores in Psalm 73.
Ever wondered what God's will is for your life? You don't need to wonder, it's written down in 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 3. Rich unpacks this verse and lands with eight helps for the battle against sexual sin.
At the centre of the Christian vision of God is a contrast, of the highness of God and the nearness of God. Jonathan explores how this beautiful paradox is fuel for worship!
What does it mean to be truly blessed? How do we access this blessed life? Sanju explores.
As we experience a season of 'returning', how will we come back? What can we learn from Jesus' return from the wilderness for our own moment? Rich explores.
As we cross over into a new future, Jonathan draws on the experience of Joshua and the Israelites to ask us 'will we let fear be our driving force, or faith?'.
As part of our 40 Days of drawing near to Jesus at South, we had an extended interview with Ginny Burgin around what she hears God saying for the Church in this moment of transition...
Owen begins our 'Singing Lessons' teaching series through the book of Psalms, at CC West.
Owen finishes off the series by looking at the closing words of Paul. We see that grace is the start and end of our Christian lives...
We dive into our second '40 narrative', journeying with Moses up Mt. Sinai. What was he doing up the mountain? And how can we do the same? Jonny & friends explore.
Jonny brings a message for Easter Sunday, and speaks to the power of the resurrection to turn our lives upside down.
As we launch our 40 Days of drawing near to Jesus at South, Rich takes us into the 40 days that Jesus spent with his discples after the first Easter Sunday.
How can giving our money away be linked to joy?! Sanju shows us at CC West that just like for the Philippian church, financial generosity really can be a joy-filled experience for us today.
How are you doing? It's a tough question right now. Jonny unpacks Paul's insights into what 'doing well' really means...
What is contentment? And is it really possible, in our present circumstances. Steve Fryer brings us Paul's secret...
A year since the first lockdown began, we're all pretty shattered, right? We see some amazing wisdom and perspectives from the Apostle Paul for dealing with the hard times we are destined for.
Owen unpacks the whole theme of 'rejoicing'. Given our present circumstances, this is a timely message from Owen and from the heart of God.
As we celebrate and welcome seven new members of our church family, Rich speaks into the theme of 'Legacy'. We learn from three phenomenal women whose courage and ingenuity can inspire us, whatever our context.
What is our future as Christians? And how does that impact us in the present? Steve explores.
Learning from the model of Paul, Silas and Timothy when they were in Thessalonica, Jonathan shows us three leadership perspectives we're to have, whatever the sphere of our leadership.
How do we grow in our relationship with Jesus? How do we walk knowing Him closely in our lives? Michael explores in Philippians chapter 3.
Do you know the call on your life? Like the Thessalonians, we are called to grow into examples in the church. Rich explores how that can happen, and what it might look like.
Following Christ's example sounds great in theory, but what does it look like in practice? Jonathan shows us two characters who did this brilliantly, and shows us how to follow in their footsteps.
We can all lack motivation when our work or calling gets hard. Jonathan shows us from Paul's favoured trio of faith, hope and love, how we can be truly motivated to work for the glory of God and the good of others.
Jonathan kicks off a brand new series 'Keep Going' at North & South, by giving us an introduction to 1 Thessalonians. We see how their story relates to ours, and zoom in to see quick lessons about navigating these challenging times.
Owen takes us into one of the central passages of Philippians, a beautiful song from the early church about the amazing example of Jesus. We then see how we in our lives can imitate the life and attitude of Christ.
Rich zooms in on Paul's command to live lives worthy of the gospel, and urges us to see to it that our lives line up with the good news of Jesus.
Jonny explores the theme of 'transition' in the Bible, exploring how we deal with transitions in our lives, in our world and ultimately, how God calls us to the greatest transition of all.
We were thrilled to welcome Tope Koleoso, lead Pastor of Jubilee Church London, to speak to us as the whole Churchcentral family. Tope spoke to us about how to thrive in the face of 'Jerichos' in our lives.
With the various trials we are going through, is joy really possible? How do we find it? Jonathan explores.
Rich explores the importance of church culture, and calls us to give ourselves afresh to creating a culture of encouragement and love in South.
If we want to make an influence 'out there', first God needs to work on us 'in here', in the hidden setting of our homes and our households. Jonny unpacks the importance of this and calls each of us, whatever our living situation, to serve the Lord at home.
As the New Year began, Jonathan showed us four calls from God for the coming year, and urged us to be the community Jesus has called us to be, for the good of our city in this time of crisis.
At CC West, Pete helped us explore Paul's priorities and passions as a follower of Jesus. We saw that no matter what's going on in our lives, we can know God, and God can be known through us.
The year at CC West started with Rich taking us through Psalm 23, and looking at three invitations God has for us within the fog of 2021.
Jonathan shows us God's heart for partnership in the church, and shows us five signs of true gospel partnership for us to grow in.
Owen kicks off the new series at West in Philippians. We see some of the amazing story of the Philippian church and even just in two verses, begin to see something of the amazing message of this letter.
We end our 7-month walk through the Sermon On The Mount by listening to the familiar story of the wise and foolish builders. But what does this story really mean? And how can be those who build well? Jonathan explores. From South 27th November, and West 13th December.
In a world of so many voices, how we discern which voices are to be listened to? How do we know which leaders and authorities to trust and follow? And how can we be trustworthy and life-giving with our own words? Jonathan explores. From South 22nd November, and West 6th December.
All our lives are a journey heading to one of two destinations. Jesus lays out the choice, and invites us to settle our allegiance. From South on 15th November, and West on 29th November.
In this final episode, Calvin gives some insights into how as local churches and individuals we can begin to take action that makes a difference in the area of racial justice.
In Episode 4, Calvin explores what healthy engagement could look like for a white Christian on the issue of race in the church.
In Episode 3, Calvin unpacks how the transatlantic slave trade has a legacy and an impact to this day and calls the church to understand this history better.
In Episode 2, Calvin dives into the Bible to explore race in the story of the people of God and how it relates to the experiences of black people today.
Recorded back in October, this is the first section of a conversation Jonathan had with Pastor Calvin Young on race and the church.
In this episode, we hear Calvin's story, explore his experiences in white-majority and black-majority churches, and consider discomfort in the church.
Jonathan opens up the 'Everest of ethics' that is the Golden Rule. From South on 8th November and West on the 22nd November.
Jonny unpacks Jesus' famous invitation to be those who ask, seek & knock in our lives generally, and specifically in prayer. From South on 25th October, and West on 8th November.
Krish Kandiah (activist, author and Founding Director of Home For Good) joined us for our online Adoption Sunday service. Krish speaks to us from Romans chapter 8 and it's followed by a time of Q&A.
A second look at Jesus' instruction not to judge. How do we build a culture in our homes, workplaces and church that is one of grace, acceptance and gentleness? Jonathan explores.
In a day where social media drives us to share our instant view on everything and everyone, how can we avoid being trapped the snare of judgmentalism? And why does it matter anyway? Jonathan explores. From CC North and CC South on Sunday 4th October.
Jonny explores materialism and more in this look at Jesus' teaching on money. From CC North and CC South on Sunday 27th September.
A fourth and final week diving into the whole theme of worry and anxiety. This week, we look at the core issue of our 'devotion'. From Sunday 20th September.
Jonathan brings another take on Jesus' teaching on anxiety and worry, this time looking at the whole area of dealing with uncertainty.
We live in the age of anxiety. That was before a pandemic! Jesus knows that there are infinite things to worry about, and endless triggers for anxiety, and so He speaks to this core human issue with wisdom and care. Listen in to part 1 of 3 weeks in this theme. From Sunday 30th August.
James Mellor from the CC North leadership team speaks to us on what it means to lay up treasures in heaven. How should we view the 'things of earth'? What does it mean to invest in eternity? From Sunday 23rd August.
Many of us live oblivious to the crucial insight Jesus gives us in the final line of the Lord’s Prayer.
Rich looks at the power of the Lord's prayer when we've mucked up or put our foot in it. Followed by a brand new congregational worship song written in lockdown called 'Repentance Song'.
After exploring 'daily' in episode 12, Rich returns to explore the theme of 'bread' in our prayer life.
Jesus shows why sometimes short prayers are fine and, other times, we need to pray for longer!
Fasting is something that people do in the Bible, and it’s something that Christians have done through the ages, but the Bible never directly tells us that we should do it. Therefore, why should we bother? Jonny (and friends) puts forward the case for fasting as we continue our series on the Sermon on The Mount.
The second week begins, as we take a deep dive over the coming days into the phrase "Your Kingdom come, Your will be done."
Forgiveness is beautiful to receive, and radical to pass on. Yet it's really hard to do it. Why should we forgive? And how can we find the power to do such a counter-cultural thing? Rich explores. From Sunday 9th August.
