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Sermons by Chris Johnson

Starting with God: Intimacy

Chris continues our journey in Starting with God by this week looking at having intimacy with God. At the foot of Mount Sinai God spoke to His people who he had guided out of slavery in Egypt. They were so afraid that none of them wanted to go up the mountain and seek true intimacy with Him, they rejected God’s true purpose for them because of fear. We now, through Jesus, recieve that same invitation to experience the fulness of God. Will we accept or will we – like the Israelites – be content with holding God at arm’s length?

Ant leads the rest of the service whilst Pete and Nick lead our sung worship.

Starting With God: Wrestling With God

This week we held our annual Covenant Service for 2026 where we re-commission our leaders and renew our covenant with each other and with God. Chris also continues our new series “Starting with God”, looking the story from Genesis where Jacob wrestles with God. Until this point Jacob has tried to fit God into his own worldview, mould God into what he thinks God should be. It’s only when God reaches deep and humbles Jacob that he sees the error of his ways and learns to surrender. How often do we act the same?

Susan leads the rest of the service and our sung worship is led by Mike and Lynne.

Can These Bones Live?

Our all age service for February focusses on Ezekiel’s vision of God bringing the dry bones to life. Ant and Chris help lead us through the story where the idea is very simple: even when we feel dry and hopeless God can restore us to life. Pete and Nick lead our sung worship this week.

Starting With God: Introduction

This week we begin a new series focussing on re-setting our relationship with God. In the introduction Chris lays out what the series will encompass using the illustration of a jigsaw puzzle. The final piece that completes the puzzle is Jesus, but how do we ensure that we don’t lose him in the noise of life?

Karen leads the rest of the service with sung worship this week led by Pete and Nick.

Year Text in Context 2026

At the beginning of the year we revealed our year text for 2026: “Wherever the river flows, it will bring life”. Now Chris puts this verse in its original context. The Israelites were a divided kingdom (sound familiar?) who had abandoned God (sound familiar?) to worship other idols (you get the idea), and as a result had been handed over to the Babylonians. Ezekiel, writing in the midst of this exile, was shown a vision of the water flowing from the temple, a symbol of the restoration of Jerusalem and the coming of God’s Spirit. A sign of hope that all is not lost!

Andy leads the rest of the service as we hold our first Communion of the year and Mike leads our sung worship.

Vision Service 2026

For our first service of 2026 we hold our annual vision service where Chris gives us the opportunity to look back over how God has blessed us as a church during 2025 and the good things that He has planned for 2026, which just so happens to be our 175th Anniversary year. We also reveal our text for the year: “Wherever the river flows it will bring life”. More on that in a few weeks time!

Susan leads the rest of the service and Pete leads our sung worship.

Epiphany: A Journey of Faith

For our final service of 2025 Chris speaks on the visit of the Magi, commonly celebrated at the traditional festival of Epiphany. The wise men were the first recorded people who seemingly understood and worshipped Jesus as God, not just as a new messenger or prophet. It wasn’t the Jewish teachers, or people who knew the Law really, really well, but (an unknown number of!) non-Jews who God chose to reveal the birth of His son to and guide so they could worship. How can we seek God’s guidance so He can reveal the path to us as well?

Andy leads the rest of the service, revealing his nerdy love of maps and navigation, whilst Pete leads our sung worship.

Love: The Invitation to Trust – Advent 2025, Week Four

In the final of our Advent series we look at the invitation that God gives us to trust in Him and the Son he sent to save us. Chris speaks on the love that God has for us, despite all our failings, that he sent Jesus to be one of us, live amongst us, and ultimately to die for us.

Karen leads the rest of the service as we share Communion together for the final time this year and Mike leads our sung worship.