Living Inside Out: Hope | Tim Dobson | 28 June 2020

28 June 2020 - 11am Service

Living Inside Out | Hope

Welcome to Woodlands Church Online - today is all about hope! Nigel is hosting this morning and this service will include worship led by Mark and April with our Woodlands worship team and some creative spoken word about hope. Tim will sharing a message with us as part of our series 'Living Inside Out' on being hopeful looking at Romans 8:23 and Allan Macleod shares about his role in the city office with Bristol being a City of Hope.

STUDY NOTES

Introduction 
Lock-down and Covid-19 has certainly made us think about cleanliness and hygiene. I've never washed my hands as much in my life! Jesus teaches in Mark 7 that holiness is an inner thing. What is our spiritual hygiene like in a time of Covid?

1. The Old Testament had lots of laws about cleanliness and hygiene, food laws etc. The people of God were learning to be Holy, which means to be 'set apart'. What is the difference between 'ritual' holiness and 'moral' holiness?

2. Do we get confused like the people of Jesus's day between outward appearances and behaviour, and inner purity? If so in what ways? How can we tell what's going on on the inside with people we may feel judgemental of?

3. How do we keep clean hearts? The Psalmist prays 'Create in me a clean heart O Lord'? How does God clean us up?

4. In physical hygiene terms we try to prevent dirt and 'foreign bodies' entering us through wounds or orifices by good hygiene. How can we stop spiritual pollution through anger, bitterness, lust, anxiety etc entering in?

5. How much is the practice of 'keeping short accounts' forgiving and seeking forgiveness part of our discipleship? How does Holy Communion help us activate forgiveness? Do we need to be forgiven or to forgive?

6. Has lock-down caused you to become angry or hurt by someone? Has isolation made you more vulnerable to allowing poor spiritual hygiene in your life?

Practice
In Matthew 6: 12-15 Jesus teaches us to forgive so we can be forgiven. Are you able to identify precisely where you might need forgiveness, or need to forgive someone? Could you this week make an inventory of such things and in secret practice asking forgiveness for anything God shows you and forgiving others.

Fruitfulness

In July, we’re starting a new preaching series on Fruitfulness - a major theme of scripture. In John 15:16, Jesus says to the disciples: ‘I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit - fruit that will last.’

This series will look at helping us better understand our call to be fruitful, how our God ‘the gardener’ tends His vine to make it fruitful and how we can make sense of the season we are in.

Our sermons in this series will look at these topics at both the 11am service and the new 7pm online service…

• Fruitfulness - 5 July

• Pruning - 12 July

• Abiding - 19 July

• Planting - 26 July

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TALKS ON FRUITFULNESS

Living Inside Out: Clean | David Mitchell | 21 June 2020

21 June 2020 - 11am Service

Living Inside Out | Clean

Rachel is hosting this service from the Foyer and it will include worship led by Nigel Savage with our Woodlands worship team, plus Dave will sharing a message with us as part of our series 'Living Inside Out' on being 'Clean' and leading us in communion (so do have bread and wine/juice ready). Tim catches up with Carmen Carrol, from the Keyboard Trust about unity in diversity. Plus it's Father's Day! So Clare got back in touch with Andy & Jo, who we heard from a few months back about becoming emergency foster carers, as they have just recently been able to welcome a young boy into their family.

STUDY NOTES

Introduction 
Lock-down and Covid-19 has certainly made us think about cleanliness and hygiene. I've never washed my hands as much in my life! Jesus teaches in Mark 7 that holiness is an inner thing. What is our spiritual hygiene like in a time of Covid?

1. The Old Testament had lots of laws about cleanliness and hygiene, food laws etc. The people of God were learning to be Holy, which means to be 'set apart'. What is the difference between 'ritual' holiness and 'moral' holiness?

2. Do we get confused like the people of Jesus's day between outward appearances and behaviour, and inner purity? If so in what ways? How can we tell what's going on on the inside with people we may feel judgemental of?

3. How do we keep clean hearts? The Psalmist prays 'Create in me a clean heart O Lord'? How does God clean us up?

4. In physical hygiene terms we try to prevent dirt and 'foreign bodies' entering us through wounds or orifices by good hygiene. How can we stop spiritual pollution through anger, bitterness, lust, anxiety etc entering in?