The fifth episode of our walk through the Lord's prayer, seeking to (re)learn how to pray. Today, Jonathan looks at 'hallowed be your name'.
Episode 3 of 10 across the fortnight. Today, Jonathan unpacks the word 'Father', and Wei En Tan of Churchcentral South sings a brand new song on the theme, written for this series.
The second episode exploring the Lord's prayer. Tune in weekdays for the next fortnight or catch up when works for you.
Jonathan kicks off a brand new series of short episodes on the Lord's prayer. Available from 6am, Monday to Friday over the next two weeks.
Prayer was central to Jesus' life, and to the life of all flourishing Christians since. How would Jesus' have us think about prayer? Jonathan explores. From Sunday 2nd August.
What does it mean to live a good life? What is the place of good works? What is our motivation to be when it comes to good deeds? Jonathan explores. From Sunday July 26th.
Jonathan opens up Jesus' controversial and radical statement, that Kingdom people should pour out love onto not just their friends, but their enemies. From July 19th.
COVID-19 has disrupted all of our lives and brought losses of many shapes and sizes. How do we find strength and hope in the face of the losses we've experienced? We went live on Zoom and Facebook to explore this with a talk, an interview and a time of question and answer. From July 12th.
Jonathan opens up Jesus' famous phrase: 'turn the other cheek', and invites us to be those who don't add fuel to the flames of anger around us, but who find radical creative alternatives so that evil might be overcome with good. From July 5th.
We were thrilled to have Andy, a former elder at Churchcentral, back to preach to us from the Middle East. He brings a message of hope. From June 28
After Jesus' very direct teaching on anger and lust, he moves on in Matthew 5:33-37, to the seemingly niche topic of vows and oaths. In this message, Jonny explains why, rather than being a lull in the action, this teaching is very important and very relevant to us today. From June 21st.
Jonny brings us the next in our Sermon On The Mount series, looking at Jesus' teaching on sensitive areas of relationships and morality. From June 14th.
Jonathan opens up our next passage in the Sermon On The Mount series. In light of the killing of George Floyd and the worldwide protests that have followed, in God's providence we land at Jesus' take on murder and anger. From June 7th.
What Is This Crisis Teaching Us About Ourselves? | Talk & Interviews | Jonny Mellor and friends by Churchcentral Birmingham
Jonathan shows us how neither strict legalism nor 'free' licence are fulfilling ways to live. Jesus offers a third way, obedience from the heart. From May 24th 2020.
Jonathan takes us to the next section of the Sermon On The Mount, as we explore Jesus' view of Scripture. From May 17th 2020.
Jonny unpacks what it looks like for followers of Jesus to be salt and light in lockdown and beyond. From Sunday 10th May 2020.
Jonathan returns to the Beatitudes to dig us deeper into Jesus' staggering, upside down declaration of blessing on those we least expect. From Sunday 3rd May 2020.
In the first of our Questions in Crisis sessions, Rich opened up the theme of peace. Immediately followed by an interview with Zoe Yeo, a GP and a mum in north Birmingham.
Jonathan returns to the 'Beatitudes' to take a look at who is truly blessed. From Sunday 19th April 2020.
Just before lockdown, Jonathan delivered this talk at Churchcentral South, the fourth in our Foundations series. He shows us we all have a part to play, we can all belong, and urged us to use our gifts for the common good.
At our last Sunday gathering for some time back on March 15th, Owen considered how we can anchor ourselves in the word of God to find wisdom for the current Coronavirus challenge.
Jonathan opens up the famous "blessing statements", often known as the Beatitudes, in our third video message.
The audio of our Sunday video message for the 29th March. Jonathan Bell speaks to us from Matthew's gospel in our new series, and helps us zoom out and see the bigger stage that the Sermon On The Mount is set on.
Could this be a time where God awakens His church? As this mini-series comes to a close, Jonathan urges us to believe for great uprising of the Church of Jesus in our nation and the nations.
In Episode 4, Jonathan urges us to consider our use of time, and unveils three new simple resources coming down the pipeline to help us develop habits amidst the Coronavirus crisis that will bear fruit for years and decades to come.
Jonathan Bell's third reflection on the opportunities of this moment. In whatever way we can within the Government instructions, this is a time for churches to not cave inward but be creative, urgent and prayerful in reaching out.
Within the struggles, Jonathan urges us to embrace the opportunities of the Coronavirus situation. We have a chance, he says, to actually deepen our relationships, even in lockdown.
What will history say of the church in this Coronavirus crisis? Jonathan Bell brings the first of five thoughts to help us - in the midst of all the challenges - to take five huge opportunities as churches. First, will we seize this opportunity for self reflection?
As we move to video preaching for the foreseeable future, Rich kicks off our series on the Sermon On The Mount. Here's the audio.
This talk looks at the good news that God saves us and the amazing lengths that the Father, Son and Spirit have gone to in order to rescue us. It was given at CC North but never made it to CC West, for reasons that the little bonus introduction will make clear!
After looking at the story of God in different ways, Jonathan practically unpacks what steps we can take to truly belong in God's people. We see that each of us is crucial to God's kingdom here in Birmingham and see that every single one of us has a part to play.
We were thrilled to welcome guest speaker Adrian Hurst to bring us God's word at Churchcentral Together. By unpacking some plant imagery in the teaching of Jesus, he encouraged us to have faith for being pruned by God and faith for planting the love of Jesus in our city.
Following the step of faith to close our Christians Against Poverty Debt Centre, Owen shared the lessons we've learned over the last eight years and encourages us that God has more for us - not less! - in the whole area of reaching the marginalised in our city.
Following Dawn's talk, we were joined by Tim Brown for a time of open questions on the themes of caring, burnout, rest and more.
Whatever our faith, most of us desire to show care and love, over the long haul, to the people around us. But showing care and love is difficult and draining. How do we engage in caring for others without burning out? Dawn Keong shares her insights in this talk at a Churchcentral South Big Questions morning.
As we continue our look into the foundations of Churchcentral South, Jonny opens up the subject of mission. What are we here for as a church? What does God have for us? How do we play our part?
As we explore the big story of God at CC West & North, Jonathan helps us see the overarching story of God's church, from the beginning to the end of time. and invites us to take a next step in belonging in that story ourselves.
In the second of our Churchcentral South Foundations talks, Jonathan unpacks the whole subject of 'the church'. Where does the church come from? Where is the church heading? What does it look like to take a next step in our relationship to the church? Jonathan explores...
In this talk for Churchcentral West and North, Jonny takes us into another angle on the story of God, the story of God's mission. Could it be that there's a glorious job for us to join with in our Father's family business? (The start is missing, where Jonny asks us to imagine our dream job...)
In this series of Churchcentral South talks, we're looking at the truths that underpin everything we are and do as a church, our foundations. In this first talk, Rich shows us the foundation of all foundations, the gospel / the good news and invites us to respond.
Now that Churchcentral West is a church in it's own right, what does it look like for us to grow as a community? Jonathan unpacks some of the helps and hindrances to deep community and invites us to keep growing in this area.
Following the talk on change at CC South's Big Questions, Dr Barbara King opened up some of her insights into the process of change. Followed by Q+A.
As the initial optimism of New Year fades away, many of us realise (again!) that lasting change is difficult. As part of Churchcentral South's Big Questions morning on change, Rich looks at this and opens up some of the essentials of lasting change.
As Jonathan outlines some of the vision for Churchcentral South in the coming year, he invites us to a deeper discipleship to Jesus.
Misha Martin opens up the theme of race in the church during one of our Big Questions mornings at Churchcentral South.
Anxiety has become the air we breathe as 21st century humans. But is there a way of living free of it? The Bible's answer is Yes! Owen explains how.
As we celebrated the appointing of seven new elders across the three churches of Churchcentral, Jonathan unpacked Peter's instructions firstly to elders, and then to the rest of the church community. The recording is from the South eldership appointment.
With all the challenges of living as Christians in a culture that doesn't love Jesus, how are we to go about 'sharing our faith'? By giving an overview of Peter's thinking on this theme, Jonny urges us to consider not simply the importance of words, but of our lives.
Owen reflects on where we are at as Church Central West and what God is saying to us at this time. He also launches the Freedom in Christ course, with the help of others.
After an incredible life of ups and downs with Jesus, Peter uses this passage to give his distilled wisdom on living for God. Jonathan takes us through seven resolutions for us as individuals and as churches, as we follow Jesus in Birmingham.
The idea of suffering for our faith is something that, for Christians living in Britain in the late 20th/early 21st century, always seemed like something that happened to other people, in other places. However, in the present climate, it seems to be becoming a more immediate possibility. The same was true of the first readers of 1 Peter, and Peter’s advice to them is incredibly relevant to us today, especially the seemingly strange exhortation- to ‘be very glad’.
