Our Culture Series

Our Culture Series

This May and June, all of our congregations across the Woodlands Church Family are sharing a preaching series called Our Culture where we’ll be looking at four values that shape our life together.

Our talks in this series will look at how we aim to be:

• Welcoming

• Authentic

• Empowered

• Expectant

As a church family spread out over eight sites, we're increasingly trying to call together the distinctives that help us understand the shared mission and journey that we're on. It's difficult to boil all of our culture and values down into simple, memorable phrases, but we're going to do our best in this series.

A particular distinctive about the Woodlands Church Family is the ‘both/and’ idea and concept that runs through so much of what we do in our theology and our practice. And you'll find it running through this sermon series as well.

We want to unpack some key things that you'll find and experience if you come into any of our celebrations, gatherings and communities around the city and region.

Download our discussion notes to go deeper with the topics each week. We hope you find the questions useful to help you look at these values in more detail.

• Our Culture - Discussion Notes (PDF)

See you on Sundays or catchup on the livesteam!

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MESSAGES FROM THIS SERIES

Coming soon!

Spring Bible School - Genesis 1

Here is an introduction to the book of Genesis and a closer look at the creation narrative

Spring Bible School - starts 22nd April

Here at Woodlands we love the Bible. It is an inspiring, supernatural book, but at times hard to understand. Woodlands Bible School helps you to grapple with different books of the Bible and themes within it. This spring we are going to take four evenings to take a deep dive into the book of Genesis.

Join us from Tuesday 22nd April at 7.30pm in the Foyer at Woodlands Central. All welcome

April Prayer Calendar

Pray each day

Each month, you’re invited to pray for church and all that is happening with our monthly Prayer Calendar. You can view and download the calendar below as a PDF.

Vacancy for Congregational Leader at Woodlands Metro

Lead the team at Woodlands Metro

The Woodlands Church Family (WCF) is a vibrant, growing family of churches with eight sites across the city of Bristol and a vision to plant more. As we’ve grown, so too has our team, and at Woodlands Metro we have an exciting opportunity for someone to lead the team as Congregational Leader reporting into the WCF Senior Leader David Mitchell.

Woodlands Metro is a thriving city church with a vision ‘to transform Bristol with the love and power of God’. We are looking for someone with a proven track record of leading church as part of a team, bringing strategic thinking, operating executive skills and is passionate about turning vision into reality. They must show mature gifting in ministry, have strong communication skills, be passionate about Jesus and love the church. A secure and proven leader.

Candidates should be highly motivated, enthusiastic, able to take initiative, work well in a team and be committed to see the church community grow in their faith and reach the city for Jesus.  

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ABOUT THE ROLE

Key areas of work for the position of Metro Congregational Leader include: 

1.    Vision, Strategy and Culture - Implementing and maintaining the vision of Woodlands Metro. Develop strategies and plans that serve the mission to help people find faith in Jesus and a place in his family, to grow in discipleship and be a blessing to the City of Bristol.

2.    Resourcing Sunday Services - Support the smooth running of Sunday Services.

3.    Midweek Church Communities - Supporting and growing midweek Church communities in line with our vision and holding the spiritual and pastoral oversight of these leaders under the support and direction of the Woodlands Church Family Senior Leader.

4.    Pastoral Oversight - Keep an overview of the pastoral needs of the Congregation to include ensuring Safeguarding is in place and ‘second line’ pastoral care is accessible.

5.    Outreach - With the leadership team audit needs and gospel opportunities and develop strategies to meet those needs and opportunities.

6.    Represent Metro – Represent Metro both within WCF and as local church leader in the community and local institutions.

When undertaking this role there may be times when you come across confidential information, therefore it is imperative that you are highly discreet and maintain confidentiality.

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KEY INFORMATION

You can find out more details about this role by downloading the documents below:

Occupational Requirement
This role has an occupational requirement that the post holder be a follower of Jesus and to be a worshipping member of the Woodlands Church Family, Woodlands Metro (if not already) to ensure protection of our strong Christian ethos and values, and our charitable objective of advancing the Christian faith. We also want to ensure all team members thrive and flourish in this environment.  

