Sunday 18th June was our second Frontline Sunday, exploring how we meet and serve God in the places we spend everyday life: our frontlines.
Jen spoke on Genesis 28: 10-22: Wherever we are. You can download the talk here or listen on the player below.
We used the video from LICC below to introduce the theme.
Our Central Gathering Talks this term are helping us think through how we meet and serve God in the places where we spend everyday life: our homes, workplaces, neighbourhoods. We call these our Frontlines.
We are using LICC’s Frontline Sunday material. You can watch a short video introducing the theme below.
If you are new to Kairos then we would like to welcome you to our church family.
We have a pattern of meetings that includes central gatherings and expressions of Church in smaller groups known as missional or Kairos communities. Each of these communities follows a pattern of worship, fellowship and mission which we often refer to as Up, In and Out.
We have recognised that with this pattern of meetings it can be more difficult to understand when and how we meet. It can also be hard to know which community is the best for you. So, the aim of Springboard is to introduce you to the vision and values of Kairos and to discern your mission focus and therefore which community you would like to join. As we journey together in the Springboard community, we will help in this by asking: “What is God saying to you?” and “What am I going to do about it?”
We would expect Springboard to be a temporary community for you lasting around six months. Our plan would be to encourage as much engagement as possible with Central gatherings and the evening prayer and worship events. We will try to include a monthly meal together probably on a Sunday and we will hold fortnightly midweek evening meetings which will encourage us by building community and learning the vision and values of Kairos and helping each other to hear from God.
We hope that this pattern of meeting will also give space to attend other communities events i.e. Forest Church, Messy Church.
If you’d be interested in joining or hearing more about this community please contact Chris and Kathryn Watson via welcome@kairoschurch.net . We hope to start after the May half term break.
As we move towards the end of Lent we get closer to Easter and walk with Jesus through the last few days of his life as he journeyed to the cross and then the empty grave.
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Hebrews 12: 2+3
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. 1 John 3:16
True and humble king,
hailed by the crowd as Messiah:
grant us the faith to know you and love you,
that we may be found beside you
on the way of the cross,
which is the path of glory.
Alternative Collect for Palm Sunday and Holy Week.
Ponder: Take some time this week to reflect on your journey through Lent.
You might like to read Psalm 139 again. What has god been showing you as you reflect and invite God to examine your life?
What have you tried this Lent, have any practices stuck?
Have you formed any habits?
What are you most grateful for right now, and what are you least grateful for? What can you learn from these things?
Is there anything from this journey you want to take with you past Easter and into the summer?
Celebrate
We’ve got lots going on in Holy Week (the next few days from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday). Come and join in as we celebrate and mark this week.
On Palm Sunday we’ll be worshipping at 9am Communion and 11am Central Gathering.
There will be prayer stations to help you creatively engage with the Easter story set up in the Kairos room. The room will be open Tuesday and Wednesday 10-4pm.
On Tuesday there will be Easter Family Fun for all ages from 10-11:30am in the Hall
On Wednesday there’ll be prayer for justice, and especially IJM, in the Kairos room at 7:30pm.
Join in 24 hours of prayer from Maundy Thursday. Sign up for an hour or more at: bit.ly/kairosprayerroom. There’ll be a simple communion service at 6pm on Maundy Thursday in this room.
On Good Friday we will gather, with Christians across the town, for an outdoor service on Good Friday, 11am at the War Memorial.
There will also be an hours reflective service in the Kairos Room at 3pm.
On Easter Sunday we’ll celebrate with others in Kairos at 10am.
I’d love to invite you to join with us at these things as we pray, worship and celebrate together.
I’d also like to encourage you to consider who you could invite to come with you.
I am able to share God’s story and my story.
Your story is caught up in God’s great story of creation, fall, redemption and new creation. Your story has always been part of God’s story and with each step you take following Jesus the stories become more intertwined.
Sometimes we find it hard to understand or articulate this, sometimes we’re not sure about the story we are telling or want to tell, or about the stories we’ve heard about God. But God invites us to immerse ourselves in God’s story. The primary way we will be able to do that is as we read, explore and chew over the bible. Its the bible that shows us the story God is telling. One of my favourite ways I’ve heard the bible described is as ‘a unified story that points to Jesus.’