This passage of the Bible SEEMS to support slavery, the patriarchy and passivity in the face of corrupt rulers. How can this be good news for us today? Jonathan unpacks Peter's thinking, showing some crucial context and encouraging each of us to Christlikeness in the face of opposition.
As part of the Churchcentral South Big Questions morning, Karen shared two stories of disappointment from her life, and gave insights on what it has looked like to walk in the midst of those events. Followed by a Q+A session. Includes a story of suicide
How do we walk through the disappointments that come our way? What helps? What doesn't help? Rich explores as part of our Big Questions morning at Churchcentral South.
In these times, our culture is desperately cynical about leadership, and for good reason. Yet somewhere deep down, we also seem to be aching for something better, for good leadership. Here Jonathan unpacks to us our leadership options - the culture, religion, ourselves, or Jesus.
Recorded at the South prayer meeting, Jonathan gives an update on leadership at Churchcentral South, announcing proposed new elders while encouraging all of us to play our part. Apologies for the poor quality of the recording
Jonathan unveils the new proposed elders for Churchcentral West, shares some further important news, before turning to Mark's gospel and calling each of us to follow Jesus in this next season.
On any given day, our feelings about the church can be up and down. Sometimes we're loving it and sometimes it doesn't seem to be all that. But we don't want to live life by feelings, we want to live life by convictions. Rich helps us see four rock-solid beliefs we can stand on in the changing seasons of life in the church.
Living as Christians in exile is not for the half-hearted! In this passage Peter explains to us what it looks like in our day to day lives, and though at first glance, some of what he says may not look particularly inviting, Jonny explains why practical Christianity is just as wonderful as the salvation we celebrate.
Following the Big Questions talk, Becky and Eunice shared their stories of faith at University before a time of open questions.
With so much potential freedom, why would a modern student follow Jesus? Rich, teaming up with 3rd-year student Dan, shows us that Jesus offers life to the full, identity and a way to change the world. Part of Big Questions at Churchcentral South.
With so much noise generated world-wide around Jesus, many of us - if we're honest - just don't see what all the fuss is about. In this talk, Rich shows us that Jesus absolutely transforms our past, present and our future and is absolutely worthy of all the praise we could ever bring!
In a world of trouble and difficulty, what can we learn from Jesus' encounter with two disciples on the road to Emmaus? Andy helps us in his final message as part of Churchcentral before he and Heather head to their new adventure.
How do we live as Christians in a culture that doesn't understand our faith? As we launch into a brand new teaching series in the book of 1 Peter, Jonathan shows us how we can live beautifully for God, even in a moment like ours.
At the beginning of a busy term, it’s helpful to remember that our activity will be important but it will not be decisive. As the world pushes us towards anxiety, never ending consumption and ceaseless activity, Jonny looks at how we can build rhythms of stillness into our lives to powerfully declare that we are not God, God is God.
"If God sets the lonely in families, individualism sets the lonely in tribes". With isolation and loneliness at record levels as our culture creaks, Jonathan uses various passages to call us to something gloriously different, to true community.
So many of us are stuck in a pattern of comparison, where we look to our left and our right to find our place. Even though we know it's a desperate way to live, we can't seem to help ourselves. Looking at Gideon's unlikely journey in Judges 6, Rich shows us that the cure to living by comparison is living by calling.
Whatever our beliefs about life and God, we all face times of doubting those beliefs. What is the place of doubt in the life of a Christian? How does it relate to words like faith, unbelief, certainty, and trust? Jonathan opens up this theme and helps us navigate the doubts we face.
How do we become humble people? What does that even mean? Rich takes a look at three flavours of pride and shows how the Christian faith has the resources to create the truly humble people our world needs.
Despite all of our so-called progress, stats show that Western 21st century produces record levels of burnout, restlessness and exhaustion. Here Jonathan shows how the gospel of Jesus is the only hope for the deep rest we all long for.
Critical, finger-pointing, slow to think the best of others - it's not a great list! But, tragically, even the church of Jesus can fall into such graceless judgmentalism. By considering our past, our future, and who God is, Jonny helps us move instead towards a generosity of spirit.
The good news of Christianity is full to the brim of forgiveness. And yet in a world of outrage, as Christians we often fall short of our calling and fail to forgive as we have been forgiven. In this talk, Jonathan shows us how the gospel has the power to transform bitter people into forgiving people.
On Saturday morning, Jonathan shared some of the ways God has been using us as a church before looking to the future, and announcing two key bits of news for the next stage of our journey together...
Unity. Diversity. But for what? Andy showed us before we headed home, that God's goal for the church of Christ is that we'd join him in his purposes to fill the whole planet with his blessing.
As Jonathan taught in Talk 1, the church is to be one. But what SORT of oneness should we want to establish in Churchcentral? Rich explored Paul's genius image of church as 'the body', and unpacked its implications.
What sort of church do we want to be? Jonathan showed us that the church is to be united and challenged us that we each have a part to play in reaching that unity.
As the Blueprint series wraps up, Jonny helps us think through what godly wisdom looks like in families. Seeing that our families must be 'for' something bigger than themselves, we then saw how this applied to us as a church as well.
We've spent a term looking at God's blueprint for relationships but, the reality is, we live in a broken, fallen, sin-soaked world and not everything turns out how we'd hope. What do we do when things aren't going according to the plan? Jonathan explores.
Our vision is to see Jesus the most talked about person in Birmingham. In a climate with many challenges to our confidence in the Gospel, Paul’s opening chapter to the church in Rome has a number of encouragements for us as a West Site.
Each of us know the experience of seeing a marriage end in divorce. This can happen for so many reasons, and leave us with any number of questions and feelings. What does God's word say about divorce? How can we as a church help each other to experience God's grace, whatever our past experiences? Jonathan explores.
With all this talk of relationships, does God have anything to say to those who are single? Yes. Yes. YES! Rich takes us through the story of the Bible to show us God's blueprint for singleness, and invites all of us to hear the call of the God's kingdom, whatever our relationship status.
What makes a healthy marriage? And how can we grow as a church in seeing marriages be all they can be? Jonathan takes us back to God's blueprint and explores four features of a marriage relationship.
The search for freedom is a crucial part of the human story, but religion often seems to oppress, limit and restrict. At our South Site baptism service, Rich explored the question: "Does following the way of Jesus restrict you or free you?".
One of the most basic questions a human being can ask is 'who am I?'. As Jonny outlines a biblical picture of identity, he explains why we have to consider not just one, or even two, but three different identities, as we seek to understand who we are and who we could be. (Preached at West+North only).
There's a lie going around that says God is a grump, a killjoy, who loves to stop our fun. Nothing could be further from the picture the Bible paints. Jonathan starts our Blueprint series by exploring how sex itself was God's idea, and yet so often we end up distorting this good gift.
What does the resurrection of Jesus really mean? On Easter Sunday, Jonny shows us how Jesus beating the grave impacts our futures, the future of the universe and even our lives in the here and now.
The death of Jesus is the darkest day in the whole Christian story. How could it possibly be good news? Rich unpacks the New Testament idea that as Jesus is defeated on the cross, he's actually winning a far greater victory...
As part of our Good News series (and our Big Questions mornings), Jonny looked at the question of whether there's any evidence to support the claim that Jesus of Nazareth came back from the dead. NOTE: Final section of Jonny's talk has been left out, it contained personal stories not for online sharing.
Our lives, our cultures and our world are all shaped by stories. But what story are you living by? Could it be that in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, there's a better story for us, and for our city?
Have you got what it takes to endure serious hardship? We take a look at an essential question for all of us, in this final chapter of Daniel's life, and find that the one thing we need is freely available to all of us...
Two of the most noticeable things about Daniel are that he navigated life in exile brilliantly and that he had a disciplined, faith filled prayer life. In Daniel 9, we zoom in on what that prayer life looked like and get practical as to how we can order our private, devotional lives to be like Daniel.
In a time of transition and testing, our greatest need is to deeply encounter the powerful, personal presence of God. Here Jonathan unpacks the story of Moses in Exodus 33:1-18 and calls us to a radical renewal of our hunger for God.
What does it look like when a bunch of Spirit-Filled Christians come together to worship God? Paul shows here how this results in us being both a singing, and a submitting community. Owen applies it to the West site context.
As the people of God in a city and a culture like ours, how do we influence those around us for Jesus and genuinely make a difference? Jonathan explores by looking at Daniel's rise to a role of influence in Babylon.
