Aim: To consider what the Bible says about same-sex relationships

God created us as sexual beings with the capacity to be sexually intimate with one another. The “traditional” view held by many Evangelical Christians states that God’s ideal is for the gift of sexual intimacy to be enjoyed exclusively between one man and one woman, for life, within the context of marriage. However, today more and more voices from both within and without the church are calling for change. What about sexual intimacy between those of the same sex? Why should two committed men, or two committed women not be allowed to enjoy the gift that God has given them? In this session we will seek to explore, in a non-judgemental atmosphere, such things as what God says about same-sex attraction and sexual intimacy, are Christians guilty of homophobia and how should we act towards our friends who are gay.

Key Bible Verses: Romans 3:23, 1 Corinthians 6:9

Aim: To explore the pros and cons of being single and how to cope with temptation.

We are all made for relationships with other people.  Many people therefore find it difficult, or see themselves as a failure, if they are not in an intimate relationship.  This can often lead to poor choices in our lives that gets us into trouble.
Our priority should therefore always be our relationship with God.  If we get this right, the rest will be much easier.

Key Bible Verse: Luke 10:27

Aim: To recognise the hope that we have, and realise its importance to others

We have an important gift from God. It’s hope. It’s the knowledge that God is in charge, and that he’s for us, he cares about us, that he has plans for us. This week we’re going to focus on remembering that hope that we carry inside of us, and realising it’s power to transform lives, personally, locally and globally. We’ll be considering some organisations using the word ‘hope’ in their titles too: the challenge laid out by the Hope 08 initiative and how that continues locally, and an inspiring strategy from the organisation Hope HIV.

Key Bible Verses: Jeremiah 29:11-14

We’ve got an exciting opportunity to join up with other local churches to go to Soul Survivor this year. We’d love you to be involved, so for more information read the letter.

Get the consent form here!

Are you up for a night of games with consoles, networked PCs and plenty of food? Yep? We’ve got just the ticket. Our fun packed upper school sleepover has all this, plus some great time hanging out with friends. We’d love to see you and your mates there, and yeah, we’re a church, but there’s no preaching on this sleepover – we promise! (Of course, if you want to ask us awkward questions about God and stuff, well, we’ll try and answer them, but we wanna have fun on the consoles too!) Up for it? Just get your parent/guardian to sign the form available for download above (if you’re really nice you could fill it in ready for them!). Then get it to Chris Johnson at Russell Park Baptist Church Office, 90 Denmark Street by Wednesday 10 Feb with £3 for your food. Don’t forget to bring a sleeping bag and PJs. Boys and girls will be sleeping separately, when you’ve had enough of the games! You’ll need to be picked up by 10am on 14 Feb (or stick around for the church service).

Aim: To explore a positive Christian perspective on alcohol, and generally pleasing God

Christians are far more known for what they’re not into than what they are. Therefore, rather than this Sunday’s teaching being about the negative effects of too much alcohol, we’re looking at the subject from another perspective – how can we best please God, and why would we want to? We’ll consider our relationship with God, how this can be helped and harmed, and how we can live authentically as we were designed: to please God.

Key Bible Verses: 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12

Aim: To explore the meaning of integrity and why it is more important than ever in today’s society

Integrity is a foreign concept to many in society today, for whom it is no problem to hold different sets of values and beliefs according to the arena in which we find ourselves. In this session, we’ll be reflecting on Simon Guillebaud’s challenge to completely lay down our lives for Christ, and allowing Christ to shine through us and seeking the Holy Spirit to be our moral and spiritual compass in every situation, not just when we’re around other Christians.

Key Bible Verses: Luke 14:25-35

Varied and funny, yet with a realism that roots it all. One performance only, so don’t miss out!

Snippets, Scripture and Songs is the title, and we’ll be performing on the morning of Sunday 20th Dec, at 10.15am.

It’ll be instead of our ‘normal’ Sunday service, so come prepared for a change!

There’s more to come, so watch this space!