Growing in faith
Life Groups
Small groups are one of the key building blocks of the church. At St Mags we call these groups "Life Groups". They provide one of the best places for people to connect with God, connect with each other and grow as followers for Christ in everyday life.
Being in a life groups helps to:
- Grow friendships
- Grow in knowledge of the Bible
- Allow you a time and place to express your spiritual gifts
- Equip you to serve your community
- Help you feel at home if you are new to the area
- Meeting in small groups is biblical (Acts 2), practical and proven to deepen relationships and help you grow as a follower of Jesus. Small groups provide the cement of the church. Everyone is invited to join a life group – Let Sam or the office know if you are interested as we would like to create some new life groups.
Access Life Group
Wednesdays from 7.30-9.30pm
Each Wednesday night we meet in church for Access, our space for midweek discipleship. In the last year we have run several Alpha courses, the Prayer Course from 24/7 and also trialled the Keys to Freedom Course. Contact Rose Pateman for more information.
Book of the Month
April 2020
Such an encouraging, practical, inspiring book. A must read!! Rev Sam.
The new book from Pete Greig, author of GOD ON MUTE and DIRTY GLORY, and one of the founders of global movement 24-7 Prayer - a straightforward, practical guide on how to pray. In a get-fixed-quick kind of world, Pete Grieg meets us with the kind of guidance that's both immediately accessible and deeply thoughtful. For everyone who's wondered how to move the experience of prayer from distant to personal and powerful, How to Pray provides a starting point for the new and seasoned believer alike.
May 2020
We used this book as a really helpful book during lockdown, helping us to slow down and take up the lifestyle of Jesus. Best book I have read in Ages! Rev. Sam
- Feel like busyness has robbed you of too much?
- John Mark Comer looks at the roots of why modern life is exhaustively busy
- You'll find the chance to break from becoming someone caught up in busyness
Who are you becoming? That was the question nagging pastor and author John Mark Comer. By outward metrics, everything appeared successful. But inwardly, things weren't pretty. So he turned to a trusted mentor for guidance and heard these words: 'Ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life. Hurry is the great enemy of the spiritual life.' It wasn't the response he expected, but it continues to be the answer he needs.
Too often we treat the symptoms of toxicity in our modern world instead of trying to pinpoint the cause. A growing number of voices are pointing at hurry, or busyness as a root of much evil. Within the pages of this book, you'll find a compelling emotional and spiritual case against hurry and in favour of a slower, simpler way of life.
June
I want to re-read this book it's so good. What would it look like to start with prayer and allow that rythm to shape everything else we do and propel us into mission. Fab Book. Rev. Sam
Fleeing the compromises of the 4th century church, the Desert Fathers founded monasticism. In reaction to a Christianity they scarcely recognized, these radicals fled to the Egyptian desert to model a different, radical style of discipleship, filled with sacrifice and continual prayer. Who are the new monks, the new revolutionaries? The answer lies in an upsurge of 24-7 monastic communities around the world. Read about the beginnings of 24-7 Prayer Boiler Rooms with a discussion on the roots of monasticism and particularly its ethos and values, and how these can be applied in the third millennium. Drawing on influences from the Franciscans, the Celts and the Moravians, Punk Monk highlights the counter-cultural and revolutionary force of monasticism and asks whether it is time for a new monastic movement. It also takes punk as a contemporary expression of monastic spirit and asks whether a, silent revolution, is coming. Find out how Greig and Freeman know, when the gospels are taken seriously nothing can be the same again. When put into practice, the lives, the community, the nations, the world will be changed. It's guaranteed.