In today’s chapter, we see God bring about an incredible change in the King of Babylon. But it was only possible because one of his people chose to participate in Babylon. Jonny opens up the amazing story we find in Daniel 4 and asks what we can learn from the incredible balancing act that Daniel plays as he faithfully serves God at the centre of Babylonian culture.
Living for God in 21st Century Birmingham brings real challenges and the same was certainly true for Daniel and his friends in Babylon. How do we remain faithful even in the fiery furnace of suffering? Jonathan explores.
We know the Holy Spirit is important but sometimes we can lack confidence in relating to Him and understanding how He works. Here we look at what the Bible says about Him, and at how we can be filled with the Spirit as individual Christians.
Following a talk on Brexit and the Christian faith, there was this time of question and answer.
Turn on the news any time in the last two years and there's pretty much one topic. What does the Christian faith say into the issue of Brexit? Rich explored.
In the disorientation of exile, two questions plagued the people of God - does God still rule here, and does God still act here? The same questions ring true in our day...
The Bible talks about church as family, but also as an army. In this all-age message, we consider what it means to fight as God’s soldiers, while having loads of fun dressing up!
How do we live well in a culture that discourages us from following God? Jonathan begins our EXILE series drawing on the example of Daniel and his friends.
Micah’s plea for social justice rings as true for our times as it did 700 years before the birth of Jesus. We take a snapshot of life in pre-exile Judah to see that God seeks for us to change the world for the better because of the amazing change that he’s brought about in us.
As part of our morning exploring Christmas as a refugee story, we hear about the God who becomes a refugee.
Never have the promises of God looked less likely to come true than at Christmas. Struggling to trust? Listen in.
As we finish up our series in Genesis 1-3, Jonny looks at the consequences of the sin of Adam and Eve, how it's impact is still felt today, and how Jesus comes to put right what they put wrong.
In a one-off talk, we dive into the consistent command of the New Testament, that people in the church should "love one another".
Church is not primarily an organisation, it’s a family, and like in any family, we need people of all different ages and stages to play their part. At ONE, Jonathan explored what that can look like in Churchcentral.
When you look around the world, our city, or even inside of us, it’s not hard to see that something’s not right in the world. Where did it all go wrong? Jonathan looks at the radically relevant words in Genesis chapter three to find out.
In this series, we’ve already seen so many deep and profound foundational truths about God, ourselves and our world. Today, Jonny pulls together some of these strands and asks: how practically should these things affect how we live? How can we, as those made in God’s image, bring order and life in the chaos?
Our society longs for authentic relationships and yet we seem to be more disconnected than ever. How do we get the relationships we're made for? Jonathan explores...
Oldbury-born Tyrone shares his powerful story of how he and his family were loved and helped through the local church. He also shares the vision behind CAP Life Skills, as it launches out of our West Site.
Four members of Churchcentral South speak into questions of faith and mental health from a range of professional and personal perspectives. Followed by the short time of open questions from the floor.
Mental illness is a live issue for all of us, be it personally, with those around us or in our society. What does God say about these issues? Rich speaks as part of the Big Questions morning at Churchcentral South Site.
What are you born to do? Why are you here? Rich takes us back to the first commands of God to humanity - known as the 'cultural mandate' - to explore what we're made to give our lives to.
In our culture today, there’s a hunger to discover “who we are”. What does the Bible say about that question? Going back to the beginning, Jonathan shows what the opening chapters of the Bible teach us about our identity.
Here we look at three prophetic commands to God’s people in the context of his growing kingdom and ask ourselves; how can we prepare for growth?
Jonny briefly introduces our guest Paul Rezkalla, before a time of open Q+A around the theme of ethics, morality and God.
What is a good person? How does God relate to that, if at all? What would it take for us to become "good people" and is that possible? Jonny explores.
Temples were vitally important in the ancient world across all sorts of different civilisations. In 2 Chronicles, we read about the building of the Jewish temple by Solomon. But there was no temple for Israel’s God before that, and certainly not one in Genesis 1-3. Or was there?
In a society that seems pretty lost right now, perhaps the best way forward is to go back to the start. What was the starting point of everything? How did it all begin? And what can we learn from that for today? Jonathan explores.
To get the most out of these famous but highly controversial chapters, we need to clear away a few obstacles. In our introduction to this series, Jonny Mellor and Liz Brown present us with all three chapters and some signposts to help us to hear from God most clearly in this series and beyond.
As a South Site, we want to grow in how we relate upwards (to God in prayer) and outwards (in witness to those who don't know Jesus). Listen to find out more.
Jesus calls his followers to let their light shine. Owen explains Churchcentral’s vision and how this is being outworked at West Site over the coming term.
What is the point of a worship time? How should it look? What is a "good" worship time? Where should spiritual gifts fit in? Jonathan explores in this stand-alone talk.
What happens when a lot of living sacrifices come together? This passage explains; we form the temple of God and serve as priests of God, resulting in others seeing the goodness of God. This has huge implications for how we each approach Sunday mornings.
Technical difficulties mean the quality of the recording is poor, apologies! What is thankfulness and why does it matter? What are the keys to becoming thankful? We explored these questions at our Baby Thanksgiving service.
If we’re going to persevere to the end in our faith, we have to have shepherds in our life. In this final talk in the series, we examine why we need shepherds, who they should be and what they do.
Through a miracle involving a monstrous catch of fish, Jesus demonstrated his power and, at the same time, called his first disciples to a life of being witnesses. How does this relate to how we live our lives?
How do we live now in light of the hope of a new heaven and earth? Failure to consider this crucial question deprives us of one of the main motivations provided by the New Testament for persevering through difficult times.
The Christian life is a battle and we have a magnificent champion who is standing in the "barley fields" of our lives, fighting our battles. Will we stand with him?
After the lofty heights of the previous 12 chapters, Hebrews 13 appears to be an anti-climax on first reading. However, as we dig beneath the surface, we catch a glimpse of a radical new kind of community, unlike anything else the world has ever seen.
The call to "live a holy life" sounds like the small print of the Christian 'deal', the rubbish bit we nod along with but struggle to find motivation for. What does holiness look like? And why should we care? Listen in.
There’s arguably never been a society with a lower pain threshold than ours. In today’s passage we learn the secret of persevering in faith when everything in us just wants to give up.
The 11th chapter of Hebrews is a challenge to what faith really looks like. It’s uncomfortable reading but it’s full of encouragements to help us. Faith means following God’s script for life no matter what the cost but this chapter shows us it’s worth it.
When God calls us to obey him unconditionally, it's scary because we often don't know where we're going... but we know with whom we're going. And that changes everything!
In light of all we’ve heard so far, how should be respond? This passage shows us that we have confident faith, hope & love, and that we need to persevere in light of the Day that is coming.
How should we as Christians relate to the Old Testament? It often seems confusing and includes commands that don't seem relevant. This talk offers three things you need to know to get the most out of the Old Testament.
None of us is faultless. All of us can be plagued by a fear of being found out. What can we do with our feelings of guilt? And how can we become a church where the amazing grace of Jesus is not just an idea we believe, but a reality we live in together?
Parenting is a huge privilege, but it can also feel like a roller-coaster of emotions. However, as Christians we are not alone and we have wisdom because of God and His word. This means we can train and instruct our children and learn to banish guilt from our parenting.
How do I know if I’m a genuine Christian? What do I do if I think I’ve committed the unforgivable sin? Is it possible to lose my salvation? Listen to this talk and find out all the answers!
You and I want to flourish as people, and God wants that for us too, but how does that happen? This talk explores the central importance of consuming, taking in and digesting spiritual truth, and how that fuels a healthy, growing Christian life.
Forgiveness is such an important foundation for any Christian and for any church community. Here we see 5 common mistakes Christians make in this area & how Jesus calls us and helps us to forgive.
According to the writer to the Hebrews, understanding the significance of Melchizedek will strengthen your faith and increase your love for Jesus. In this talk we learn how understanding about this lesser known Bible character is actually a clear sign of spiritual maturity!
Jesus is our Great High Priest. Because of him we can approach God's throne of grace with boldness. Great news! However, it does raise some big questions- why couldn't we approach God's throne with boldness anyway? Why do we need a great High Priest at all? And why is this whole subject so important both in the letter to the Hebrews and to us today?
The writer to the Hebrews spells out the way to find true rest. However, in the busyness of life we could very easily fail to experience it. In this talk we discover how to ensure we live in the good of the rest that Jesus offers us all.
Jesus appears to his disciples and greets them by saying ‘Peace be with you’ but this is more than a greeting, it is a statement of what has been achieved through his death and resurrection.
The writer to the Hebrews warns us that if we harden our hearts, the consequences could be disastrous. But how do we do this? We hold on to faith in Jesus and also to hope in Jesus.