You also have a story that you are living out and telling to the world, it is a story of God and you and the people around you, it is a story where the hero is Jesus! You are one of the best demonstrations and explanations of what it looks like to follow Jesus in the present day.
How confident do you feel telling God’s story?
What is the story that your life tells?
But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. 1 Peter 3:15
Thank you Father that I have a story
and I’m part of your story.
Help me find my voice,
and share our stories well.
Amen.
Ponder
Do you find it easy to read, understand and tell the story the bible tells?
What might help you grow in confidence about knowing and sharing God’s story?
What are you most grateful for about scripture? What do you find hard or difficult?
When do you get to encounter the bible? How often do you find yourself reading, listening to or sharing God’s word?
How do you feel about the story your life is telling?
What is your story? Why is it that you are trying to follow Jesus?
What is God teaching you or doing in you at this time?
Try This
Are you intrigued about the idea of the bible as a ‘unified story that points to Jesus’? Its a phrase used by The Bible Project.
Their website is full of videos and tools to help make the bible more understandable and shareable. Why not spend some time exploring: bibleproject.com
If you are working through a book or some daily readings try telling someone else about it. If you aren’t try asking some Kairos friends what they use.
Can you describe why you are following Jesus? Take some time to write down your story. Thank God for it, and ask for a chance to share part of it with others.
Can you describe what God is showing you or teaching you right now? Can you think of a way to describe what you are practicing or trying this Lent? Again write a few thoughts down, thank God and ask for a chance to share.
Deliberately practice telling other people about things your are interested in or passionate about – often people are interested in people who have interests. This doesn’t have to be specifically faith related – just practice getting used to sharing the things that are important to you.
Practice asking others what they are interested in or thinking about. Often we miss out on sharing stories because we don’t ask people about theirs.
Do you use social media? Is there a way you could share a part of God’s story in a positive, generous, loving way.
Continue a ‘try this’ practice you found helpful last week.
On Sunday Jen about the fourth of our journey statements: ‘I have friends who aren’t yet Christians and can spot people of peace.’
The reading was Luke 9: 1-5 + 10: 1-7. You can download the talk here or listen on the player below.
Read more about friendship here.
I have friends who aren’t yet Christians and can spot people of peace.
We are not called to keep ourselves to ourselves or to stay within our own little bubbles. Just like his followers in the New Testament, Jesus sends us out into our everyday lives.
It can be very easy to either stick with groups who think or act just like us, or to adapt our ways of speaking and thinking to match the people we spend life with. Jesus sends us out with a greeting of peace: we can make friends with people around us, and we have something distinctive to offer – our relationship with Him!
As we get to know a wider range of people we find that our own experience and understanding grows. We’ll be better able to practice curiosity and empathy, we’ll be less at risk of isolating ourselves and can learn how others make sense of and understand the world.
We’ll also start to spot people of peace – those people in whom God is already at work, who God is drawing to Godself. These people get to take a step closer to Jesus because they happen to know you!
Whatever house you enter, begin by saying, ‘Peace to this house.’ Luke 10: 5
Lord I give my relationships to you.
Show me how to build friendships with people different to me,
train me to use empathy and curiosity to build links
so that I might learn from others,
and help them come closer to you.
Amen.
Ponder
Where do you get to spend time with people who are different to you?
More specifically where do you get to be with people who don’t share your faith?
How easy do you find it to be yourself in those places?
Do you ever find yourself getting nervous or defensive, or overly judgemental and offensive? How might you become someone who can offer peace?
Think about your friendships, who might God already be working in, drawing them to Godself?
Are there people who might be interested in an invitation to a coffee, to try out a Kairos Community or Gathering, or just to spend a bit more time with you?
Try This
Perhaps you have lots of friends who aren’t yet Christians, spend some time praying for them. Ask God to Awaken them to his love, bless them, Increase their curiosity and draw them want to explore more.
Ask God to show you if there are people in your life who are already curious or interested in faith. Pray for that person each day and ask God to show you how to encourage them as they explore.
Perhaps you don’t have many friends but you do already have a place where you get to meet people who don’t think or act or live as you do? Think of a way you could invest in friendships in that place. That could be deliberately staying there longer, finding the social spots in that area, or trying to get to know one person there better.
Perhaps you find it hard to identify places where you get to mix with people. Ask God to show you how to do that, think about places you do go that you know others will also inhabit. Talk through your thoughts with another Kairos person, or with your Kairos Community.
