As I outlined in last weeks post, we kicked off our teaching series about who Church At Barking Riverside are, in our Sunday Celebration on Sunday just gone. Sam did a great talk on setting the scene, highlighting the fact that the reason why we exist as a church, why we do what we do (hubs, celebrations, community events), are all because we are joining in with what Jesus is already doing here in Barking Riverside. Though we are a church plant, we haven’t just started a church, brought some existing church goers to fill our Sunday Celebrations and asked people in our community to join us. We have come here to embody what Jesus calls us to do: to follow Him, share the Word and help create disciples.

We want to see Barking Riverside thrive with Jesus at the heart…

It is through Jesus that we really get to see the extent of God’s love for us. He created us and saw us disobey Him from the start with choosing the apple from the Tree of Knowledge over trusting in Him. Despite that rejection, and many others told in the Bible, He still chose to send us the ultimate sacrifice. He sent Jesus to die on the cross to save us of all our past, present and future sins. He has shown us the most amount of love we could ever get anywhere else.

It is that love that fills us up and overflows and radiates to everyone we come into contact with, when we choose to follow Him. We are not defined by a church building or the numbers of people who attend our celebrations and events. We are church. We are a group of people who have chosen to not only hear His call to follow Him, but to help spread the Word and His love to all we meet. That includes our community, no matter our age, creed, colour or religion. Which is just as well, considering the diverse area we are serving in. So it is up to all of us to pray for discernment for what He would really like us to focus on this year that will help reach and support everyone within Barking Riverside.

But in the meantime, we are talking loud and clear about how we really put wanting to see Jesus at the heart into practice. We use our Habits (how we create space for Jesus in our daily lives), Hubs (who we do it with) and Hands (where we do it and who we do it for) to help keep ourselves and each other accountable for making time for Jesus in our everyday lives. Over the next few months we will be going into detail as to what these really look like practically and how you can join in with us.

Below is the talk we heard from Sam on Sunday, have a listen and decide if this resonates with you. If it does, why not join in with us at Church At Barking Riverside, we have plenty to get involved with:

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.” 

Ephesians 2:8-9