5. How much is the practice of 'keeping short accounts' forgiving and seeking forgiveness part of our discipleship? How does Holy Communion help us activate forgiveness? Do we need to be forgiven or to forgive?

6. Has lock-down caused you to become angry or hurt by someone? Has isolation made you more vulnerable to allowing poor spiritual hygiene in your life?

Practice
In Matthew 6: 12-15 Jesus teaches us to forgive so we can be forgiven. Are you able to identify precisely where you might need forgiveness, or need to forgive someone? Could you this week make an inventory of such things and in secret practice asking forgiveness for anything God shows you and forgiving others.

Anti-Racism: How can I pray and what can I do?

BLACK LIVES MATTER

Racism isn’t an exclusively American problem. Racism is alive in the UK and here in Bristol and in the Church. Racism is a sin, and as such all Christians everywhere are duty bound to stand, be counted and fight against it. Silence on the matter is complicity.

In response to the recent death of George Floyd, and in the light of the problems we have with racism here in Bristol, Tim Dobson, one of our pastors at Woodlands, wanted to share a few thoughts to help us pray and share some resources to help us learn to listen, learn and respond in a sensitive and meaningful way.

Watch our video with Tim from early June:

In addition, Hannah Mitchell also made a very helpful devotional on her feelings this week with the Black Lives Matter movement gaining momentum and how we might be able to take action. Watch Hannah’s video here:

Our young people at church have also been discussing racism this week. Check out what they’ve been up to by looking @devoyouth on Instagram. Thanks to our youth pastor Joe Cook for getting the conversation going and Abi Ndosi for being so willing and open to share her experiences. Watch the video interview.

Also at Woodlands Metro on 7 June, the team set aside time in the service to listen to black members of the Church as they shared their experiences of racism, their prayers, thoughts and reflections on how we can be a part of standing against this evil. Watch Metro vs Racism below:

Our Woodies Young Adults also had an Instagram Live session called Let’s talk about racism on 7 June, you can watch it online here:

For our 21 June service, pastor Tim Dobson got to catch up with Carmen Carrol, who works for The Keyboard Trust in Bristol, an organisation that aims to build unity between black and white led churches to help transform society. It was great to hear about what she's been doing in her role and what we can do to combat racism and to have her pray for unity.

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ANTI-RACISM RESOURCES

There is a wealth of content online about anti-racism which can be useful to watch, read, study and listen to when thinking about how you can become more thoughtful, aware and educated. Here are just a few links to resources that you might find helpful. Let’s all seek to listen, learn, pray and act in ways that will change the world for good. Please share any links you think are helpful with us on social media.

CAMPAIGNS & MOVEMENTS:

• Black Lives Matter

• European Network Against Racism website

• The Keyboard Trust Bristol (Networker Carmen Carrol is a Woodies member)
  

ONLINE CONTENT:

• Article: How to Make this Moment the Turning Point for Real Change - Barack Obama

• Summary List: Detailed List of Anti-Racism Resources - Medium.com

• VIdeo: Why are people racist? Historian Onyeka Nubia film on the BBC

• Article: What it’s like to be an African in the US - BBC

• Article: George Floyd: How are African-Americans treated under the law? - BBC
  

BIBLE STUDY RESOURCES SPECIFICALLY FOR CHRISTIANS

• Overcoming" with Letitia Wright

• "The Power of Unity" from Tony Evans

• "Be the Bridge" from Latasha Morrison

• "Cultivating a Heart of Mercy" from Dr. Bernice A. King

ONLINE RESOURCES SPECIFICALLY FOR CHRISTIANS

• Video: Reggie L Williams lecture on Dietrich Bonhoeffer in the Harlem Renaissance

• Podcast: Zeitcast - Decolonizing the Very Good Gospel with Lisa Sharon Harper

• Podcast: The Truth’s Table - Conversations with three Black Christian women

• Video: BODY LANGUAGE: A Conversation on Race + Restoration in the Body of Christ with Dr Anita Phillips