The writer to the Hebrews throws out a stunning invitation and a sobering warning. What we learn in this sermon is that both are highly relevant for us today.
At the centre of the whole Bible, is this question: ‘Do you love Jesus?’. In this passage, the writer to the Hebrews seeks to grow our love by painting a glorious, technicolour picture of the Son of God.
Hebrews is written to a bunch of people who were considering walking away from their faith. In today’s passage we get five compelling reasons to keep on wholeheartedly following Jesus.
The writer to the Hebrews starts off his letter by telling us that Jesus is greater than angels, and by doing so, he shows us of a number of things about Jesus that make him totally amazing. Jonny highlights three of them.
God’s kingdom always shows itself in power because God’s power is limitless. He is committed to healing people today. We need to walk through disappointment in this area and respond with faith & obedience.
Before Rich's talk on authenticity and social media, we heard the thoughts of Alex, Russ and Jess as they shared their experiences, likes and dislikes of social media.
A combined recording of the two South Site Q+A sessions following Rich's talk "Is Authenticity Possible In The Age Of Social Media?".
In the age of profile pictures and Instagram feeds, is it truly possible to live authentically? What would that look like and where can we find the courage to dare to live without the filter?
Following Jesus can be costly and involve a lot of sacrifice. However, the first few verses of Hebrews lay out why we’d be wise to take the words of Jesus seriously and obey them wholeheartedly.
The only people suitable to represent Jesus are the lowly, the humble, the self-denying. Here Jesus sets a pattern for our lives together as the community of God’s kingdom: ‘go low’ to serve and bless others.
2017 has been a year of discredited heroes. Harvey Weinstein. Kevin Spacey. Robinho. Samson seems like an ancient equivalent- his achievements cancelled out by some serious moral flaws. If there was a statue of Samson in your city, would you campaign to have it torn down? If not, what can we learn from such a compromised hero?
There are important lessons to learn from one of the darkest stories in the Bible. Through this harrowing passage, we get a glimpse into the glorious grace of God
The Q+A sessions after both our South Site Big Questions services are combined in this recording, after Jonathan's talks on "Why are Christians so hypocritical and judgmental?"
Why should I be interested in Christianity when followers of Jesus have so often been hypocrites? How do we account for the fact that the church through history has fallen short so many times? This talk explores by looking at Jesus' response to hypocrisy.
At our South Site's monthly Big Questions morning, Gemma courageously tells her story of coming to follow Jesus, against a painful backdrop of hurt at the hands of Christians...
If we fully grasp the wonder of what we’re celebrating at Christmas, it will have a profound impact on every area of our lives.
The church is the community of God’s Kingdom. Our life together is a demonstration of the good news and a foreshadow of that which is to come when Jesus returns. Through practising hospitality we invite people into an experience of the grace of God and reflect the fact that he has called us from the outside into his household, where he has prepared a place for us at his table.
In the story of Abimelech, we see a new enemy arise to challenge Israel. That enemy is Israel! By the end of Judges, infighting will have done much more damage to the people of God than external oppressors. How can we make sure that we avoid repeating this scenario in the church today?
After a talk addressing "How can anyone claim there's only one true religion?", we opened things up to the room to take questions.
In our Big Questions morning exploring "How can anyone claim there's just one true religion?", Sanju, a former Hindu now part of Churchcentral, shares his experiences around this theme...
In our beautiful, diverse city (and with tensions on the world stage right now), is it not arrogant and divisive to claim one religious conviction is superior to another? Rich explores in this talk.
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the need around us. But, in this talk, we see God’s solution. Ultimately, God’s design is for Birmingham to see his wisdom displayed in all its rich variety through the church.
Sometimes you’ll never know God’s all you need until he’s all you have. What we learn from the example of Gideon is that our weakness can often be our greatest advantage.
What are you looking forward to? When you look at the future, do you see reason for hope? As Christians we have a solid and secure foundation for hope, based on what God has said and done. As a church and a site, God has a bright future for us. How do we get there? Owen shares...
In a time of open questions, Jonny Mellor and James Ashley (MSci in Human Evolution) address a number of issues related to Jonny's talk 'Has Science Buried God?'.
Are science and religion in conflict? Are their contradictions between modern science and the Christian faith? What about the Big Bang Theory and Darwin's Theory of Evolution? Jonny explores with the help from some friends...
As Christians we know Jesus has set us free! Yet we all find it hard to live in that freedom day to day. Why is that? How can I break free? The story of the Israelites - and our first glimpse of Gideon - in Judges 6 provide the answers.
In this talk we learn how God works through our weaknesses so that, through our dependence on him, all glory goes to him.
The first judge of ‘The Judges’ is Othniel. In this short synopsis of his career, we see a template of all that is to come, but also we are confronted with a story of sin, slavery and deliverance that summarises the universal Christian message, and a picture of what ‘sin’ actually is that shows why God thinks it is such a big deal.
This talk shows the crucial importance of remembering what God has done… and living consistently. As we see in the story of Judges, the consequences of forgetfulness are simply disastrous!
If you wrestle with issues relating to God you are probably on the right track to getting to grips with truth. So how can we wrestle with God for all of the gifts he promises? Why is the example of a mustard seed used to describe the Kingdom of God and how can these ideas enable us to begin to be fruitful?
After the talk on the theme of suffering, we opened up to questions via text and from the floor. This recording is a combination of the Q+A time from both of our South Site meetings that morning.
Suffering isn't simply a philosophical issue, it's a personal one. We interviewed Carol and Esther in our two South Site meetings to see how their stories have intertwined with the theme of the morning, how a loving God could allow so much suffering.
Every human being asks big questions about life, faith and God. Here, we explore perhaps the biggest question of all, why a loving God would allow so much pain and suffering the the world.
In Philippi, violence erupts against Paul and his friends. It is a violence that is always lurking under the surface in the world around us, and as Paul responded into this atmosphere of violence and aggression with a completely different spirit, so we should do the same- not being overcome by evil but overcoming evil with good.
When Paul became a Christian, he was called to bring Jesus to Jews and to Gentiles, but also specifically to kings. As we go through Acts, Luke shows how this works out in practice and in today’s passage we see the first fruit of this calling. But all this raises the question- how should Christians today relate to people of influence and should we try to seek influence ourselves? Are we called to kings today?
The book of Acts ends on a bit of a cliff-hanger, largely because the story isn’t yet ended. The story goes on through us! In this talk we learn how we can effectively play our part in writing the next chapter.
Luke presents Paul’s journey to Jerusalem very like he presents someone else’s journey towards the same city in Acts’ eponymous prequel. However, whereas the previous journey had, in a sense, ended there, Paul gets to go further- onward to Rome. Jonny looks at how this principle of ‘going further’ affects us all in our Christian lives.
Do you want to know how to handle difficulty, trouble, suffering and pain? Well, the way Paul deals with his storm provides a number of pointers to help us deal with the storms we face in life.
This passage shows us quite simply why Jesus left heaven and came to earth. It’s his mission statement, from which we learn that he came to transform people’s identity & destiny.
Jesus’ saying quoted in Acts 20:35 has often been taken to be a nice platitude or more recently a cute meme. It’s neither of these things. It urges us to a radical, counter cultural way to live that God expects us both to take seriously and to seek his power to fulfil in our lives.
The whole story of the Bible is God challenging us in and rescuing us from our worship of false gods – so that we’d return to him as God. However, our natural reaction is often to resist violently.
We’re surrounded by idolatry. This talk appeals for us to see our city through ‘gospel eyes’. We’re to love people too much to leave the city; and we’re to love them too much to leave them in their idols.
As Paul & Silas set off to deliver the council of Jerusalem letter to the churches in Galatia, we learn the importance of resolving conflict well, the importance of credibility on our mission, and the necessity for us to hear the Gospel again and again so that our hearts can be strengthened by grace.
As with any good box set, the season starts with much drama as well as new characters & new adventures. In this mini-binge, we are looking at the first 4 episodes, where we will see that the church needs the Gospel as much as the world, and the world needs the power of the Spirit as much as the church.
This chapter is at the heart of Acts and is at the heart of the gospel - grace alone, but this has implications for the growing church and for us today.
In this talk we unpack a really helpful story that illustrates how to share our faith to people who share none of our beliefs.
Jesus frames the beginning and end of His ministry on earth by talking about the Kingdom of God. In this first session of the Weekend Away, Jonathan helps us get to grips with what the Kingdom of God is and what it actually means to live in it in the here and now.
How, as citizens of the kingdom of God, do we relate to the kingdom of the world? Jonny finishes the weeekend by unpacking Paul's instructions to live as ambassadors and explains that to fulfil this role, we must know our King, but also understand the world we live in.