Relocation
If relocating to Bristol, Woodlands Church Family will reimburse reasonable relocation expenses.

Terms

• Permanent, contracted part-time position at up to 4 days (30 hrs per week).

• Salary band: £29K – £31K pro rata, depending on experience.

• Annual holiday entitlement: 25 days pro rata plus 8 days bank holiday pro rata.

The role will be based at Woodlands Church in Clifton, Bristol and there is a requirement should the post holder relocate to Bristol they will be a worshipping member of Woodlands Church Family, Woodlands Metro.

We have a legal responsibility to ensure that all our employees have the legal right to live and work in the UK. Therefore, please only apply if you are eligible to work in the UK as we will have to verify this before you can start work.

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How to apply

The closing date for applications is Wednesday 7th May 2025 at midday (12pm). However, this vacancy will close once we have sufficient applications.

If you would like an application form or have any questions, please contact our HR department at hr@woodlandschurch.net.

Completed application forms to be sent to our HR Lead at hr@woodlandschurch.net.

If shortlisted, interviews will take place from Friday 23rd May 2025.

8am Talks

Here are a selection of messages shared at our 8am services, with the most recent talks appearing at the top of the list…

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March Bible School - 1, 2 and 3 John

This month Dave Roderick takes a look at the letters of 1, 2, and 3 John. You can listen to the audio from the link below

Vacancies in our Children's Church Team

Join our Children’s Church Team

The Woodlands Church Family (WCF) is a vibrant, growing family of churches with eight sites located across the city of Bristol. Our vision is to transform Bristol through the love and power of God as we create spirit-filled, visible communities of faith in neighbourhoods across the city.

Each congregation is distinct in their style, but we all share the same vision, mission and values to be communities which are welcoming of everyone, authentic in our faith, empowered by the Holy Spirit and expectant of all that God will do in us and through us. 

As we’ve grown, so too has our team, and we have several exciting opportunities for joining our team.

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ABOUT THE ROLES

Candidates should be highly motivated, enthusiastic, able to take initiative, work well in a team and be passionate to see children grow in their faith.

The following positions are available at two of our sites. View the full job descriptions below to find out more about each role:

• Branch Community Church
  Children’s and Community Worker | 2 days a week | View Job Description

• Highgrove Church
  Children’s Pastor | 3 days per week | View Job Description

These can be delivered as separate roles. Alternatively, as Branch Community Church has its service on a Sunday afternoon, that role could be combined with the role at Highgrove Church as they have Sunday morning services.

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KEY TERMS

You can find out more details about these roles and full terms by downloading the document below:

Occupational Requirement
These roles have an occupational requirement that the post holder be a follower of Jesus and to be a worshipping member of the Woodlands Church Family (if not already) to ensure protection of our strong Christian ethos and values, and our charitable objective of advancing the Christian faith. We also want to ensure all team members thrive and flourish in this environment. 

Terms

• These are permanent positions contracted with the option of 2 days a week to 5 days a week in combination. 

• The salary will be £25,570 - £28,000 pro rata, depending on experience.

• The annual holiday entitlement is 25 days pro rata, plus 8 days bank holiday pro rata.

The roles will be based at Branch Community Church in Henbury and/or Highgrove Church in Sea Mills, all in North Bristol, depending on the combination of roles. Travel between the different sites will be required.

We have a legal responsibility to ensure that all our employees have the legal right to live and work in the UK. Therefore, please only apply if you are eligible to work in the UK as we will have to verify this before you can start work.

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How to apply

To apply, download and complete the Woodlands Church Family application form:

Please send your completed application to our HR Lead Julia Shrimpton at hr@woodlandschurch.net.

If you have any questions about these roles, contact our HR team on hr@woodlandschurch.net.

The closing date for applications is midnight on Wednesday 7th May 2025. However, this vacancy will close once we have sufficient applications.

If shortlisted, interviews will take place during the two weeks commencing Monday 12th May 2025.