BOOKS SPECIFICALLY FOR CHRISTIANS

• Book: The Cross and the Lynching Tree by James Cone 

• Book:  Bonhoeffer's Black Jesus by Reggie L Williams

• Book: The Christian Imagination, Theology and the Origin of Race by Willie James Jennings

• Book: Is Our God Colourblind? by Anthony Reddie 

• Book: The Very Good Gospel by Lisa Sharon Harper

• Book: Rescuing the Gospel from the Cowboys: A Native American Expression of the Jesus Way by Richard Twiss

• Book: We Need To Talk About Race: Understanding the Black Experience in White Majority Churches by Ben Lindsay

• Book: Be the Bridge by Latasha Morrison

• Book: The Colour of Compromise: The truth about the American Church's complicity in racism by Jemar Tisby

• Book: Why I am no longer talking to White People about Race by Reni Eddo Lodge

• Workbook: Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad

RESOURCES SPECIFICALLY FOR WHITE PEOPLE

• Summary List: Anti-Racism Resources For White People - Forbes Magazine

• Video: White Led Church Response to COVID-19 & Disproportionate BAME Impact

• Summary List: Books Recommened by Selina R Stone, a Political Theologian
  

RESOURCES FOR FAMILIES, KIDS & YOUTH:

• Talking about Injustice - Parenting for Faith

• Racism and the Church - RE:quest (Youth for Christ)

• Anti-Racism Resources for Parents & Kids - Healthline

• Anti-Racist Books for Children & Teens - The Guardian

Living Inside Out: Becoming | Philip Jinadu | 14 June 2020

14 June 2020 - 11am Service

Living Inside Out | Becoming

Dave and Amy are hosting this morning from the Foyer. The service will include worship led by April Ballard with our Woodlands worship team, plus Philip will sharing a message with us as part of our series 'Living Inside Out' on 'Becoming'. Joe from Devo and Abi, one of our young people, will be praying about on racial injustice. It's also Global Partners Sunday and Johnny Walker caught up with Josh Rutere in Kenya to find out what's happening there.

STUDY NOTES

Becoming | Galatians 5:16 and 2 Corinthians 3:18

'We are being transformed into his image with ever increasing glory'.

Introduction
Most of the things we place our value on are temporary (Marriage, job, location, health, etc). At best they are only for a lifetime. Our souls are made for eternity however, we are on a spiritual journey of soul care, spiritual growth which looks like transformation from the inside out. Who I'm becoming is more important than what I'm doing (though they affect one another).

Questions

1. How does what I'm doing in life right now affect who I'm becoming (and vice versa)?

2. Galatians talks about Spiritual fruit. What is the difference between the fruit of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit?

3. It's easy to invest in our 'outer' humanity, to pursue education or physical fitness (or a romance!). How do we pursue and invest in spiritual growth?

4. Imitating Jesus can be in his character (what he was like) and in conduct (the things he did. How are you pursuing imitating Christ?

5. One way we can imitate Jesus in character and action at the same time is by being generous and giving to those in need. A book about Mother Theresa was called 'Something beautiful for God'. What have you seen in others spirituality that you could describe as beautiful?                                                            

6. What place does 'dying to self' have in becoming more like Jesus? Do we have to 'die' to our selves or let our selves be full of Him? What's the difference?

Practice 
Matthew 6:2-4 talks about giving (almsgiving) to the poor in secret to be rewarded by your Father in secret. It's about doing the things the Father himself does. Review your giving. How much do you give to the poor? Do you know any poor people? What does it feel like to do a generous deed? What might you do with and for the Father this week that is secretly generous? Are you becoming more or less generous as you grow older?

Resources
Woodlands giving page: 
https://www.woodlandschurch.net/giving

Woodlands Global Partnerships Fund offering page:
https://www.woodlandschurch.net/offering

June Offering for our Global Partners

Each month, on the second Sunday we invite members of Woodlands to make an offering to our Global Partnership Fund - this month it falls on 14 June.

Our Global Partners from across the world are pursuing a vision to bring God's love and care to the nations, and they are facing serious challenges in light of COVID-19.

Since lockdown began and our services went online, we've been highlighting the work of one of our Global Partners each month - through the wonders of Zoom!

Listen to Johnny Walker, from our Global Partners team, as he catches up with Josh Rutere to find what's happening in Kenya in June 2020.

