We started our fourth discover by singing All I once held dear and prayer.
Afterwards, it was time to learn our second memory verse, which was taken again from Psalms.
As before, the words were made to gradually disappear as the verse was repeated. Hopefully more will have remembered it than for the previous verse.
After some children’s choruses we sang Open our eyes, Lord before the children adjourned for their classes.
For those who were left, Alan read the reading from Mark 15:22-39 before David came up to speak on the fourth of our six weeks of Christianity Explored. His subject this week was The Cross: Why did Jesus die?
Below are tweets from the morning:
Today at #discover, we're looking at 'The cross: Why did Jesus die?'. Why do Christians make the cross the centre of their faith?
You can download David’s talk by right-clicking on the link below and selecting ‘Save link as…’. Alternatively, press the play button to listen directly from the website.
You can download Alan’s talk by right-clicking on the link below and selecting ‘Save link as…’. Alternatively, press the play button to listen directly from the website.
Don’t forget to join us next week from 11:30am as David takes the next in the Christianity Explored series with the subject ‘The cross: Why did Jesus die?‘
You can download or listen to the talks from the first two weeks below:
Our second week of discover began with the singing of In Christ Alone and Victor opening in prayer.
Phil, who was chairing, then introduced a memory verse for us to learn for next week. This had been taken from those in the Psalms which are regularly tweeted from the Parkside Twitter account.
As we read through the verse, words gradually disappeared. A prize will be offered next week when people will be asked to repeat the verse.
After we had sung a few children’s choices – and Happy Birthday to Becky – the children departed for their classes.
Slide from David’s presentation
Alan read through the story of Jesus healing a dead girl from Mark 5 before David Angell came up to take us through the second part of our Christianity Explored course – Who is Jesus.
Using verses from Mark, David talked through how Jesus has power and authority to teach, over sickness, over nature, over death and finally to forgive sin.
You can see the full presentation from the morning, including David’s slides here: 20140112 – Discover Week 2.
Today in #discover, we're looking at the subject 'Who is Jesus?'
You can download David’s talk by right-clicking on the link below and selecting ‘Save link as…’. Alternatively, press the play button to listen directly from the website.
We had a good number in for our first week of the new discover service at Parkside.
This was the first week that we had served coffee (and other drinks) in the main hall and it seemed to work well, with those arriving, happy to partake and mingle ahead of the main service.
The opening week was chaired by Phil and began with an a capella version of I do not know what lies ahead and prayer.
Phil explained about the new format for discover and that the children would be going out for their activities at 12:00pm, at which point Alan Michael would begin a six week series using content from the well-known Christianity Explored course.
After a number of children’s choices, it was time for the children to adjourn to the back rooms, along with Lesley, Sarah and Brian.
Phil read from Mark 1:1-15, before handing over to Alan.
Alan’s title for the first week of the course was ‘Good News: What are we doing here?’ and worked through the first few verses of Mark 1, explaining them one verse at a time.
At the end of the service, Alan offered some handouts with questions on, based on the passage covered, as well as inviting questions either via pen and paper or making use of Twitter.
We were very pleased with how the first week went and look forward to hearing David Angell next week, who will be taking the second week of the course, with the subject Identity: Who is Jesus?
You can download a copy of Alan’s slides from Week 1 of discover here – discover-week-1-05012014.pdf or download the talk by right-clicking on the link below and selecting ‘Save link as…’. Alternatively, press the play button to listen directly from the website.
There was standing room only at the back, as some 150 people filled Parkside at the Thanksgiving Service for the life of Mike Wells. These included business colleagues as well as family and many friends who had come to pay tribute to a much-missed man.
The service followed on from a committal in the sunshine at Braywick Cemetery which was taken by Mike’s good friend, Ken Rudge.
The Thanksgiving Service was led by Alan Michael and began with him welcoming the large number of people who had come along.
The opening hymn was It is well with my soul and afterwards Alan opened in prayer.
He then gave a brief synopsis of Mike’s life and explained that it would be covered in much greater detail later in the service.
Phil Bray then came up to read some lines from Pilgrim’s Progress. These were found written in most of Mike’s Bibles, and were clearly words close to him.
The second chorus was Here is love, vast as the ocean, before Andrew Rice came up to read out a series of tributes, firstly from Mike’s business associates and then from friends and family.
Mike Wells (1951 to 2013)
This was followed by a photo montage, arranged by Mike’s son, Phil and set to Matt Redman’s song ‘Never Once‘.
The third song at the service was I stand amazed in the presence and afterwards Paul Cogger came up to speak.
He opened with a few memories of Mike and also brought out Mike’s personal faith in the Lord Jesus which led to his work in organising both Christian camps and holidays for young people – something he genuinely loved.
Paul mentioned about how Mike’s life was changed forever after he accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour and that, if we do likewise, as Christians, we can look forward to seeing him again one day.
Our final hymn was one of Mike’s favourites – The day Thou gavest and afterwards Victor Michael closed the service with prayer.
It was an uplifting service, full of memories both of Mike and especially of the importance of his personal faith.
A number then adjourned to the Holiday Inn in Maidenhead for refreshments, including some of Mike’s favourite cheese and biscuits.
You can listen to the Thanksgiving Service by clicking on the link below. Please note that due to a technical issue, the recording begins with the singing of Here is love.
Parkside Christian Fellowship 