Dinner with Jesus Series

Dinner with Jesus Series

As we lead up to Easter we are looking at Jesus in the gospels through the lens of meals he shared with people. We get to see Jesus’ heart toward others and how He used meals to minister to those around Him. Meals welcome others into our lives and help others feel invited and included.

This seven week series will help us see how we can use meals, like Jesus did, to reach out and connect to those around us. In our discussion notes below, we’ve included a handful of questions for you to discuss as a group as well as a challenge to apply the teaching in a practical way each week.

Our talks in this series will look at the following topics:

• 16th March – Supper with Sinners

• 23rd March – Would you like a fish sandwich?

• 30th March – The Uninvited Guest

• 6th April – Who’s coming to the dinner party?

• 13th April – One Last Meal Together

• 20th April – Easter Sunday

• 27th April – Breakfast on the Beach 

Download our discussion notes to go deeper with the topics each week.

• Dinner with Jesus Series - Discussion Notes (PDF)

See you on Sundays or catchup on the livesteam!

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MESSAGES FROM THIS SERIES

Supper with Sinners
16 March at 11am: Dave Mitchell

Supper with Sinners
16 March at 6.30pm: Tim Dobson & Ella Harbord

Would you like a fish sandwich?
23 March at 11am: Rachel Riddall

The Uninvited Guest
30 March at 11am: Hazel Askew

Who’s coming to the dinner party?
6 April at 11am: Rachel Riddall

One Last Meal Together
13 April at 11am: Nigel Savage

Easter Sunday
20th April at 11am: Nigel Savage

Would you like a fish sandwich?
23 March at 6.30pm: Rachel Riddall

The Uninvited Guest
30 March at 6.30pm: Dave Mitchell

Who’s coming to the dinner party?
6 April at 6.30pm: Matt Dobson

One Last Meal Together
13 April at 6.30pm: Dave Mitchell

Easter Sunday
20th April at 6.30pm: Rachel Riddall

Prophecy Mini-Series

Prophecy Mini-Series

As a charismatic church, from time to time we press in on teaching around our values on the work of the Spirit and the kingdom of God. Last year, we focused on healing and this March we are looking at prophecy.

We are a prophetic people and we are all encouraged to pursue the gift of prophecy. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 14 - “...eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy."

This mini-series over two weeks will explore the prophetic:

• What do we mean when we talk about prophecy?

• How do we discern and weigh prophecy?

We hope that these talks will help us find our way forward as individuals and as a community.

Talks in this mini-series are titled:

• 2nd March: The water we swim in

• 9th March: Test everything

Watch this 90-second video with Dave Mitchell explaining the vision for the series.

Download our discussion notes to go deeper with the topics each week.

• Prophecy Mini-Series - Discussion Notes (PDF)

See you on Sundays or catchup on the livesteam!

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MESSAGES FROM THIS SERIES

Clare Thompson | 2 March 2025 at 11am

Nigel Savage | 2 March 2025 at 6.30pm

March Prayer Calendar

Pray each day

Each month, you’re invited to pray for church and all that is happening with our monthly Prayer Calendar. You can view and download the calendar below as a PDF.

Reading Ezra Well

The book of Ezra records the time when God was on the move and people responded to His call on their lives to rebuild the temple. What does this book have to tell us as we seek to follow God wholeheartedly today?

Vacancy for Early Years Lead

The Woodlands Church Family (WCF) is a vibrant, growing family of churches with eight sites located across the city of Bristol and a vision to plant more. As we’ve grown, so too has our team, and we have an exciting opportunity for someone to join our Children's team as our Early Years Lead with a focus on children aged 0-4 years at Woodlands Central. 

 As Woodlands Church Family we aim to disciple children and families to be connected, confident and equipped.

1. Connected
We aim to help children and families to connect with Jesus, with one another in friendships, in relationships with the church community and with a sense of belonging.

2.  Confident
We aim to help disciple children to be confident in their knowledge of who God is, to have a sense of their own identity in Christ and therefore confident enough to ask questions, explore faith and be curious.

3. Equipped
We aim to equip and support parents as they disciple their children with the help of the Holy Spirit. We aim to equip children with tools to help them to pray, read the bible and experience the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives. We want to equip them to own their own faith in Jesus, to obey Jesus and to be empowered ministers to the world around them. 