How to Give

If you are a Woodlands church member and you would like to give, you can do so by text or on our website.

• You can text 'WOODLANDS' to 70085 to give £10. Texts cost £10 plus one standard rate message.

• You can choose an amount to give to our Global Partners online at: http://www.woodlandschurch.net/offering

About our Global Partners

Woodlands works with individuals across the world who are pursuing a vision to bring God's love and care to the nations of the world. We call these people our Global Partners. In some ways they are very ordinary every-day Christians, in other ways they are brilliant and courageous adventurers. Find out more about them and the work they do below.

If you have any questions about our Global Partners, how to support them or want more information on them or short term-mission trips opportunities, or would like to join the monthly Global Partners prayer, please email the Global Partners team.

Living Inside Out: Identity | Clare Thompson | 7 June 2020

7 June 2020 - 11am Service

Living Inside Out | Identity

Tim and Laura are hosting this morning from Laura's garden in Clutton. The service will include worship led by Luke Wareham with our Woodlands worship team, plus Clare will be kicking off our new preaching series 'Living Inside Out' and sharing a message about our identity in Christ. Rob and Jen will be leading us as we pray for our world, particularly focusing on racial injustice.

STUDY NOTES

Introduction
The events of this Spring, the pandemic, a lock-down and the challenge presented to organisations, including churches and businesses, have all conspired to shake people's identity. We take our significance from our relationships and our activities, the things we do in work & recreation. We have often been separated from key relationships and communities. We have become unable to work as normal and may not able to enjoy some of our sport and leisure activities.

From an eternal perspective what counts is who we are becoming. It's an inside out life, knowing God is our Father and living out of a relationship with Him through what Jesus has done in giving us His Spirit.

This is a great time to develop a life in Christ that is for eternity, not just a pandemic. Over June we will be looking at 'life inside out'. We will reference different verses from the New Testament around our titles, but Matthew Chapter 6 (which can be described as a secret history with God) frames some practices linked with the principles we are teaching about.

Read the passage in Romans 8:15-17.

Questions
How do I get my identity without being over dependent on external voices and circumstances?

1. These verses speak of 'the spirit of sonship'. What qualifies us to be identified as children of God?

2. Jesus demonstrated a unique relationship with God, calling him 'Abba'. At His baptism (Luke 3:21-22) we see the Father's relationship with and the Father's pleasure in Jesus. What was the source of that pleasure? Can you identify times when you have felt that sort of intimacy and God's pleasure in you?

3. What had Jesus done to earn his identity as God's son? Do you feel you still need to earn the right to be called a child of God?

4. What place does baptism have in shaping our identity as followers of Jesus? Have you been baptised as a grown-up follower of Jesus? What is your story?

5. How does knowing you are God's child and loved by Him help you cope with external pressures from people, and the need to earn the affirmation and popularity of others?

6. A key dynamic in knowing our identity as children of God is that we pray with confidence to our Father. Jesus taught his disciples to use the simple Aramaic baby phrase for Father, abba, (like daddy) when he taught them to pray (Matthew 6:9). How confident are we to pray to God with that simplicity?

Practice
Romans 8 goes on to speak about prayer, and Jesus in Matthew 6 tells us to pray in secret to our Father. This week practice prayer in 'secret' places. Try and pray out loud. Try calling God 'daddy'. Does that feel Ok or disrespectful? Many Christians are self-conscious praying out loud because they feel their prayers are not theological enough. Try praying simple prayers believing God really loves you and it's ok to ask Him for what you want.

Pentecost Sunday | Holy Spirit Stories

31 May 2020 - 11am Service

Pentecost Sunday | Holy Spirit Stories

We hope you enjoy this Pentecost Sunday service with Woodlands Church Online!

Rachel and Nigel are hosting this special service - which will include worship led by Robin Mitchell and the ADH Community House, plus testimonies from five members of our church family and a short talk from Dave about the Holy Spirit.

Enjoy!

Living Inside Out

In June, we’re starting a new preaching series called ‘Living Inside Out’.

Lockdown has been hard. It’s shaken people’s identities and their confidence in God’s fathering of them. God wants us to live out of our identity on the inside - like Jesus at his baptism. 

