Living in Christ. The Book of Colossians

This is a timely study in the life of Emmanuel as we seek to respond to the Transforming Presence initiative, recognising that our fulfilment is found in Jesus Christ alone for, as the Apostle Paul writes in 1:27: ‘...Christ (is) in you, the hope of glory.’ And, it is because of the centrality of Christ that Paul wrote about how fullness and freedom, joy and fulfilment can be found, through Christ, in our Christian lives which enables us to live distinctly different lives wherever God has called us to serve him (school; college; work; rest; play and at home).

Transforming Presence

Bishop  Stephen’s vision for the Diocese:  ‘Transforming Presence’. Bishop  Stephen’s paper sets out four key themes:

Inhabiting the World Distinctively:

If our lives are no different from those around us, what does this say about our faith and our priorities?

Evangelising Effectively:

God expects us to “make disciples of all nations”€ and that includes you and me talking to our family, friends and neighbours about God’s great  love for the world shown in Jesus Christ.

Serving with Accountability:

Can we agree a set of ministries that we should expect to find being  carried out in every Christian community across our diocese and then  help each other to achieve them - being accountable to one another?

Re-imagining Ministry:

47% of our clergy in the diocese will retire in the next 10 years. We  will need to look at new ways in which every person who is able, whether ordained or lay, has a ministry and participates in the life of the  church.

During this series we shall look at some of the  significant covenant promises of God to His people in the Old Testament  and we’ll see how these themes continue to resonate with us today. This  series of studies, supplementing our preaching on a Sunday morning, will give plenty of ‘food for thought’ as we continue to discern God’s  future vision for us here at Emmanuel.