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About the Role
This position is a leadership role to oversee and grow how we disciple our early years generation at Woodlands Central. This involves leading, shaping and delivering our discipleship programme for early years. This includes overseeing our Sunday and midweek ministry programmes, as well as events and outreach initiatives throughout the year.  

The discipleship strategy will be delivered through a large team of volunteers who you will need to recruit, train and support. You will be responsible for communicating vision to the volunteer teams and wider church. You will also be involved with the wider children’s ministry, with an investment in the whole ministry to all our children.    

Candidates should be highly motivated, enthusiastic, able to take initiative, work well in a team and be passionate to see children grow in their faith.  

Requirements: This role requires a commitment to be a follower of Jesus and a member of Woodlands Central.

To find out more about this role, download the following documents:

• Role Summary & Terms

• Job Description

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Terms
This is a permanent position contracted at a minimum of 2.5 days per week with a requirement to work on Sunday mornings. 

The salary band for this role is £26,000 - £28,000 pro rata, depending on experience. The annual holiday entitlement is 25 days pro rata plus 8 days bank holiday pro rata.

The role will be based at Woodlands Central in Clifton, Bristol.

The post is subject to satisfactory references.

We have a legal responsibility to ensure that all our employees have the legal right to live and work in the UK. Therefore, please only apply if you are eligible to work in the UK as we will have to verify this before you can start work.

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How to apply

The closing date for applications is midnight on Friday 28th March 2025. However, this vacancy will close once we have sufficient applications. 

Please contact Nigel Savage, Senior Leader at Woodlands Central at nigel.savage@woodlandschurch.net if you have any questions about the role.

If shortlisted, interviews will take place at Woodlands Church on the afternoon of Friday 4th April 2025.

For an application form please contact our HR Administrator Jenny Hanley at hr@woodlandschurch.net.

Please send your completed application to Nigel Savage at nigel.savage@woodlandschurch.net and our HR Lead Julia Shrimpton hr@woodlandschurch.net.

Vacancy for Senior Children & Families Lead

The Woodlands Church Family (WCF) is a vibrant, growing family of churches with six sites located across the city of Bristol and a vision to plant more. As we’ve grown, so too has our team, and we have an exciting opportunity for someone to join our team as Senior Children and Families Lead at Woodlands Central.

 As Woodlands Church Family we aim to disciple children and families to be connected, confident and equipped.

1. Connected
We aim to help children and families to connect with Jesus, with one another in friendships, in relationships with the church community and with a sense of belonging.

2.  Confident
We aim to help disciple children to be confident in their knowledge of who God is, to have a sense of their own identity in Christ and therefore confident enough to ask questions, explore faith and be curious.

3. Equipped
We aim to equip and support parents as they disciple their children with the help of the Holy Spirit. We aim to equip children with tools to help them to pray, read the bible and experience the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives. We want to equip them to own their own faith in Jesus, to obey Jesus and to be empowered ministers to the world around them. 

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About the Role
This position is a strategic leadership role to oversee and grow the Children’s and Families ministries at Woodlands involving leading, shaping and building an expanding children's ministry for children aged 0-11.  

This includes planning ministry programmes, events and outreach initiatives throughout the year. You will lead and line manage the staffed Children’s Team and through them recruit, train and support a large team of volunteers. You will oversee the Families Ministry including daytime groups and events, equipping parents to disciple their children in the home.  

Candidates should be highly motivated, enthusiastic, able to take initiative, work well in a team and be passionate to see children grow in their faith.

Requirements: This role requires a commitment to be a follower of Jesus and a member of Woodlands Central.

To find out more about this role, download the following documents:

• Role Summary & Terms

• Job Description

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Terms
This is a permanent position contracted at a minimum of 3 days per week (22 hours 30 mins) with the possibility of more hours being added and the role potentially becoming a full-time position.

The salary band for this role is £29,000 - £31,000 pro rata, depending on experience. The annual holiday entitlement is 25 days pro rata plus 8 days bank holiday pro rata.

