THE WELCOME COURSE - Week 3: Belonging // One Church Podcast, 11th May 2026

We are one church. We love God, love people, love

His mission, and love His church.

Welcome to the One Church podcast.

Do you? Feel like you belong in

Leicester. It's where you're supposed to

be. I do.

This is where we're called to be, and we belong in one church.

And I hope that you're going to feel by the end of today that

you belong even more in this church because we're thinking

about the value of belonging today.

Belonging and commitment was a part of my life all through my

childhood and my teenage years because I was always one of

those children who liked to try lots of new things.

You know, I'd like to do horse riding, I'd like to do ice

skating, I'd like to do dancing and so on.

And it was drilled into me by my parents, you know, if you start

to go to Brownies or Guide, you keep going.

If you join the choir, you join the orchestra, you keep going.

And then it sort of came back to them because as a teenager I

then found this great group of people which was the Christian

Union at my secondary school. My family weren't practising

Christians at that point, but I went to this CU and because my

parents always drilled into me, you keep going.

I kept going every week and one day I lied and told that group

isn't this terrible because I wasn't yet a Christian.

I said I go to my local church and because I felt so guilty at

lying about that to those lovely Christian people, I got up on

the Sunday and went to church and found a relationship with

Jesus over the next few months through various means and I kept

on going to church. I never stopped.

It became a weekly commitment. It became a daily commitment for

me to spend time with Jesus. I love Jesus and I love the

church and you know, in the whole of one church.

Today we're continuing a series on our new welcome course, and

this four week course is going to in the future take the place

of our newcomers evenings. It's going to be run multiple

times through each year. But before we launch it for

everybody who's new in one church, we wanted to make sure

everybody gets to go through it and we didn't want you to miss

out. So we're taking everybody

through this process on Sundays. But if you missed either the

first two weeks of the welcome course messages, which was

walking with Jesus, and after that was Freedom, then they're

available through our podcast and the Freedom messages also on

YouTube. So do subscribe to those things.

By the way, subscribe to our YouTube channel.

If you can subscribe to the podcast and you get to hear

these amazing messages from around the church.

But each week as well, we're also showing short videos which

share a little bit of our heart and our vision, who we are as a

church and our key values. And today we're going to show

you a short video to start with, which is all about our strategy.

So just watch the screen. We are one church.

We love God, love people, love His mission, and love His

church. We are a multi site Assemblies

of God church made-up of hundreds of people of all ages

and many nationalities. We are one church with one

vision, 1 mission, one leadership and one heart who

meet in a number of different sites around Leicester and

Loughborough. We began to plant sites in 2013,

inspired by the Father's call from Isaiah 54.

Enlarge the place of your tent. Stretch your tent curtains wide.

Do not hold back. Lengthen your cords, strengthen

your stakes, for you will spread out to the right and to the

left. When you enter any one church

site, you will find the same heart, the same passion and the

same vision for the whole. We truly are one church who meet

in many different locations. Currently we have 51 church

sites. The journey of planting them has

helped us to reach out to impact local communities, to develop

leaders and strengthen the church, and to create

opportunities for everybody to serve and grow.

It has enabled the gifts of the Holy Spirit to be released in

smaller contexts, and it allows us to care well for the people

who call one church home and provide places where everyone

can be both needed and known. Our five sites are One Church

North led by Daljindra and Hannah meeting at Beaumont

Leigh's school. One Church Oadby led by Tom and

Philippa meeting at Manor High School.

One Church, Braunstone, led by Wess and Laura meeting at the

Oak Centre, which is a community centre.

We run in the heart of Braunstone.

One Church, Loughborough, led by Hazel and Lawrence meeting at

Charnwood School of Dance. One Church Central led by James,

Claire, Josh and Alice meeting in the One Centre, our church

building near Leicester City centre.

We'll announce our sixth site later this year, aiming to

launch this at the beginning of 2027.

We love gathering insights, but we also know we are stronger

together. Around 9 * a year we celebrate

this as we all gather at the One Centre for One Church together.

