Recordings of the Laurence Turner study weekend are now available.

(more…)

We are very pleased to announce that Dr Laurence Turner will be with us on March 11-12.

More details can be found here…

Regular visitors will know that we run two ‘study weekends’ every year.  The spring conference has a more ‘theological’ bias and the autumn a more ‘practical’ bias.

So, get your best thinking hats on…

The first of the 2016 study weekends.

Our speaker is Dr Laurence Turner, retired Principal Lecturer in Old Testament at Newbold College.

Synopsis

Genesis 1-11 provides an introduction to the whole of Scripture.  It has always been considered foundational for everything that follows.  Unfortunately, in recent years it has also become controversial.  Most of these controversies rage over matters of science and history.  However, the primary purpose of these chapters in Genesis is spiritual.  So, we will spend time assessing the spiritual value of Genesis 1-11 by reading the text closely and asking what significance its words would have for its original readers.  The aim will be to show how unexpectedly radical the narratives actually are and their relevance for us in the 21^st century.  Once we appreciate those matters we might have a different response to the usual scientific and historical questions.

Audio recordings

• Session 1, Friday night
• Session 2, Sabbath School time
• Session 3, Sabbath Service
• Session 4, Sabbath afternoon
• Session 5, Sabbath evening

plus PowerPoint presentations.

We are trying out a new idea on Friday evenings commencing 5th February. Come along to Steve and Muriel’s home for food and conversation.

The subject for our first gathering is “You are what you read, or you read what you are?”. What ideas of your own do you bring to your understanding of what the Bible says? Are you a “plain reader” or do you think “it’s all metaphor”? Or are you somewhere in the middle? How do you decide for yourself what the words mean?

Soup and bread will be served from 6pm with the discussion commencing at 7pm. All welcome including children.

It is with great pleasure that we welcome back our former pastor, Llew Edwards (and Karin!), to our church.  He will be leading out in a weekend of study and practical Christian advice.  All events are happening at the Church unless otherwise indicated.

• 7-8:30pm ‘Living Against the Flow’ (MP3 recording)

• 10am ‘Mind the Gap’ (MP3 recording – FYI the video referred to by Llew is a Skoda advert with the tag line “It’s a Skoda – Honest“).
  
• 11:15am ‘The Call of Matthew’ – Matthew 9:9-13 (MP3 recording and PowerPoint slides)
  
• 5pm until late, informal gathering with supper, discussion and a devotional

Sunday

• 8:30. A proper full-on Sunday breakfast!  Many many thanks to Gail and Grant and the kitchen helpers.
• 10-11:30am. Workshop. With MP3 recording plus PowerPoint. More stories about Ritz Carlton and their ethos can be found on their website along with the ‘Gold Standards’. The videos featured by Llew were
  • Shangri-La Hotel “It’s in Our Nature“
  • Ritz Carlton Istanbul shoe shine
• Afternoon.  As Llew now lives in the grim South East of the UK we feel it’s only fair that we try to drag him up a local hill.  So there will be a hill walk for the adventurous.