The role will be based at Woodlands Central in Clifton, Bristol.

The post is subject to satisfactory references.

We have a legal responsibility to ensure that all our employees have the legal right to live and work in the UK. Therefore, please only apply if you are eligible to work in the UK as we will have to verify this before you can start work.

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How to apply

The closing date for applications is midnight on Friday 28th March 2025. However, this vacancy will close once we have sufficient applications. 

Please contact Rachel Riddall, Senior Leader at Woodlands Central at rachel.riddall@woodlandschurch.net if you have any questions about the role.

If shortlisted, interviews will take place at Woodlands Church on the afternoon of Friday 4th April 2025.

For an application form please contact our HR Administrator Jenny Hanley at hr@woodlandschurch.net.

Please send your completed application to Rachel Riddall at rachel.riddall@woodlandschurch.net and our HR Lead Julia Shrimpton hr@woodlandschurch.net.

New course - Sharing Jesus Naturally

Starting on Tuesday 25th, over six sessions we will explore how you can be confident in sharing about Jesus, how to tell your story making Jesus the hero, how to start a natural conversation with your friends about Jesus.

This is a new course being delivered from Woodlands Academy.

Join us for Lent 2025

As Lent begins we want to invite you to join with us thinking about and celebrating the Easter story.

For many churches around the world Lent is like a journey where we join together with the whole church world wide, including our brothers and sisters in the persecuted church. It’s a time of drawing closer to God and thinking about the events of that one week that changed the course of human history.

In 2025, Lent begins on Wednesday 5th March and ends on Thursday 17th April.

This year, why not choose a bible reading plan that will help you follow the story of Jesus’ journey to the cross? Lent culminates in Holy Week, when as a church we try to find ways of pausing each day to remember the specific events of that week, including our Good Friday service and Easter Sunday celebration at Woodlands.

Nowadays there is a wealth of free digital bible plans available online and in apps.

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DIGITAL LENT RESOURCES

The following resources are available through the Bible App which is completely free, with no advertising and no in-app purchases, or access plans direct from their website version of the Bible online.

• Lent for Everyone: Daily Devotionals by NT Wright
  Following the story in real time can bring even more significance to arguably the most important week in the Christian year.  For each day of Lent, there is a reading chosen from the Gospel of Matthew, plus a reflection by NT Wright.

• Journey to the Cross: 7-Day Bible Plan by Pete Greig
  Pause and pray as you prepare your heart for Easter. Join Jesus on His journey to the cross, through the tomb, and into resurrection life.

• Dreaming the Impossible Bible Plans
  DTI have created Bible plans for young people aged 12 - 18. Check out Psalms to Make You Think which is a a 4 day study of different Psalms to help expand deepen your relationship and passion for God. Or try How to Thrive in Teenagehood, written by teenagers for teenagers so that young people would not just survive this season of their lives but thrive in this season of their lives.

Additional free app based daily devotionals from 24-7 Prayer:

• Lectio 365 
  A free daily devotional resource that helps you pray the Bible every day, inspired by Lectio Divina, a way of meditating on the Bible that’s been used by Christians for centuries.

• Lectio for Families 
  Free devotional app that helps families read the Bible and explore faith together.

• Inner Room 
  A Lent prayer series, available through the Inner Room app. The app has morning, afternoon, and evening prayers designed to bring you back into the presence of God for a few minutes throughout your day. This year their theme is ‘what’s shaping you?’, with an invitation to choose to be shaped by God this Lent. 

Volunteer Opportunity: Children's Team Administrator

The Woodlands Church Family (WCF) is a vibrant, growing family of churches with eight sites located across the city of Bristol and a vision to plant more. As we’ve grown, so too have our teams, and we have an exciting volunteering opportunity within our Children’s Church team at Woodlands Central.

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JOIN THE TEAM

We are recruiting for volunteers to join our Children’s Church team to support and underpin some key administrative work for the team at Woodlands Central. We’d love to hear from you if you’re interested and Children’s team admin is something that sounds like an area you’d be interested in helping with!