The Church is to be the demonstration of God's rule on earth. It is so much more than attending meetings! Our life together can show the world their is another way to live! Andy unpacks this in our second session.
We talk a lot about God sending his power to us. But what does that look like? In this talk we get to see five defining marks of what happens when the power of God comes on a community.
The filling of the Holy Spirit is a recurring theme in the book of Acts but what is it and does it matter?
We have a chance to demonstrate a depth of multi-cultural unity that magnifies the power of the gospel in our city. The key question is whether we’re willing to say ‘yes’ to God.
In Acts 9, we come to a key turning point in the book of Acts. In fact, we come to a key turning point in history. In Saul’s conversion, we see the author of the story moving along the plot quite dramatically in his intended direction. Jonny explores how this event serves as a picture of what He is doing all the time as He continues to write His story.
Christianity is way more exclusive and way more inclusive than perhaps you’d expect. In this talk we learn how it can not only be both, but how one inevitably leads to the other!
When the gospel lands in a life, it’s meant to result in much joy! But, like Simon in Acts 8, we often fall for two classic joy-blockers that hold us back on the journey to joy. Here, Rich highlights those joy-blockers and points to the truths that obliterate them!
In this talk we learn the secret of handling seasons of suffering with courage and hope.
Everything is going well for the early church. The word is spreading. The number of disciples is increasing. But here an internal problem arises – Discrimination. It threatens the unity & justice of God’s fledgling New Community. How the church responded however is a model for us as to how we should respond to discrimination today, however subtle it may be.
In 2 Timothy 2:8 Paul says that Jesus risen from the dead is good news. But why? We need to go back to the garden of Eden to understand the full meaning of the good news and follow the story from there.
Jesus spoke of giving up everything to follow him – taking up our cross, dying to ourselves and living for him as Lord of every area of our lives. The key question is: ‘Is it worth it?’ In this talk we not only find the answer to that question, but also the source of courage!
When God comes near, people get healed, communities get knit together and Christians get bold. Also, sin gets called out. Jonny addresses 3 questions this passage raises and encourages us to treat sin fearfully. To read more on this, check out our sermon+ post: https://churchcentral.wordpress.com/2017/04/05/if-god-punishes-christians-for-their-sin-doesnt-it-belittle-what-jesus-did-on-the-cross-sermon/
It’s healthy, every now and again, to examine whether or not you’re living in a way consistent to what you claim to believe. In this message we go back to the origins of the church in the book of Acts and explore what authentic, real Christianity looks like.
After the glorious heights of the first few chapters, things take a darker turn as persecution enters the story of the church. As Peter and John are arrested and questioned, what can we learn from their experiences? And how can we be transformed to live like them in our day?
Why do The River? Why give an extended evening to meeting with God? This clip from Andy Martin's sermon "Don't Miss This!" helps us.
If you’ve ever struggled with motivation in your prayer life, it could be that you’ve had too small a view of God and his mission in the world. The church in Acts saw breath-taking answers to prayer. In this talk we learn from them and gain a crucial insight into how to pray with power.
As we come across the first healing miracle in Acts, Jonny looks at another foundation of the revolution: miracles. Some Christians have no expectation of miracles nowadays, others seem to expect them all the time, but perhaps there is a middle way! Please listen to this alongside the accompanying blog that clarifies a couple of points https://churchcentral.wordpress.com/2017/03/24/jonnys-talk-on-miracles-questions-answers-and-apologies/
If you miss a scene in a film it can be hard to follow the rest of the story. It is the same with Acts chapter 2. With the coming of the Holy Spirit everything changes in the Big Story of God rescuing the world.
Where the individualism in our culture breeds loneliness, the church can be a place of healing. The first church has much to teach us about how to experience genuine community today.
In this talk we look at the crucial role of the power of the Holy Spirit in the life of the first church… and, by implication, in our lives too!
When Jesus ascended to heaven, the disciples took on a new role. No longer were they the guys who followed Jesus around. Now, they were the witnesses of the resurrection! Jonny explores today how we, like them, can have a confident conviction in the historical reality of the resurrection of Jesus, and also like them, can build upon this foundation with lives that change the world!
These opening verses in Acts provide the explanation for the conviction, passion and determination of the first church to share Christ with the world whatever the consequences. In this sermon, Jonathan argues that the great need of our day is an awakening in the church to the power of the message we believe.
Jesus gave up his body willingly because he knew God had a plan, to give him a new body that would continue his ministry on earth. That’s us, the church of Jesus; the Body of Christ. It’s important that we find our place in the body through getting to know the Holy Spirit, discovering our gifts, and playing our part.
The early church experienced phenomenal multiplication. But preceding the call to ‘go’ was the invitation to ‘come’. This sermon explains our reason for existing as a church and is an appeal to prioritise devotion to Jesus above all else!
In these verses Paul is praying for the churches in Ephesus and the wider region. The social and cultural issues Jesus' followers were living in were not that dissimilar to the ones we face today. What was Paul's passion and prayer for the church and how it should live and what can we learn for the 21st Century?
As we finish Paul's letter to the Colossians church, we see far more than just the end credits! The tone of Paul's final greetings and instructions is a tone that has been present throughout the whole letter: it is a tone of both family and mission. However, these two values are not in tension as many may imagine, but feed each other necessarily. Jonny encourages us to set the same tone at Churchcentral.
We know evangelism is good and right, but so often we don't feel it. In this talk, we seek to get our thinking right about three tensions in evangelism, as ewe see what Paul calls the Colossians to do with this glorious gospel.
Nothing reveals our need for grace like the relationship between children and their parents. We all get this wrong at times, but Paul encourages us not to give up in trying to live in the good of God’s perfect plan for family life.
What is this? The 1950s! Who would take such an instruction seriously today? Well, Jonny and Jemma Mellor would be two such examples! They talk through how they’ve tried to live out God’s instructions in this area and how, although they’ve both struggled with this kind of teaching in different ways, they’ve discovered God’s wisdom as they’ve looked to faithfully live out leadership and submission in their marriage.
In this talk we learn how the gospel absolutely changes your life – not merely in spite of God’s grace, but because of it!
The letter to the Colossians was written in response to a problem: there were other voices speaking into the church leading them away from the gospel. These voices had one overriding message- Jesus isn't enough. He's not enough to make you happy. Not enough to make you wise and not enough to make you holy. This whole letter is a response to this and for the first time, in today's passage. Paul hits these voices head on.
The desire for identity never goes away. This talk will both help you work out where you’re currently finding your identity and also challenge you not to settle for defining yourself in really limited, finite ways.
In this message we learn the vital part we have to play in God’s eternal plan for the world!
Believing things that aren’t true has real implications in your life. That’s why Paul longs for the Colossians not to be deluded! We explore two themes that even the most fruitful and faithful Christians can be off-track on and hear God, through Paul, calling us back to clarity and confidence.
If we were starting a letter to a group of people we'd never met before, we might like to kick things off with some pleasantries and a warm hello. Not so Paul! The introduction to his letter to the Colossian church powerfully lays out the gospel that has come to this church and to all Christian ever since. Jonny picks out 3 things that Paul highlights about this amazing gospel.
In this talk Jonathan commissions us to go with fresh confidence in the gospel, a fresh sense of the part we have to play, and a fresh motivation – not one of duty or pressure, but of hope!
All of us have doubts about faith at some point. Psalm 73 provides an incredible model for dealing with doubt in a positive way. Through being real about his doubts, the psalmist uses them to move to a whole new level of faith.
Everyone wants to be wise. Wisdom seems to be one of the most universally appealing characteristics that there is. However, the Bible makes it clear that there is only one way to get on to the path of wisdom and it’s not quite so unanimously popular: to get wise we must learn to fear God.
Contentment is a hugely attractive thing but it's also elusive. Looking at some of Paul's words from prison, we see how to take hold of an indestructible contentment that can be ours whatever the circumstance.
Wish you were here...? There are probably hundreds of ways we could respond to this question with answers ranging from financial security to family well being to holiday locations! This week we are going to answer it from God's perspective - where does he want us (and all of His creation) to be? In 2 Corinthians 4 Paul makes it clear what the churches perspective should be when it comes to where we long to be.
Wish you were here...? There are probably hundreds of ways we could respond to this question with answers ranging from financial security to family well being to holiday locations! This week we are going to answer it from God's perspective - where does he want us (and all of His creation) to be? In 2 Corinthians 4 Paul makes it clear what the churches perspective should be when it comes to where we long to be.
The story about Elisha and the young prophet who lost the axe-head provides two helpful lessons about how we get our edge back.
In this passage God multiplies oil supernaturally to help a widow. Yet another miracle! In fact, it’s hard to find a passage in this series where there isn’t a miracle. Therefore, today, Jonny zooms out to ask the vital question- do we really believe that miracles can happen? Even today? And if so, how?
