[welcome st peters baptist church worcester] new fusion connection church

We would like to welcome st peter's baptist church worcester to the Fusion Connection.

To find out more about St Peters, you can look at their page on the Find a Church area of the Church Connection area of the site.

If you would like to know more about how your church could join the Fusion Connection you you can find more information here...

[welcome ebenezer community ministries] new fusion connection church

We would like to welcome ebenezer community ministries to the Fusion Connection.

To find out more about Ebenezer, you can look at their page on the Find a Church area of the Church Connection area of the site.

If you would like to know more about how your church could join the Fusion Connection you you can find more information here...

[welcome riverside church birmingham] new fusion connection church

We would like to welcome riverside church birmingham to the Fusion Connection.

To find out more about Riverside, you can look at their page on the Find a Church area of the Church Connection area of the site.

If you would like to know more about how your church could join the Fusion Connection you you can find more information here...

[One voice: global poverty prayer week] Key partner news

What’s as ancient as Abraham yet more powerful than the Prime Minister?  It can separate seas and move mountains, bandage up brokenness and transform towns. You don’t need to be a genius…   

Prayer! We stand with our feet planted in a world rife with injustice but with our hands outstretched. We try to grab hold of this place where there is no more suffering, no more tears.  What’s in between? Jesus said we should pray to our Father. ‘Your Kingdom come… here on earth, as it is in heaven.’

One Voice: Global Poverty Prayer Week 2010

In March we’re looking for a global community – full of passion and faith for a different world – to pray.  We’re going to see an army gather across the world; one church raising one voice to one God, calling out for change. Change that brings hope to the last, the least and the lost.

Prayer and worship connect us to God’s heart, to justice and to transformation. Do we want to put faith into action? Without prayer our acts are hollow. Do we want to fight for justice? Let’s start on our knees.

That’s what one of our friends in Kingston did. And the transformation started:

‘I saw through new eyes. I’ve always thought how unfair it all is that we landed here with everything and they landed there with nothing. I’ve always thought, why is that? Why is the world so unfair? But now I see that God thinks it’s unfair too. And we should be doing something about it.’

So block out 1 – 7 March. It’s when thousands of Christians around the world will be joining in with One Voice - Tearfund’s Global Poverty Prayer Week 2010.

Click on www.tearfund.org/uncovered and find everything you need to know about running a prayer week, including a seven-day prayer guide and downloadable prayer-pods. And start getting your friends, your church and anyone else you can think of in on the action, to join the global praying revolution!

[new wine leaders conference] special student offer

The New Wine Leadership Conference is an opportunity to be re-envisioned for the glorious, costly and difficult task of enabling your church to fulfil its potential in changing your community, and helping to change the nation.

Flint McGlaughlin is a business leader, theologian and Vineyard pastor. He has many years’ experience of mission and ministry in the USA and India and is now co-pastor of The Beaches Vineyard in Florida, USA. He is Director of Enterprise Research at Transforming Business (a research unit at the University of Cambridge) and has a particular interest in the interface between mission, enterprise and theology.

Jay Pathak is the senior pastor of the Arvada Vineyard, located in a suburb northwest of Denver, Colorado. Prior to planting this church in 2001, he served at the Columbus Vineyard as a leader in its young adult ministry, Joshua House, and as an intern to the senior pastor, Rich Nathan. Jay is a graduate of The Ohio State University with a BA in Philosophy and a graduate of the Vineyard Leadership Institute. He has spoken nationally and internationally for Vineyard and other groups in both conference and classroom settings. Currently, he serves as the Regional Church Planting Coordinator for the Rocky Mountain region of the Vineyard. In addition, Jay created the Engage video series with Carl Medearis - a tool that helps create space to discuss the person and teachings of Jesus. This seven-week course is designed to assist the Church in reaching out to those who are interested in exploring Jesus in a non-threatening environment.

[worship central conference] Key partner news - STUDENT ALPHA

Price // £25

Venue // Central Hall Westminster, Storey's Gate, London, SW1H 9NH

[answers to questions no-one is asking?] loveyouruni

Maybe it's just me, but Do you ever worry that sometimes we’ve  got loads of answers to questions no-one is asking? I think Paul provides some encouragement to point us in the right direction. He was an inspiring guy, some people even call him ‘the man of vision’. He had a lot of visions: a vision of Christ, a missionary vision, a warning vision, visions of encouragement and even a vision of paradise. You can read about these in Acts. When Paul went to Athens, he certainly carried a vision with him: to share the gospel and reach the people of the city.

One of the things I love about Paul’s time in Athens is that he goes to the people. I think we can learn a lot from that approach. During my time at uni, I spent quite a lot of time wondering why people didn’t come to our events but I have to ask myself: how many of their events did I go to? Paul knew that people in Athens loved to talk and debate the latest ideas so he went to the place that most of this chin wagging occurred: the market place. He begins to understand how people think and communicate and what questions people are asking.

Paul engaged with the people and intrigued them with new ideas. He obviously got on their wavelength and provoked enough interest to be invited to the council. There were lots of religions and ideas around in Athens and the council of the Areopagus was the place that heard all these and decided what it was acceptable for people to believe.

I think the inspiration in Paul’s message to the Areopagus was that he identified a key question in the community: who is the unknown God? Paul picked up on this during his time spent in the city when he came across a shrine with an inscription to this mysterious deity. Before the council, he announces that he has the answer and he’s going to tell them who this unknown God is. A few people respond and become followers that day.

I wonder what the key questions are in our communities and friendships. What questions are the people around us asking? Am I lovable? What career path shall I choose? What is my destiny? How am I going to get out of debt? Do people like me? You will know better than me but I’m convinced that with God’s guidance we can provide people with insight. This doesn’t necessarily mean having all the answers, but as followers of Jesus we can offer a unique Kingdom perspective on these questions, love them through the challenging times and point people towards Jesus. It’s a reminder to us all to open our minds and hearts to discover the questions people really have.

[hardwired in the human condition] loveyouruni

I think we’re all looking for love. Not necessarily romantic love, we might not even describe our behaviour as ‘looking for love’ but I think everyone wants to belong, to be part of something, to feel needed, to feel significant.

It’s hardwired in the human condition. The bible states that we can love God because God first loved us (1 John 4:9). It’s perhaps not surprising that Jesus said the greatest commandment was “love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.” (Mark 12:30-21)

We’ve been put here on a mission, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you”(Matthew 28:19-20).

If you go back and look at the Greek word used to describe ‘all nations’ in that last passage, it could also be translated as every ‘tribe, nation or people group’. Students are a people group with their own culture, systems of governance and behaviours. Less than 2% have encountered and responded to Jesus’ love.

If the greatest commandments are to love God and love our neighbour and if we’re aiming to make disciples amongst students and teach them these commands, we can’t go too far wrong by loving our unis.