Key areas of work include:

• Volunteer rota checks for acceptances/declines and highlighting gaps where more volunteers are needed.

• Processing all new children’s church volunteers through the recruitment process.

• Processing new children into groups on ChurchSuite.

• Transfer Sunday registers of attendance to ChurchSuite records.

• Assist with setting up meeting dates and sending out invitations.

• General administration as delegated by children’s church leaders e.g. booking a venue space in the building, sending prewritten emails to groups e.g. for one off events.

Personal attributes and key skills

• Strong administration skills with an eye for detail

• Good written communication skills

• Administering confidential information in line with our Data Protection Policy

• Team player

Our volunteer roles require a commitment to be a follower of Jesus and a worshipping member of the Woodlands Church Family.

Could you commit to around one day a week to support this ministry? Ideally it would be helpful, if you have availability during the day, to meet with the children’s minister on a Monday between 11.30am - 12.30pm to run through weekly tasks but there is flexibility as to when the rest of the hours/tasks are delivered in the week. You’d be very welcome to join us at our Children’s team meeting too.

Support in volunteering role
You’ll be given in-house training on Data Protection and the use of our ChurchSuite database if needed.

You are also welcome to join in with our wider Central team time on Monday mornings from 10am - 11am where we gather to worship, pray, share good news and have input from key members of the team.

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Hannah Dunmall
Assistant Children’s Minister

INTERESTED?

Please contact our Assistant Children’s Minister Hannah at hannah.dunmall@woodlandschurch.net for an opportunity to meet and discuss the role further.

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February Prayer Calendar

Pray each day

Each month, you’re invited to pray for church and all that is happening with our monthly Prayer Calendar. You can view and download the calendar below as a PDF.

Vision for Midweek Life at Woodies

Midweek Leaders Gathering:

Did you miss our gathering on 27th January 2025?
Listen to Nigel share our vision for midweek life at Woodies.

Seasons of the Soul Series

Seasons of the Soul Series

Finding God in every season of life

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing.
- Ecclesiastes

We all love to be in seasons of prospering, success and fruitfulness, where we sense God’s blessing on what we are doing. Of course! Most of us have also experienced seasons of suffering too, where external pressures or internal pressures can impact our sense of well-being and make us question what our lives are meant to look like. Seasons come and go and these ancient words from the book of Ecclesiastes tell us that all of this is normal human experience. It may be more accurate to say that parts of our lives can appear to be in different seasons - whilst one thing is dying, another may be coming to life.  Age sometimes seems to correlate with seasons, maturity bringing fruit into our lives that was elusive in younger years.

One idea that can help us navigate the ebb and flow of blessing and hardship in our lives is the idea that just as there are seasons in nature, our lives can follow similar patterns. A winter season can look very dark but God may be at work in the darkness doing essential work in us. Work we can cooperate with or resist. Some people talk about the ‘seasons of the soul’  --  if you had to choose the one you are currently in, what would you say?

This series is called Seasons of the Soul and is all about finding God in every season of life. The series is really asking the question ‘What is God doing in your lifeat the moment? How can you cooperate with the work of the Spirit in your life as he seeks to renew and heal your mind and body to make you more like Jesus?’ We want to give you an opportunity to think, reflect and pray about where you are at with God and allow him to work in the deeps of your soul.

Here’s what we’re hearing about each week in our messages on Sundays:

• Winter - 2nd February

• Spring – 9th February

• Summer – 16th February

• Autumn – 23rd February

Download our discussion notes to go deeper with the topics each week. This also includes recommended reading and signing up for our Wholeness Course as well:

• Seasons of the Soul Series - Discussion Notes (PDF)

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MESSAGES FROM THIS SERIES

Winter | 2nd Feb 2025 at 11am

Spring | 9th Feb 2025 at 11am

Summer | 16th Feb at 11am

Autumn | 23rd Feb at 11am

Winter | 2nd Feb 2025 at 6.30pm

Spring | 9th Feb 2025 at 6.30pm

Summer | 16th Feb at 6.30pm

Autumn | 23rd Feb at 6.30pm