When you meet with others from Kairos, include some time to name and pray for people you each think might be ‘people of peace.’
I experience fruitfulness on my frontlines.
God invites us to experience fruitfulness in the places where we are planted. We have started to use LICC’s language of frontlines – a place where we are often, where we get to know people around us and are involved in some sort of activity or work. A frontline could be a workplace or school, a home or neighbourhood, a club or social group you spend lots of time with.
Fruitfulness is not just about looking for opportunities to tell people about Jesus. Its about discovering how to live with purpose in those place, staying connected to Jesus and so bearing fruit.
LICC talk about 6Ms of fruitfulness. Together these give a holistic impression – fruitfulness looks like:
And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3:17
May the Father who loves us, the Son who sends us
and the Spirit who empowers us be with us and bless us,
Wherever we go, whatever we do, whoever we’re with,
To His praise and glory, Amen.
from ‘The One About’ by Mark Greene. © LICC Ltd, 2018.
Ponder
Where do you spend most of your time. How do you feel about describing these places as your frontlines?
What are you most grateful and least grateful for about these places?
Read the description of fruit in Galatians 5: 13-23. How might your life display more of God’s fruitfulness?
Take some time top read through the list of 6Ms. Can you spot ways you are already doing these things on your frontline.
Is there one of the 6Ms that intrigues you, that you don’t quite understand or that you want to learn more about?
Try This
Take some time to watch LICC’s 6M people. Notice what these stories prompt in you. How do they inspire you to embrace fruitfulness on your frontline. If you want to go further you could try the 6MOT. https://licc.org.uk/ourresources/6m-people/
Map out the places where you spend most of your week and the people you often meet there. Spend some time praying for those places, ask the Holy Spirit to help you be fruitful in those places.
Think about some of the people you encounter on these frontlines. Spend some time praying for them.
Talk with someone (perhaps in your community) about your frontlines. Tell them something about the challenges and opportunities you face there. Ask them about the places they spend everyday life and pray for each other. Are there any ways you could serve or encourage each other as you seek fruitfulness?
Continue a ‘try this’ practice you found helpful last week.
I am in a Kairos Community the grows my faith.
This week in our Lent Examen journey our focus is Community. As someone created in God’s image you are created for relationships. God is love, so you are made to love and to be loved. Our call as a church focusses on three things, loving God, building community and sharing Jesus.
Community is built by developing relationships and Kairos Communities build relationships around a particular mission purpose. You might be a leader of one of these communities, you might be an active participant – part of that groups core, you may be more on the fringe of one or two communities: getting a feel for them, trying them out. These smaller communities have a life span and change and grow, that means some of us may not be in a community right now, or might never have found a place that fits.
Wherever we are in terms of Kairos Community, we can all invest and develop relationships within Kairos. We can all get to know someone, or invite them into our life. We can all invest in others.
The thing is: many of us probably think other people are better connected, with healthier relationships, than we are. And many of us may feel lonely or isolated from time to time. Love is proactive! How might you take initiative and invest in relationships with one, two or three others?
One thing I love that some of our communities are currently doing is breaking down into smaller groups of 2 or 3 for regular prayer or accountability. Are there a couple of other people you could meet with regularly as you encourage each other to follow Jesus?
Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another.
Hebrews 10: 24 – 25
Ponder
Who are the people in Kairos that make you most grateful?
What does community look like for you right now?
Can you think of ways in which other people are helping you grow your faith?
How are you helping others grow theirs?
Read a story or two about Jesus’ meals with friends
(try Luke 10:38-42, John 12: 1-8 or Matthew 26: 17 – 30).
Ask God to show you something new about Jesus’ community.
Is there anyone you might like to get to know better or build relationship with?
Are there ways you could invest in others or help welcome them?
Try This
Visit a Community, try out one or two of their activities.
Have a conversation with someone in your community about how you might grow or develop your shared life together.
Invite someone from Kairos for a coffee, food, or a conversation. Learn about their life.
Ask one or two other people to meet with you and pray together.
Continue a ‘try this’ practice you found helpful last week.
On Sunday 5th March Paul Dowling spoke on the third of our Journey Statements: I experience fruitfulness on my frontlines. The reading was John 15: 1-17. You can download the talk here or listen on the player below.
To explore our Journey Statements a bit more have a look at our Lent Examen Journey.
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