These gatherings are wonderful and important times of

celebration, outreach, infilling and sending out for the whole

One Church family. The One Centre is also our hub

of administration and midweek ministry.

Renovation of this building was completed in 2023.

It's the home of our church office, Way Coffee, and many of

our midweek groups for children, young people, young adults and

our seniors, alongside lots more activity and life.

We believe that being a multi site church is a strategy from

God where the strength of being 1 combines with the power of

being in many places. We're excited by the future and

to plant again seeing Leicestershire impacted for

Jesus. This is just a part of our

strategy and if you want to know a little bit more about where

we're going next and what we're going to do with the building

next door, make sure you're with us at the together, the next

Together, which is at the end of May.

So thirty of us that may put that in your Diaries.

So belonging is important. So we were not intended to live

the Christian life on our own. And God even uses in the Bible

the illustration of marriage to describe the way that Christ

loves the church. He loves his bride, and so

should we love the bride of Christ.

And you know, as David and I re engage from our holiday into all

of church life, reading our emails, looking at reports of

what had been happening and so on, I think our hearts were

filled with joy that we love Jesus, but also that we love the

church, that we're part of church's people.

The church, therefore, is flawed.

The church is also glorious, and the church is the means of Jesus

reaching the world with his message of love and with his

love as well. And we're each called to commit

to the church even though it's not perfect.

You know, we cannot, I believe, live an effective Christian life

without being part of the body of Christ.

I remember reading a story about a Scottish minister who went to

visit a member his of his flock who'd got out of the habit of

connecting into church. And he'd become very isolated

and very alone. And he went and sat with him in

his little cottage and there was a log fire or a coal fire

burning, and he just took, he didn't say a word.

He just took the tongues. And he picked out one of the

coals from the fire and put it on the hearth.

And he sat with this man, without saying a word, watching

the coal lose its warmth, turn from orange back to black.

And without a word, he looked at the man, just prayed a little

prayer and left. Point taken.

We can only thrive as we're part of the whole.

Let's make sure that our coals, if, as it were, are in the fire,

right in the heart of the fire of the people of God.

And you know that only you can play the part that you can play

and that you're meant to play because you are unique and you

have a specific place in the body of Christ.

And we're here to help you find it and to find joy.

As we serve together at one church, we believe in the power

of community. Our heart is for us to be a

place where each person is known and needed, known by us as well

as being known by God. This is part of why we've been

wearing our badges for the last few weeks, just so that we can

know even more people's names together.

So we all feel that we are known that we're needed as well,

because we're all needed to help one another to establish the

Kingdom of Jesus here with us. God's Word is clear.

It says this in Colossians 2. The whole body, supported and

held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes

it to grow. The body needs each other.

I can't be me without you fully, and you can't be you without me

and the others around you. We all need one another, and

it's all for the glory of Jesus. In Ephesians it says,

consequently you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but

fellow citizens with God's people and also members of his

household. There's another picture.

We're a part of a household built on the foundation of the

apostles and the prophets, with Jesus Christ himself as the

chief cornerstone, and in him the whole building is being

built together to become a holy temple in the Lord.

So we're being built together, as it were, into this house

where God will live by his Spirit.

In him. You are being built together to

become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit.

So together we are amazing and God has promised that He will

come and live within us as a body.

Now this morning we're going to practically look at how we can

be part of one church and in the family through small groups,

through financial giving and through playing our part.

So firstly, small groups. Now, as we all know, one church

is growing with more and more people finding Jesus, which is

wonderful, and finding home here.

And the Lord is breathing on us now, ensuring that people are

known and are needed and know that they're needed in a growing

body. It can be challenging.

So as we continue to grow, it's important also that we break out

into smaller family communities to help people to cultivate

friendship and to grow in Jesus together.

So This is why we believe so strongly in small groups in Acts

2, right at the very beginning of the early church, when the

Holy Spirit just been poured out on the the early church, we read

this. They, the believers, devoted

themselves to the apostles teaching and to fellowship, to

the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.