In this talk we look at faith that’s not just effective, but active; faith that so believes that God’s going to act that we demonstrate faith in action.
Whether you realise it or not, there is a call of God on your life. In this sermon we learn from Elisha how to respond in faith to what God’s called us to do.
Elijah was a man who made a mark and left a legacy. As his life ends (kind of!) we see that legacy, and it is not just a legacy of famous deeds and mighty miracles, but it's a legacy of people. Jonny explores how we can learn from Elijah in this by rejecting the lone ranger method of changing the world, and look to make our mark by investing in those around us.
Birmingham is one of the most diverse communities in the UK but what does it mean to love the whole city - especially when there are so many cultural and social differences? In Acts Chapter 10, the Holy Spirit shows Peter how the gospel overcomes barriers and takes Peter out of his comfort zone. We need to do the same and the Holy Spirit will help us as we do so.
In this highly practical sermon we learn from how Elijah ended up depressed and the holistic approach God used to strengthen him.
James 5:17-18 makes it very clear that Elijah isn't a spiritual superhero to gawp at, but an example to emulate. While our exploits of faith may look very different to his, we too are called to walk in his footsteps to advance God's kingdom in our lives and the key way we can do that is by putting prayer at the centre of our lives, as he did.
Ultimately, everybody believes that their view of the truth is the right one. In this talk we examine how to separate truth from fiction.
As Elijah gears up for his return to public ministry in Israel, he encounters a tragedy and responds with incredible kindness. What he models is a challenge to all of us to act the same: to keep our eyes open to the need around us and respond with kindness- a costly, selfless, compassionate kindness that is totally at odds with the expectations of the society around us.
There’s so much more God wants to do in you, because there’s so much more he wants to do through you! In this talk we learn how Elijah developed humility, obedience, faith and perseverance.
Parents have a vital role in training and instructing their kids. In this talk we look at how best to do this, without exasperating our kids in the process!
This week we reach the end of our series in Luke. Like any author Luke finishes his story with important information he wants his readers to hear. Jesus has risen, he is the messiah and no power can defeat him but what happens next is surprising!
If we understand the resurrection the way the disciples did, we’ll be moved from absolute terror to incredible joy; but we certainly won’t be comfortable! In this talk we explore the difference it makes to our thinking, the way we live and how we feel about everything.
What do we get from the resurrection? While there are loads of things we gain from Jesus rising again, the key thing is that we get Jesus himself. Today, Jonny explores an occasion when two disciples discover this for the first time and asks whether we too need our eyes opened to see Jesus for who he really is- One to be valued for who he is not just for what he can do for us.
If the resurrection really did happen, then it pushes us to beyond simply believing some stuff, it changes absolutely everything! In this talk we explore a few of the implications of believing Jesus is alive today.
In the lead up to Jesus' death, we've looked at many different aspects of this pivotal event in human history, but as we look at the moment when he breathed his last, Jonny hones in on his final words. Jesus died as he'd lived and as he wants us to live - with a simple trust in his Father.
As we follow Jesus to the cross we can see many aspects of the amazing gospel and what Jesus endured in order for us to receive forgiveness and our relationship with God to be restored. But there is also provocation as Jesus calls us to follow him in laying our lives down for others.
In this talk we learn from three separate episodes where Jesus experienced rejection. They teach us about the darkness in our own hearts and reveal what Jesus came to do about it.
In order to get faith for the journey ahead, it can be helpful to pause and remember what God has done already. In this talk, Jonathan looks back over the last year and shares some stories of God’s goodness to encourage us to keep going!
Jesus does not always fit expectations of what a saviour should be. This was the case for the Pharisees and can still be the case today. We need to let Jesus define who he is and what he does. When we do, the gospel is even more good news.
In today’s passage Jesus heals 10 lepers and only one returns to thank him. Rather than serving as a gentle encouragement to say thank you to people who are nice to us, Jesus wants to ask all of us the same question he asks of these absent lepers- where are you? Are we overcome by gratitude and worship at Jesus’ feet or elsewhere, busying ourselves with religious activity.
It can be a real struggle to forgive others. In this deeply challenging passage, Jesus shows how faith in him frees us to forgive radically and live generously.
Today's passage throws up all sorts of issues- from the interpretation of the Old Testament to divorce and remarriage- however it's main thrust lays down a serious challenge for us all. Will we just look the part or press forcefully into Jesus?
Nowadays it's inappropriate to say that anyone's going to hell. But the doctrine of hell actually provides the greatest comfort to anybody who hears it!
Sadly, the world is a lot shrewder than a lot of Christians when it comes to planning for the future. If you want to make some financial investments that are guaranteed to pay dividends, then this message is not to be missed!
Jesus tells three famous stories that challenge the way we think about ourselves and the people around us. More importantly, it helps us see Jesus for who he is and explains the extreme reactions to him that we find in the Gospels. If you want to see and savour Jesus in a fresh way, then this message is for you!
Hate your nearest and dearest. Carry your cross. Give everything away. It would be hard to imagine a more controversial passage! Jonny unpacks these difficult sayings to help us understand the radical lives that Jesus expected of his followers in the 1st century and still expects of us today.
We can all get a bit of a big head at times. All of us are tempted to puff ourselves up and push ourselves forward. It's a spiritual sickness with very nasty side effects. In today's passage, Jesus acquaints us with this condition, how you catch it, its symptoms and most importantly how to cure it.
In Luke 11-13 Jesus has given many warnings not to reject His Kingdom. Here we see the lengths that the King is prepared to go to in order to rescue us, and the sorrow He personally feels over those that refuse to be rescued.
God’s kingdom is both wider and narrower than most people think! In this talk we see Jesus providing an incredible invitation to those who are outside and a sobering warning to those who think they’re inside.
Amidst all the uncertainties in life, there are two unavoidable appointments awaiting us all. Jesus warns us to do all we can to be prepared in advance!
Jesus prepares us for the conflict that accompanies resolving to follow him. In this message we explore why conflict is inevitable and how we should view it.
There are two ways to live- we can 'take life easy, eat, drink and be merry' or we can 'be ready'!' Today, Jonny looks at how and why we need to do the latter.
The things you are most devoted to tend to be the things you worry about the most. The solution to your worry isn’t trying harder to stop worrying, or merely pretending the problems have gone away – the ultimate direction is redirecting your devotion.
Jesus shows us two ways to find financial security – one that’s doomed to failure; the other is guaranteed to be a success! Which one will you choose?
This talk highlights the fact that your relationship with God was never meant to be private. The more private you make your struggles and your walk with Christ the more religious you become. And the more public you’re able to walk in your relationship with Christ – the more sin loses its power over you, because Christ is present in your life.
The light of God in Christ is continually shining into our lives. How we react is the crucial thing. This talk contains both a stark warning and a stunning offer.
In the Lord’s Prayer Jesus teaches us what to pray, here he teaches us how to pray. What two words would you use to describe your prayer life? Jesus want us to pray with shameless persistence, confident in our heavenly Father’s desire to hear, answer and give us what we need. If we can learn to persist in prayer, it will do us much good, and change the world.
Matt Partridge from Emmanuel Church Oxford joins Churchcentral for our ONE church together event to talk about the practicalities of what it means to be on mission together as a church.
Making sure the centre is the centre - Luke Part 43. Luke 11:2 by Churchcentral Birmingham
Which do you relate to more out of the two sisters, Martha or Mary? Is this about personality types, or something more significant? From Jesus’ response it’s clear that Martha prioritised her culture, whereas Mary prioritised her hunger. We have a similar choice to make in our priorities. If we hunger after God, whatever the cost, and make him our ‘portion’, it will not be taken away from us!
In Luke’s gospel, the question ‘who is Jesus?’ has loomed large in the last 5 chapters. Finally, in this passage Peter gives us the answer- ‘you are Messiah sent from God’. But what’s the big deal? Why is this declaration so important and why has it taken the disciples so long to come to this conclusion? In this talk, Jonny looks at these questions and asks what it means to accept Jesus as your only hope today.
The feeding of the 5000 is quite some miracle. However it would never happened if Jesus hadn’t done an apparently simple thing- he welcomed the crowds. The disciples would have sent them away. As we look for God to do great miracles through us, this same crucial question remains: will we welcome the crowds or send them away?
Jesus has called us and sent us out, but he hasn’t sent us empty handed. We are sent in his own authority and with his own power, we are invited on His mission and given an eternal purpose, and we are entrusted with a life changing message that demands a response.
In today's passage, we see once again how crucial faith is in allowing us to receive Jesus' limitless power. But what we also see is that faith is not simply a mental exercise, but it shows itself in radical, vigorous action. This is the faith that released Jesus' power to Jairus and the bleeding woman, and it is the faith that releases his power to us today.