Who we are and who we are becoming are the important truths about us. Everything else is temporary. What are the opportunities to ‘become’ now?

During lockdown we’ve become obsessed with hygiene and cleanliness. Actually it’s a time where temptation to inner impurity in our thought life can make us ‘unclean’.

 And we may not have much hope for the future, or we might base our hope on externals-‘when they find a vaccine’. We are called to be hope bearers even when what we hope for is unseen.

Our sermons in this series will look at these topics…

• Identity - 7 June

• Becoming - 14 June

• Clean - 21 June

• Hopeful - 28 June

Letters from Lockdown: Locked & Down | Rachel Riddall

24 May 2020 - 11am Service

Letters from Lockdown: Locked & Down

This is the last of our services in the Letters from Lockdown series happening during May.

Pastor Rachel Riddall preaches to us about John the Baptist, considering how we keep faith in God when our experiences are hard.

Try Alpha Online! Starting 8 June

Are you exploring faith? Try Alpha!

The Alpha Course is amazing because it’s about people connecting with each other and going on a spiritual journey. The course explores the key foundations of the Christian faith.

Our recent Alpha course was so popular, that we are starting another course on Monday, 8th June 2020. It will be run entirely online, so you can take part from the comfort of your own home. Watch this short video about Alpha to find out more.

Visit our Alpha Online page to sign up! All are welcome.

Letters from Lockdown: Locked | Nigel Savage

17 May 2020 - 11am Service

Letters from Lockdown: Locked Up Apostle

This is the third of our services in the Letters from Lockdown series happening during May.

Pastor Nigel Savage preaches to us about the apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, which he wrote while he was in prison in Rome, focusing on how to pray and put on the armour of God as protection against evil.

Letters from Lockdown: Locked In Prophet | Rob Scott-Cook

10 May 2020 - 11am Service

Letters from Lockdown: Locked In Prophet

This is the second of our services in the Letters from Lockdown series happening during May.

Pastor Rob Scott-Cook preaches to us about the prophet Jeremiah and how prayer is the key to hope in lockdown.

Letters from Lockdown: Locked Out Leader | Dave Mitchell

3 May 2020 - 11am Service

Letters from Lockdown: Locked Out Leader

This is the first of our services in the Letters from Lockdown series happening during May.

Pastor David Mitchell preaches to us about the apostle John and scripture he wrote in Revelation when he was exiled on the island of Patmos.

One-to-One Prayer Ministry on Zoom

Did you know that on Sundays after our 11am service, our Prayer Ministry team is available live on Zoom for one-to-one prayer? Watch this short video from Dave Mitchell to find out more.

Details on how to take part will appear at the end of the service. 

During the week you can email our Pastoral Care team at any time, or you can post prayer requests in our private Church Family group on Facebook. 

Letters from Lockdown

Getting a Perspective of Hope in a Dark Time

During May, our new series Letters from Lockdown will focus on four lockdown situations in the Bible, looking at John, Jeremiah, Paul and John the Baptist. 

We hope that this series will give us a fresh appreciation of Church in a time of the Coronavirus pandemic and a perspective of hope in a dark time.

We will look at how to pray in lockdown and keep our faith when our experiences are hard. 

Tune in on Sunday!

Kingdom Come: Conquest | Clare Thompson

26 April 2020 - 11am Service

Kingdom Come: Conquest

This is the fourth of our services in the Kingdom Come series happening during April.

Woodlands Worship | This is Amazing Grace

During the Coronavirus lockdown, our Woodlands Worship team made this great video of them worshipping together from their own homes to This is Amazing Grace.

Thanks to everyone who took part singing and playing instruments!

• Watch & share the video - From our Woodlands YouTube Channel

God bless you all!

Kingdom Come

Celebrating the victory of God.

During April, our series Kingdom Come will be our focus in the lead up to Holy Week and Easter, using scriptures in Matthew and Revelation.

The four themes for sermons across the month are:

• Kingdom Conflict

• Kingdom Coronation

• Kingdom Come

• Kingdom Conquest

Kingdom Come - Rob Scott-Cook

19 April 2020 - 11am Service

Kingdom Come

This is the third of our services in the Kingdom Come series happening during April.