They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and

sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favour of all the

people. And the Lord added to their

number daily those who are being saved.

In the early church, the believers met in larger

gatherings, meeting together in the temple courts, as it were,

and in smaller, more personal meetings in people's homes.

And these small groups were places where the believers would

break bread together, where they would praise, where they would

pray, and they would learn together.

It was a space as well for people to be daily added into

the people of God. Now, we want our growing number

of small groups to be like that. We want to ensure there is a

place for every person who's finding Christ and being added

to the church. So what are one church small

groups like? Well, I can't tell you that

every single group is just like this because every group is a

little bit different to each other.

But there's a few things that are features of all of them.

There are regular gatherings of small groups all over the life

of our church, most of them in geographical locations, but some

of them age specific. For example, we have young

adults, small groups, and we have our youth have crews, what

they call crews, which are small groups that meet and they meet

as part of their gatherings on Fridays and Mondays.

But no two groups are exactly the same.

They meet in homes, they meet in different locations.

They're led by a wide variety of people who are trained and

committed to lead these groups and who are ready to welcome

each one of you. So what can we expect in a small

group? Well, in small groups, we dig

deeper into the Bible. This isn't a place where you

specifically teach the Bible. It's more a community where we

can learn to dig deep into the Bible together, learn from one

another, ask questions, grapple with the Scriptures, spur one

another on to go further In small groups as well.

We build relationships. We love each other.

We pray for one another and for the church and for the world,

just like in Acts 2. And care and support goes on in

small groups. In fact, much I would say, of

the lower level pastoral support in one church goes on within our

small groups. And it's always great for us to

hear if somebody's in a small group, we think, well, yes,

they've got a group of people who are caring for them, who are

loving them. Small groups are also places to

grow closer together, maybe to eat a meal together.

Most groups also organise occasional social events or

outreach events which they all take part in together and invite

others in. So why should we be in small

groups? Well, people in small groups in

Acts 2 as we heard and they were praising God and enjoying the

favour of all the people and the Lord added to them daily.

So here we can see that it's all about relationship.

It goes beyond what we can expect just from a Sunday

gathering. We can talk to a number of

people on a Sunday. We can get to know people

gradually. But as we get to meet with one

another regularly as part of small group, we get to know that

small group much, much more. And we can open ourselves up

hopefully to one another and experience deeper relationships.

Also care. As we've said, small groups, we

can be cared and supported and know that there are people who

love us, who walk with us, that maybe when we're poorly somebody

will bring us a meal, or when it's somebody's birthday, it

gets celebrated, all those sort of things.

What about growth? Small groups are places where we

grow, where we learn. Because of this shared wisdom,

because of coming around the Word of God and learning

together, we grow. People grow in small groups.

They get stronger in small groups.

We worship together, we reach out together and strength, it

strengthens our faith, it builds up the community, and it

encourages care among the body of Christ.

So it strengthens the whole church having people in small

groups. Now one church has many groups

and there will be one near you. So our encouragement to you

today is that if you've not yet committed to a small group

already, why wait? If you are in a small group, why

not just say thank you for the small group you're part of and

determine even more that you're going to be committed to that

group. You're going to give to that

group. You know, it's no good as

sometimes complaining about a group.

We are the change. We can we go and we make it what

we want it to be. So let's be committed to our

group. And in time, some of us may also

become a host, opening our home or even become a leader of a

small group as we can offer to be trained to lead one.

Let's just say thank you to our small group leaders.

They do an amazing job, often unseen.

Fantastic. Thank you.

So now we're going to watch another short video and this is

all about another really important way that we show our

commitment, our belonging to the family here at one church and

that is through our financial giving.

Hello. My name is Chris and I'm part of

the finance team at one church. This short video is all about

financial giving. In the Bible there are over 2000

references to wealth, money, and possessions.

Following Jesus leads us to give in many ways, whether that be of

our time, our talents, or our treasures.

Giving is an act of obedience. It demonstrates trust in God's

provision and submission to His Lordship.