We suffer from information overload. Subconsciously, we’re constantly sifting the messages we receive and we only act on the ones we think are most important. With this in mind, how should we train ourselves to hear God’s word?
Whenever God speaks to us, we face a challenge: Am I simply going to listen, but go away the same as I was before? Or am I going to hold onto what I hear and apply it to how I live my life? Because, Jesus promises that if we use what God’s given us, it’ll increase. But if we don’t do anything with it, we’ll find that even what we thought we had will be blown away.
The most ardent moralist and the most passionate sinner are both looking for freedom! The moral person concludes that I can find freedom and fullness of life if I keep the rules. The immoral person concludes that I can find freedom and fullness of life if I break all the rules. Both are wrong! Both have embarked on burdensome salvation projects. Both are depending on themselves to deliver the freedom and fullness of life that they’re desperate for. And Jesus, in this story, comes with the power to set both free.
All of us have a perspective on life; parameters that define what we accept and what we reject. Jesus addresses a crowd that contained people with two differing perspectives; one allowed them to understand and accept the message of John the Baptist and Jesus, the other didn't.
John the Baptist was described by Jesus as one of the greatest men ever born – yet even he grappled with doubts about Jesus. As we observe what John did with his doubts and how Jesus responded to him, we get a phenomenal insight into how to handle our doubts today.
In today's passage, we see two crowds collide, one a crowd of joy and hope, the other a crowd of tragedy and despair. In the mighty miracle that follows, we see a wonderful picture of the good news of the kingdom of God and an encouragement that Jesus really can cut it when he crashes head on into the real world.
There are only two occasions in the Gospels where we’re told that Jesus was amazed – and both times it was related to faith. As we’re exposed to the faith of a Roman Centurion, we’ll discover just what it takes to have amazing faith.
So Jesus has started his new community, but how are they going to live? Today we look at his first moral instruction to his apostles. Is he going to go in gently and give them something easy to try out? Far from it! 'Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you...' Three questions spring to mind: 'What?', 'How?' and 'Why?'
Do you want to know the blessing of God on your life? If so, Jesus spells out what we need to do. But he doesn’t go along with conventional wisdom. He takes everything we’re taught to believe and turns it completely on its head. If we can get past the shocking nature of his words, they have the power to totally transform our lives.
When Jesus was present, people flocked in their droves to hear him and be healed. How much can we expect the same things today?
Luke has served us up a feast so far! Its been Jesus, Jesus, Jesus! Miracles. Forgiveness. Excitement. Intrigue. Now, suddenly, he decides it’s fitting to divert our attention to 12 very ordinary blokes instead. However, what could be seen as a most unwelcome plot diversion, is actually a moment of startling importance, as Jesus lays the foundation stones of the Christian church. As you’ll see, he’s excited about his church. Are you?
Seeing Jesus as Lord and viewing our lives in the context of God’s big story frees us to enjoy God’s gracious provision of a day of rest every week.
Jesus said that to follow him someone must 'deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me' (Mk 8:34) but in 1 Tim 6:17 Paul encourages us to put our ‘hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.’ So which is it? Is Christianity all about self denial or is it all about enjoyment and pleasure? Jonny continues our series on Luke to explain Jesus' answer to this question.
If you could ask one question and get it answered, what would you ask? Without wishing to downplay any of the questions we’re grappling with, Paul refocuses our attention onto the main thing; the thing of greatest importance.
Jesus shocked people by accepting an invitation to a party with a bunch of notorious sinners. Those who criticised him missed the point that his grace has to be big enough for everyone, or it’s not big enough for anyone!
It’s a familiar story, but we could easily miss the significance of what happens. As we dig beneath the surface, we get a fascinating insight into the kind of people Jesus calls, the reason he calls us and the most appropriate response to him.
Jesus’ authority amazed people. It shone through his teaching and it was demonstrated in his miracles. He carried himself with authority and he acted with authority. What is perhaps even more amazing though is that he gives his authority to us. Therefore, it is vital that we get hold of this authority that we’ve been given and learn to exercise it appropriately in our lives.
With the coming of Jesus, a radically new way of defining the people of God is set in motion. He thought it was good news… his audience begged to differ. Our preconceived ideas of what Jesus should be doing mean that we too could end up missing him completely.
What kind of 'Son of God' is Jesus? A son of God like Adam? A son of God like Israel? Luke is eager to leave us with no doubts that Jesus is a very different 'Son of God' to any who had carried this title before him and we mustn't miss the massive implications this has on our own sonship.
Despite the fact that crowds of people not only gathered round Jesus, but also seemingly repented and confessed love for him – when all is said and done, there are only 120 people left in an upper room. John the Baptist provides us with a helpful framework for assessing where we stand with Jesus.
Jesus had a relationship with his Father that’s beyond, different and deeper than anyone else ever had… And now he offers it to us. In this talk Jonathan helps us understand and experience the radical power of this relationship in our day to day lives.
Looking at the examples of Zechariah, David, Paul, the Samaritan woman and the rich young man we learn that God’s aim when things don’t go according to our plan for our lives is always that we would see and know him more. If we choose to press into him, it will ultimately result in us experiencing more joy.
Joseph and Mary visit Jerusalem to fulfill the requirements of the law, yet, while there, they bump head on into the Holy Spirit. Here we have a wonderful picture of what Christianity is all about, its not about doing what we have to, its about meeting God and chasing after his presence.
Through the people and the events surrounding Jesus’ birth we get a big picture view of the nature and purposes of God; his majesty, his kingship and authority, his identification with us through Jesus and his desire to save a broken and sinful people.
Mary’s in a season of life where she has a lot to worry about. But rather than worrying, we find her worshipping. Instead of focussing on her situation, she chooses to focus on God… and that changes everything!
Dave Devenish takes us through Genesis chapters 10 and 11 which provide for us a biblical world view of race and of culture, answering; who are we? where are we? what's wrong? and what is the solution?
What do we do with the promises of God when they seem impossible? Luke provides us with two ways of responding – one good, one bad!
20th century archaeologist William Ramsay described Luke as “a historian of the first rank. . . . This author should be placed along with the very greatest of historians.” Rather than dismissing Jesus, we really do owe it to ourselves to examine the facts. Luke is a great place to start!
Martin White from The Crown church speaks from the book of Numbers about the Israelite's rebellion, their encounter with venomous snakes, their rescue from death and what the significance is for us today.
As Christians, we know what we have been saved from, but do we know as much about what we have been saved for? We know that God is a God of rescue, but this rescue is for a purpose - not now for rules - but for relationship.
At some point in our life we hit a moment where we don't understand what God's doing. What happens when we refuse to be honest with God and our friends about where we are, what we're thinking and what we're feeling?
Inspection, Inspiration, Mobilisation - Nehemiah Part 3 - Nehemiah 2:9 - 3:16 by Churchcentral Birmingham
Message Received Now What? - Nehemiah Part 1 Nehemiah 1 v 1-4 by Churchcentral Birmingham
"Who am I?" - a question that Moses asked... and the wrong one. "Who is God?" - this is all we need to know
The person God delights to honour - Esther Part 6 Esther 5 & 6 by Churchcentral Birmingham
While Esther's life in the palace was God-ordained, it was also highly dangerous. Will she do the right thing?
Comparing and contrasting the murderous kiss of the traitor Judas with the grateful, humble kisses of a sinful woman
Taking responsibility while trusting in God's goodness and remembering the importance the support of God's people.
When your circumstances in life crown in on you, keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. He sees the bigger picture and has been at work behind the scenes,
Do not over-emphasise the importance of superficial beauty - the Lord looks at the heart.
Jesus provides a two word solution to the problem of pain, but you're probably not going to like it...until Jonathan provides an explanation, that is!
Even the most fearsome enemies can be reduced to nothing by faith in God, prayer and courageous action.
Hannah's soul is refreshed as she prays, recognising that the Lord knows every detail of her suffering.
God's blessings are not poured out upon us so that we can hoard greedily, our wealth is provided so we can share with those who are in need.
Fights among us come from sin within us. Yet if we ask God, he gives good and perfect gifts.
A practical list of deep-rooted attitudes and prejudices James says we should confess as sin.
We are called to act in obedience to the word of God, not just to listen and then carry on living according to our own selfish desires.
How can we possibly consider this as joy? And where do wisdom and the victor's crown fit in?
An introduction to James' main theme - faith without deeds is dead. But doesn't this conflict with Peter's famous lines about being saved through faith?
'The suitcase is in the back of that van.' A wonderful story of God encountering a lawyer, two crooks and an elder's wife.