Join Rob as he shares about his own journey in working
   out if then how the Bible was relevant to his life,
   including a show-and-tell with the Bibles from childhood,
   confirmation, ordination, and even his dating life! Yes,
   it’s intense … but still suitable for the whole family. The
   key message here is from Hebrews 4:12 - that the Word
   is to be engaged with, wrestled with, living and active…!
   You can download the podcast here (8.5MB, 28:20 for
   offline listening too).

   Join Scott as he shares on Doubt: “The Divided Heart” -
   being in two minds: inbetween believing and unbelieving 
   - Doubt is a journey between the two. Many great men
   and women of faith have doubt - even the disciples after
   Jesus’ ascension! In a faith community, we should be
   sensitive to those doubting, questioning. But doubting
   for too long can be dangerous - just like the children of
   Israel, often unbelieving that God can really deliver them
   into the Promised Land, despite His amazing provision.

Doubt, if unchecked, leads to unbelief and stagnation. But the story of Peter gives us hope - by truly understanding the Gospel message (not just “God is Santa Claus!”); combined with a deep, personal experience of God - will give us the strength the navigate our doubts. We need a faith with a knowledge base - truth through (i) experience, (ii) method and (iii) evidence.

You can download the Podcast here (23:30, 8.5MB) for offline listening too!

Hey everyone,

It’s been a really rewarding and exciting year for our new church community in Holy Trinity. We have seen our congregation grow, as is evident in our Sunday services and also in the doubling of the number of small groups that meet during the week. Furthermore, as we have grown, it’s been a joy to see other ministries begin to come to life too. We have also experienced growth in areas outside of our immediate church community, as we’ve seen our local outreach projects, beginning to take shape. As we look back over the last twelve months, the overall sense is one of great encouragement. We are very blessed to see all that has been achieved but also reminded of what we must now build upon together. We’re excited about the future and all that God has for us as a church. We want to continue to grow and be a welcoming church that loves and cares for one another, as Jesus loves and cares for us. We want to be a place where diversity is celebrated and also where we love and serve each other, as we share the Good news of Jesus to our communities and our city.

I wanted you to know that over the next six months, I will be talking more to the church about the vision going forward and sharing with you all what God has laid on our hearts for this new community and how we can practically implement this together. We want to invest in and grow some specific areas over the next year; which include developing our Sunday services and small groups , creating opportunities to serve our local community and the city, teaching, equipping and supporting you the church body to live out your faith, whether at school, college , home or in the workplace. Also, going forward, we will be taking more about finances within the church to help us all become as well informed as possible, so we can join together and make this God given dream become a reality.  

To start this process on communicating to you about the finances in the church, here is a message from Tim Ebbs, our treasurer.

“In order for us to achieve our vision and what God has called us to as a church, we need your support in time, money and joining with us in prayer. The graph, to the right, of current monthly giving, shows you where we now and where we need to get to. It’s great to see that after only 18 months we half way to our giving target, we believe as a community can fully provide for all of our ministries, as the whole church joins together in supporting the ministries of the church. Your financial giving makes it possible for us as a new church community to grow and to run our ministries, outreach programs, Sunday services, give to other charities and also to provide for a minister. We want to thank all of you who are currently giving so generously.  For those of you who are currently not giving to Holy Trinity, but who would like to learn more about setting up a standing order and financially supporting the work of the church, please contact me and I will be happy to assist you.”

If you ever have any questions, about the above, or indeed any questions in general about the church, I’d be delighted to grab a coffee with you - please drop me an email!

With every blessing,
Rob and Dilys.

   Join Greg in Part III of “Black and Gold”. Greg looks at the
   story of a woman who meets Jesus who has a slouched
   posture … and how we might very well be the same. 

   Fave quote: “It’s only when the Jesus way is organically
   joined with the Jesus truth that we get the Jesus  life …
   we need to actively adjust our internal posture to infuse
   our external expressions.”

   Podcast available for download here (9.3MB, 30:52
   - though like 7 min of that is prayer!). Apologies for some of the jerkiness in the recording - some technical issues :(

   Join Rob, his family, Gandalf and the cast of “Lord of the
   Rings” (warning: movie clip is a little loud) as we enter
   round 2 of “Black and Gold: Knowing God” focusing on
   the Holy Spirit. Rob shares about the history of the
   church grappling with understanding the Spirit; and his
   own experiences with Alpha and beyond. The talk 
   focuses on how God is developing us; filling us,
   renewing us —- like how we physically develop.

   Podcast available for download here (21:44; 9.2MB).

   Join Scott as he introduces our new “Black and Gold”
   sermon series by unpacking John 4: The Woman at
   the Well. In this presentation, Scott looks at how Jesus
   met the woman where she was at, and woos us - crossing
   over social and racial barriers to help us understand
   that we are worthwhile —- but challenging us to change
   our lives, inviting us to get to know Jesus more. 

   You can download here (25:58; 9MB).

My favourite is the Dallas Willard quote:
Blessed are the physically repulsive,
Blessed are those who smell bad,
The twisted, misshapen, deformed,
The too big, too little, too loud,
The bald, the fat, and the old
-For they are all riotously celebrated in the party of Jesus. 

Our anniversary service! Highlighted photos (in funky black and white) of this momentous day in the life of our church and community.

Scott spoke on John 4. Podcast available here, and summary above.

   Join Rob Jones, Holy Trinity and the cast of Saving 
   Private Ryan as we conclude our 12-week sermon
   series on the life of Abraham - culminating with God
   asking him to offer his son - his only son! - Isaac as
   a sacrifice … and the amazing parallels to what God the
   Father did in sacrificing Jesus on a cross.

   You can download the Podcast here for offline listening
   too. It was a great way to cap off our Easter Celebration
   (delivered 8th April, shortly before the Easter Egg Hunt).

John spoke on “Peace in the midst of doubt” (see below for link to audio and presentation). Above are some pictures from famous painters (El Greco, Tissot, Giotto, St Andrew’s Cathedral) depicting some of the scenes from the Passion Week. The key thing to take away is the experience of the disciples - the joy they experienced during Palm Sunday, their tiredness in the Garden of Gethsemane, their fear when Jesus is seized … and their absence from the crucifixion.

The confusion of the disciples around the crucifixion. For those who missed it, the talk really centered around the confusion the disciples would have been feeling at the time — great joy, and then great disappointment, as their joy and hope was taken away as Jesus was captured and then crucified. We then discussed what life was was like for them after the resurrection (during the passage, John 20:19-31) - a confusing mish-mash of Jesus appearing and re-appearing, sometimes giving clear instructions, sometimes being elusive.

Doubt happens. How will we respond? The key takeaways was that doubt is going to happen, and will typically follow very confusing times (which might happen a lot, as life is kinda confusing nowadays). It’s going to happen to our friends, our community - and a lot, to us! The key thing is to not respond with our usual gut (to tell them/yourself to “not doubt”, nor to make them feel guilty/alienated!) — but to respond with peace, with understanding … just as Jesus did in the passage. 

Peace be with you!

   Join John as he grapples with the intriguing story of
   Jesus visiting the disciples after his resurrection,
   including the much-aligned disciple Doubting Thomas.
   Prepare for a range of analogies, including Tim Tams
   and, um,  “friendships”. The key takeaway is that doubt
   tends to follow confusion, so don’t nag - understand. 

   You can download the MP3 podcast (approx 30 min) as
   an MP3 here (or press “play” above). For best viewing,
   you can follow along with the slides (prezi!) here.