Generous giving is one of the clearest ways that our faith

becomes visible and it shows where our heart lies.

As Jesus said in Matthew 6 verse 21, For where your treasure is,

Matthew 6:21

there your heart will be also. James 117 tells us that every

good and perfect gift is from the Father.

That includes our health, money, family gifts, and possessions.

In the parable of the talents in Matthew 25, Jesus highlights the

importance of stewarding all that we have been given with

great care, whether a small or a large amount.

The question that each of us must consider is this, do I see

what I have as my money or God's?

Our answer to this will determine how we behave with

money, just as our behaviour with money will reflect our

heart. We believe that anything we give

to God and His church is simply offering back to Him what is

already His. Firstly, we give because God

invites us to. Giving financially is a part of

our Christian walk and our loving relationship with God.

Secondly, we give to bless the church we are part of.

As we give to God through one church, resources are released

to run ministries, bless communities, cover staff costs,

and enable our vision to reach the lost, serve the poor, and

change the world. We do this together.

Thirdly, as we give, we are blessed.

Jesus said it is more blessed to give than to receive.

As we give out of obedience, we receive blessing into our lives

from the Father who loves us. In Luke 638 we even have Jesus.

Words of assurance. Give and it will be given to

you. We don't give so that we are

blessed, but we know we will be blessed when we give.

As a church we teach generous giving as modelled and taught in

the New Testament. There are many great causes to

support and invest into. We also believe that Christian

giving should be primarily toward and through the local

church. We belong to the community where

we worship and are pastored and cared for as an expression of

commitment and belonging. This is outlined in Galatians 6.

Many of us bring a tithe, which is 10% of our income.

The tithe is a significant biblical principle that

establishes the foundation for generous giving, but we do not

teach it as a mandate. Our standard is the New

Testament pattern giving that is regular, abortional, generous,

sacrificial, and cheerfully given.

There are many ways to give at one church.

Setting up a standing order so that a regular amount goes out

of our account is an efficient and faithful way to give.

This can be done quickly and easily today and only takes a

few minutes. We can also make regular or one

off gifts using cash, cheques, bank transfer or through the

website. Details can be found online or

on an envelope which is available today.

We can give on a Sunday in our sights or throughout the week

online or at the church office. We also ask you to consider

completing a Gift Aid declaration.

This allows UK taxpayers to boost every gift they bring by

25%. Thanks to this government's

support for charities and churches.

It is simple to set up online or using an envelope and makes a

massive difference. Giving to God is a decision, not

a compulsion. It is a privilege, not a

pressure. We express our heart towards God

by choosing to give back to the One who so loved that He gave

and in doing so we are both blessed and changed.

We love because He first loved us.

Make a choice, start today and go on a journey that will change

your life. This.

Is our giving. Amen.

Wonderful, wonderful video and how wonderful to play our part

by giving our resources to God. Why don't you just stop for a

moment, Just say thank you to God for what he has given to you

and just ask for the grace to to give back to Him proportionally.

You know, that's been life changing for David and for me

and we've constantly seen the blessing of God as we've given

to him. You can never out give God.

You know that you can never out give him.

So we've looked at small groups, financial giving and finally

we're going to talk about playing our part.

So I've had a bit of a habit recently.

I have an E bike. I've had a little bit of a habit

of occasionally falling off my bike recently when a dog ran at

the wheels on my way back from the Oak Centre in Braunstone on

a Sunday morning and I toppled off onto the path.

Even a small injury in a part of your body, have you noticed

this? If you've had any injury, it can

take time and exercise and management to get it back to

where it was before. And I by the way, I renounced

that habit in the light of the Freedom Manager.

I reliance the habit of falling off my bike in Jesus name.

But most of us may have may have had an injury in a part of our

body at some point. And if so, we'll know from

experience that every single part of our body is important,

even our little toe. If you stubbed your little toe,

you'll know it's an important part of the body.

