Open to all abilities and to any instrumentalists or vocalists, this workshop will explore the vital role of rhythm in worship music through group exercises, discussion and demonstration.
Led by Ian Cape (percussionist on Les Misérables in London’s West End) this session won’t require you to bring your instruments but will give you tools which you can then apply to your own instrument or setting.
When? Saturday 29th April, 10:30am.
Where? Holy Trinity Church, Spital.
Cost? Booking? (Information to follow)
About Ian
Born in Edinburgh, Ian Cape started his musical life by tapping on the pews in his local church. After years of pestering his long-suffering parents, he began studying drum kit aged 9, playing with several rock bands shortly thereafter. Percussion lessons with Pam Dow at the Junior department of the then Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama culminated in a bursary to study at the Royal Academy of Music in London.
Ian attended All Souls Langham Place, London for many years, where he was heavily involved in the various music ministries under Noel Tredinnick, playing in services, the orchestra and in various outreach programs across London and further afield, on an eclectic diet of music ranging from the extremely traditional to the latest contemporary offerings.
We had an fascinating evening on fostering, adoption, and the whole church family. There are many children in need of adoption and foster care. The good news is that it’s clearly an expression of love that Christians and churches can get involved with.
We had guest speaker Josh MacDonald from Cornerstone UK, and interviews with local Christians who had adopted or fostered.
Alex and Rachel were interviewed about their experience of adopting a child. Lynda spoke movingly about the many children she has cared for as a full-time foster carer. Darren & Julia were interviewed about the respite fostering they had been involved in. In each case, the love that was invested in children shone through beautifully – both from the families involved and the wider church families praying and encouraging.
Here’s how Cornerstone describe themselves:
Cornerstone is an Independent Fostering and Post Adoption Support Agency operating from Leicester up to Newcastle. We specialise in offering ‘permanent‘ homes to children in the care of Local Authorities. We are the only Christian Fostering Agency in the UK.
‘Freedom of religion or belief’ (FoRB), is a fundamental and universal human right articulated in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and other international human rights treaties.
That right is denied to millions across the world. Over 360 million Christians suffer high levels of persecution and discrimination for their faith (Open Doors).
We invited Fiona Bruce to speak ahead of the international Ministerial FoRB Conference in London in July 2022. Many local Christians joined us to find out how we can make a difference here and worldwide and to pray for an end to persecution.
When? Sunday 15th May at 6:30pm
Where? St Catherine’s Church, Tranmere
Price? Free
This event is part of a series of national presentations by End The Persecution.
This year’s LIFE Mission was a series of events addressing aspects of everyday life in the light of the Good News about Jesus Christ.
A number of local churches hosted a variety of daytime events.
The main events were our five evenings with guest speaker, Glen Scrivener of Speak Life.
Glen is a gifted speaker and evangelist and has a huge range of material online through the charity, Speak Life.
Below you’ll find links to the videos on YouTube. Each video is reproduced in full but also with a short snapshot version to give you an idea of what to expect. You can also download the audio so that you can listen offline too.
If you want to find out more about God, Jesus, Christianity, the Bible, etc, you’ve come to the right place.
The LIFE events were all geared to helping you understand more about these things and the videos are still available.
There are a number of ways for you to go further still. Below, you’ll find a brief explanation of what a Christian is. Then we’ve listed a few suggestions on what you might like to take as your next steps.
This is your life, and your journey into real life with God. We want to help and encourage you along the way.
What is a Christian?
A Christian isn’t someone who tries to do lots of good things so that God will accept them to heaven
It’s really important to realise that a Christian isn’t someone who tries to do lots of good things so that God will accept them to heaven.
The truth is, God is angry with us all. We’ve all lived in the world he gave us and then gone our own way, wilfully disregarding both God and his laws.
Naturally, we choose not to be with God. We reject him, preferring to go our own way. We can even think of ourselves as “spiritual” but then refuse to acknowledge the true God as he’s made himself known in the Bible.