And the human picture is a great picture in the Bible of the body

of Christ and how the church is meant to function together,

everyone playing their part. Just read this with me from 1

Corinthians 12. The body has many different

parts, not just one. If the foot says I'm not part of

the body because I'm not a hand, that does not make it any less a

part of the body. And if the ear says I'm not a

part of the body because I'm not an eye, would that make it any

less a part of the body? And if the whole body were an

eye, what? How would you hear if your whole

body was an ear? How would you smell anything?

But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just

where He wants it. How strange a body would be if

it only had one part. Yes, there are many parts, but

only one body. The eye can never say to the

hand I don't need you, and the head can't say to the feet I

don't need you. All of you together.

This is an amazing verse. All of you together are Christ's

body. Just think of that.

We're all together making up the body of Christ and each one of

you is a part of it. We are all called to purpose.

I often say to people, you're called on purpose for purpose.

You are God's masterpiece. It says in Ephesians 2 verse 10,

Ephesians 2:10

created anew in Christ Jesus to do the good things He prepared

for you long ago. He's planned good things for you

to do, and he's called you and made you for a reason.

As soon as we come to Christ, we're called on purpose.

We also become part of His body here on the earth.

It is however, possible to live as a believer and because of

hurt or because of lack of understanding or priority, to

never fully play our part. Now, hopefully the talk on

freedom a couple of weeks ago will have helped us to be set

free from anything that might hold us back from trusting Him

or from launching into serving. But to take an active part in

serving Jesus in and through the local church is part of His plan

for you, and together we fulfil His purposes on the earth.

So here's a few facts. We all have gifts.

Just say, say to yourself, I've got gifts.

Some of us find that hard to say.

We'll say, well, we'll look at this person, they've got an

amazing gift in this. We look at this person, wow,

they're so gifted. What about me?

We all have gifts. We're all incredible people who

are deeply loved and created by the one who loves us most.

However, some of us might buy into that lie of I'm not gifted.

It's simply not true because all of us have what we might call

the shape in God, and every aspect of us can be used by Him

as we simply give it to Him. So we're going to very briefly,

before we outline ways that we can serve, we're going to very

briefly look at the letters of the word shape and different

ways that we can be shaped personally for what God has for

us. This gives us just a little

snapshot of how He's made us spiritual gifts.

S follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts.

It says in one Corinthians 14 it's right to desire spiritual

gifts. We're not going to go into the

list of spiritual gifts in the Bible today, but I wonder, do

you have an awareness of where you might be especially gifted

by God? Have a look at the lists that

are in the Bible of the ways that God can gift us and build

those gifts. Recognise where He's gifted you.

Build those gifts and use them for Him in and through the body.

What about H heart? What really motivates you?

You know, you often get to hear people's heart not very long

after you start talking to them, don't you?

Because what is in your heart comes out of your mouth.

So some people, they've just got a passion for certain things,

haven't they? What some things that really

really care about that really motivate them that really get

them up in the morning that they love, they love music or they

love to be creative, or they have a real heart for the poor,

or they have a real heart for a particular people group, or they

just love what they do in their job.

God can take your heart and he can use those desires to

motivate your serving. What about a your abilities?

This is quite simple one. What are the things that you can

simply do? What training have you had?

What are you simply good at? Are you a practical person?

Believe me, there are practical jobs that can be done in and

around the body of Christ that can really help the Kingdom.

But whatever our abilities are, then they can be used by God.

What about P personality? What sort of person are you?

What energises you? Are you more energised by

creating or constructing, caring, encouraging, planning,

writing, thinking, ordering? God can use your specific

personality the way that you're wired.

Are you a more outgoing person who loves to talk to people?

Are you a more introverted person who loves to read and to

study? God can use your specific

personality as you yield it to Him.

And fifthly, experiences. What have you learnt from your

life so far? Even the hardest experiences

that you've had in your life, the Bible tells us, can be used

to bless others. If you just look at 2

Corinthians 1, we can comfort others with the comfort we have

ourselves received from God. So whatever you've been through,

it can be used to help and encourage someone else.

Nothing in your life is wasted. We are all called to purpose.

We're all uniquely shaped and call to play our part.

So today just simply acknowledge your gifts matter.

They're important. You are uniquely designed.

Don't ever say I'm only this or I'm only that.

Celebrate the way that God has made you and the gifts that he

has given you and the difference you can make.

So we're going to think of a few ways that you can find your

place. So it may be that you already

are thriving in serving in and through the local church here in

one church. It may be you've not yet found

your place, or it may be that there's something else that God

is calling you to be a part of. So firstly, on a Sunday, here's

a few ideas of ways you can get involved.

Of course, our lives are far more than what happens on a

Sunday. But Sunday morning is very

important in building church because it's the way we open the

door to others coming in. It's where we come and we

worship together and we learn together and we grow together as

family. So will you play your part in

that? So here's some ways you can.

What about hospitality teams? What about welcoming people into

the car park, just indicating where they can park their cars?

It makes a difference. What if somebody's new to

church, they'd never been before to see a smiling face on the car

park. What an amazing thing for them

to have. What about the connect point

where you're just helping people getting connected into church

life or being part of the welcoming team, just helping

people find their seats? What about the refreshments team

putting people at ease by giving them a drink before the service

or after the service? These teams are all vital in

just setting the culture. It might seem a very small

thing, but if we can just sign up to be part of refreshments

once every few weeks, that makes a massive difference.

And what about other teams like the production team?

The sound, the lighting, the media, everything you see on the

screen, you know, Would you like to help to create an atmosphere

for everyone to encounter the presence of God?

Because this is what it's about. What about the worship team?

People who musically lead people into the presence of God through

song or through playing instruments and a worshipping

heart? If that's you, then why not step

out of the shadows and sign up for an audition?

We do need to audition people because, you know, we want to

make sure that people have that level of gift that is needed.

But why not step out to have an audition, have a chat?

What about children? Our children are out at the

moment in their groups and it's lovely to hear new people

serving even today. There's a variety of roles

available in our Sunday groups. You don't have to be doing the

upfront teaching. We need people who will sit with

children with special needs and just help them.

We need people who will be a helper, who will pour the

drinks, who will sit with the children, help them to listen,

help them to learn. What a wonderful privilege to be

part of children experiencing encountering God and learning

about His Word. What about youth?

Do you have a heart for young people?

We have many amazing teenagers in one church and we run groups

on the Sunday as well. Why don't you sign up and

register your interest to be part of that?

And it's not just younger people who can do that, it's any age.

Again, so vital, so rewarding. And then in the midweek we have

all sorts of stuff going on in and through the life of one

church. You see them highlighted on a

Sunday when we have family news. Today we heard a bit about Open

Hands Appeal for food. That's a way you can contribute,

but Open Hands is our compassion charity.

There are numerous opportunities to get involved.

Serving guests face to face in our weekly sessions.

If you have freedom in the week is a wonderful way.

We need to build up our teams again on a Tuesday and a

Thursday morning, serving guests with food and clothing and

furniture, praying with people. What about serving a meal on our

pie night once every three weeks on a Tuesday evening?

What an amazing opportunity to meet the needs of some of the

most vulnerable people in our city, get to talk to them about

Jesus, get to pray with some of them.

What about teaching our English classes or supporting roles like

sorting, delivering, collection, administration?

There are all sorts of things to be done in open hands behind the

scenes. What about Wake coffee, open to

the public all week? The vision of it is that we

serve excellent food, excellent drinks, but also that we are

able to share Jesus with hundreds of people who walk in

through the doors. What a ministry.

And we limit, you know, the people who come and serve in in

way to those people who really are dedicated believers because

we want to keep that culture of sharing Jesus.

We've seen many people find Jesus through Wave coffee or

Wave coffee has been part of their journey already.

What about little ones, our groups connecting with parents,

carers and under fives. Would you like to help Philippa

and the team? We'd love to have your help,

even if it's serving drinks, even if you're older and all you

do is sit and talk to somebody. It's an amazing ministry.