When we die, we don’t cease to exist. You’ll meet God. If you have rejected him in this life he’ll confirm your choice and reject you in the next.
And yet Christians have confidence that they won’t be rejected. Why? Because God sent his Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to save us. He did it by being a substitute for you. He took the punishment we deserve from God on himself when he died at the cross. And then he rose and is now in heaven.
If you ask God to forgive you, he will.
If you ask God to forgive you, he will. As you trust Jesus to have been punished instead of you, your confidence of heaven is based on him, not on you.
Christians then want to live for him, looking forward to being with him forever. When you see a Christian doing good things, it’s not so that they might go to heaven. They do good in response to what God has done for them.
Got Questions?
Everyone has questions. It’s healthy to enquire.
Questions like, Who is Jesus? Is the Bible true? What about suffering? Is hell real? Aren’t all religions basically bad? Aren’t all religions basically working to the same God?
There are very many more questions, of course. You can search for answers on the Internet but you won’t always land in a helpful place. The good news is that we’ve all asked those same questions and found reasoned, sensible answers.
We’d love to have opportunity to explore these things with you.
Want to find out more?
There are many resources for you to find out more.
The LIFE events are a great starting point and you’ll have opportunity to ask questions and get linked up with local Christians.
We’d encourage you to contact any of our Partner churches. You can simply pop along to a Sunday service (you’ll get a very warm welcome), ask them about courses they might be running, or just ask for a chat.
You’re also very welcome to contact us here and we’ll try to connect you up with someone near you.
If none of that quite suits you, why not get a Bible and start reading for yourself? You can order one online (there are prices to suit everyone), read it online, or even download an app on your phone and read it there.
All Wirral Christians are invited to the LIFE Mission Launch Evening.
Wirral Gospel Partnership will be hosting a LIFE mission at the end of March 2022. It’s part of the national A Passion for Life mission initiative.
To help you understand what will be happening and how you and your church can be involved, we’re having a LIFE Mission Launch Evening in January. We’ll be sharing details of what will happen day by day. And there will be a video welcome from our main mission speaker, Glen Scrivener.
It will also be a time to worship together as local churches in singing God’s praise and hearing him speak through his word. More than that, we’ll also be spending time praying for the mission.
So put the date in your diary and make sure your church leadership has it planned in too!
Our event on “Sexuality – Living out the Bible’s Message in the 21st Century” was helpful and informative.
We were hugely thankful to Andy Robinson, Training Director of Living Out, for coming to speak to visitors from across Partnership churches at St Mark’s, New Ferry.
Andy reminded us that although much discussion in the public sphere is based on true, emotive stories, the Bible gives us all a bigger, better story – a love story between God and humanity.
Thank you to everyone who came along and in particular to those who asked questions in the Q&A.
If you have further questions in this area, why not speak to your local church leader? Or take a look at the book recommendations below?
Book recommendations:
A Better Story – God, Sex and Human Flourishing – by Glynn Harrison
Our “More to Life” series got off to an unexpected start on Sunday 1st March.
Congleton MP Fiona Bruce explained how she had achieved a good deal of success in terms of her education and career, and yet felt deeply unhappy. In her words, she specifically remembered thinking that “there must be more to life.”
The theme of “more to life” surrounds us all in so many ways, but the answer is always the same: Fiona gave a clear testimony of how she encountered God’s grace and forgiveness, accomplished through the death and sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
You are warmly invited to contact us or come to any of our More to Life events at the end of March / start of April.
We were grateful to have Aled Seago interviewed by George Crowder at our “Diary of a Downcast Soul” event, on the subject of depression among Christians.
Aled was helpfully frank about how medication and counselling have benefited him, and we also gained an insight into how church and friendship can help someone to keep going through the darkest of days. Aled also spoke about the particular challenge of suffering depression as a Christian, grappling with why God permits suffering at all. In the end, there is hope in Christ as we look forward to a day when God will wipe away every tear.
George was also questioned about his role as someone who had helped Aled in his depression. George explained his own feelings of inadequacy for the task, yet he simply stayed in close friendship throughout.