We've even got some young mums and carers who are ready now to

do the alpha that we're going to run in a few weeks time.

What about Rise and Reach, our groups for children aged 7 to 11

on a Tuesday and five to sevens. Every month we have a group

called Rise alongside our OC Kids team.

We need a group of energetic, encouraging, passionate

volunteers to come alongside them and to reach out to these

children and to the friends that they bring who can come to find

Jesus. Would you like to join that

team? And then there are groups

serving children and young people through our Bronston Oaks

Centre Community Centre. Wonder if you'd like to be part

of that impact? The Hub providing a fun, safe

and nourishing environment for young people, for children from

that specific area of our city. An OC youth on a Friday night,

you know, alongside an amazing younger youth team.

It would be great to have some mum and dad figures who will

come alongside our young people to help to disciple them, just

to be someone for them to talk to, to help them grow in their

faith in Jesus. What about young adults on a

Monday night? We have a group for our

eighteens to 25 thirties. They're looking for community

with other believers and wanting to go deeper with God personally

and reach out to those who are not yet believers.

You know, if you have those gifts and you feel you would

like to be involved with working with young adults, then there's

a place for you. And there's a place for you if

you want to be part of reaching out to our amazing seniors

through loving later life. On a Thursday during term time,

we provide every other week a coffee morning or a meal.

But our heart is for every senior to keep growing in faith,

to witness, to worship through to the very end of their life.

Would you like to join a group to be part of that, or would you

like to join a team to visit senior people in their homes?

We wanted to build a A-Team through one church, and it's a

great need in every site to visit a senior person maybe once

a month. And finally, what about prayer?

Because all those areas need prayer.

But on a Friday morning, 7:00 to 7:30 AM, there's a door open for

everybody on Zoom. David and I host a church prayer

meeting. It's called the Prayer Army.

And we have all precious, powerful time as we pray over a

wide variety of people, issues and stuff.

It's fun, isn't it, David? We love it.

We love Friday morning. We get there, put on our

computer, and off we go. And some people join them on the

bus on their way to work. Some people put their screens

on, some people don't, and it's a joy to pray together just for

half an hour, but it makes a difference.

And any other gifts you have, just think about, well, how

Lord, am I going to use these gifts to serve in the life of

your church? I'm just going to share a quote

with you from John Stott, who was a very influential Anglican

theologian. He was taken by his mother to

church as a boy, and he later pastored the church, the very

same church that he was taken to as a boy for most of his life.

And he said this. The church lies at the very

centre of the eternal purpose of God.

Do you believe that the church is at the heart of God's

purposes for this world? He's not created another plan.

The church is his plan. It's not a divine afterthought.

It's not an accident of history. On the contrary, the church is

God's new community. For God's purpose is not just to

save isolated individuals, but to build His church, that is, to

call out of the world a people for his own glory.

Because the church actually, the ecclesia, the word that means

church actually means called out ones.

It's the ones called out of the world for his glory.

We may all get dissatisfied, even disillusioned at times with

some aspects of the church, but we must be committed to it

because God is. Jesus said I will build my

church. So what a wonderful purpose.

We all have a part to play. Do you believe that you all have

a part to play within the body of Christ, the family of God?

And we celebrate each of you. So I wonder what's your part And

think about today. We've thought about small

groups. Are you part of one?

Well, be even more committed to it.

Pray for your leaders, be part of it.

Go regularly. Are you not yet part of one?

We'll Sign up today to express your interest to be part of 1.

What about financial giving? Where do you think you're at?

Is your giving expressing your heart for God?

Do you need to readjust it? Do you need to start that

journey today? And what about serving?

Next week we're going to talk about being out there in the

world. But today is all about serving

God in and through the local church.

Here at One Church. Just think, well, where am I

gifted, where am I gifted and how am I being challenged to

take that next step to go that little bit further and use my

gifts? The Lord bless you and keep you

the Lord. Make His face shine upon you and

be gracious to you, the Lord. Turn his face towards you and

give you peace.