Vision: Deeper as Church Family

The Lord has been giving me a recurring picture recently, that of a tapestry. A multi coloured, textured and obscenely beautiful illustration, admired by the weaver. 

The coloured, glittery stitched front is in stark contrast to the tangled mess at the back. 

The tangle of thread at the back is a story behind the image at the front. 

The tangled mess of our own pain, loneliness and grief is testament to the beauty of Jesus. 

Church family in connection, prayer, support and love is a weave of relationship, trust, integrity, honesty and forgiveness. Being stuck in at church, turning up each Sunday, contributing as part of our serving teams, sharing our lives in Small Groups and submitting our finances to God as King, is the backstory to our relationships with Jesus and each other. 

It isn’t always easy, we may not always feel like turning up or serving on Sunday but it matters to the tapestry. You matter to the tapestry of Sutton Vineyard. This autumn, let's commit to sharing our lives with one another, being honest about where we are at, growing trust in others as family and having so much fun whilst doing so. The back may be an intricate web of stories, prayer, healing, joy and sorrow but the front will be a beautiful picture of Sutton Vineyard extending the table. Can’t wait for it!

Vision: Deeper in Community

Well, this is very exciting to be writing my first Spotlight article as the new Community Pastor for Sutton Vineyard!

I’m so excited to be starting my new role and for all that God has for us as a church as we journey into this next chapter together. In the Vineyard we often use the word compassion to illustrate the kind of Christians we want to be. In the Vineyard Values book it describes compassion as ‘a motivation of the heart that gets your hands dirty’. I love this!

When we serve the poor and marginalised, we are indeed serving Christ himself. In this next season I’ll be looking for lots of opportunities for us as a Church to dive deeper into our compassion ministries and get our hands dirty!

As we head into the colder months, we know our support in, to and for our local community is needed more than ever. Providing warm and welcoming spaces for those who live locally to chat and connect is an absolute privilege and as a Church we delight in extending the table and building relationships in our mid week ministries. With Warm Welcome on Monday, Wendy House toddler group on a Wednesday, Lighthouse on a Thursday and soon to be launching Grace Advocacy on a Tuesday, we have so many opportunities for us as a church to connect and go deeper in serving our community.

Whether you are praying for these ministries or serving in one of the teams, the chance to welcome individuals and families from our community into our wider church family is a privilege for us all.

Let’s be a Church who seeks to welcome and serve the least, the lost, the near and the far off in all that we do! 

A small way in which we can show God’s love in this season is by donating food items as we partner with Sutton Community Works and the Food Bank. Our food bank trolley remains available each Sunday for you to donate items. Please see the up to date list here. We are soon to be launching a new initiative with our Mini and Big Kids so look out for this too and at the beginning of October we’ll be collecting for their Harvest appeal. Could you and your family be extra mindful of others when you shop for food in the coming weeks? 

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Interested in extending the table in our local community?

If you would like to know more about our community ministries or even thinking that you could spare some hours in the week to join one of the team get in touch with me at community@suttonvineyard.org

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Vision: Deeper in Kids Ministry

At Sutton Vineyard, we are firm believers in the fact that children should get to do ‘the stuff’ just as much as grown ups. We believe that God wants to have a deep and meaningful relationship with them and that they are never too young to start being Jesus’ hands and feet. Therefore, as we’re looking at ‘going deeper’ as a church family, this applies to our under 11s as much as anyone else.

For our Big and Mini Kids, there are three main areas in which our children have the opportunity to deepen their relationships, knowledge and faith:

Going Deeper at Church

While our kids are at church on a Sunday, our Kids Team are constantly working to make our children’s ministry a loving and welcoming space in which our kids can learn and build relationships. The church family is such an important part of the Christian journey and we’re seeing our kids develop deep and significant relationships with their peers which are spilling out of the Sunday morning setting. The consistent age groups they are in allow them to build on these friendships week on week and they are becoming a community of people who can support, love, encourage and trust each other as they develop and learn. 

Additionally, the topic of invitation is a focus in Kids several times a year, and our children are becoming more and more confident in inviting their friends from outside of church to our special events and services. The more our kids practise invitation, the deeper their confidence and boldness will be to share their faith and the more people they will see coming to Jesus. Our kids are putting the Great Commission into action!

Going Deeper at Home

As a church, we follow the Orange Philosophy, as we understand the church and the home need to work together in the faith development of our children in order to have the biggest impact. Parents and carers play the most significant role in the faith journey of a child and as a church, we want to support parents as they raise their children to love and follow Jesus.

Our termly family prayer trails give parents and carers creative and varied ways to pray with their kids and provide a dedicated space to connect with God as a family. The majority of our children have at least one parent or carer involved in the Kids team at church.

The significance and value of this should not be understated and this bridge between homelife and churchlife can give parents a deeper insight into their child’s faith, as well as giving them stepping stones of topics, activities and techniques they can use at home to help their children get to know God and the Bible on a deeper level.

We now have a Whatsapp Community group for parents and carers where we will send ideas of conversation starters and activities linked to our Kids sessions which you can do at home with your kids, further strengthening the link between home and church.

Going Deeper with God

Of course, our ultimate goal is for our children to experience the love of God in a deep and personal way. In Big and Mini Kids, we worship, pray and study the Bible in ways that are accessible and relevant to our children’s ages and stages.

We know our children are capable of connecting with God, experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit and having a real relationship with Jesus but we also know that we have to introduce these things to them in a way that is comprehensible, interesting and usually lots of fun! Silly actions to a song are actually an introduction to worshipping God with our whole bodies; a frantic race to find a Bible passage is the start of developing a strong understanding of God’s Word; and a beautifully crafted picture or gift for a family member is step towards becoming someone who is compassionate and caring and shares the love of Jesus in all aspects of their lives. Our kids are all on their own journeys with God and it is a privilege and a joy to support them and encourage them as they go deeper and deeper into the plans our Father has for them. 

If you’d like any more information on how to help your child go deeper with God or want to know more about our children’s ministry, feel free to email kids@suttonvineyard.org.

Vision: Deeper in Youth

Somebody once said, "I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on the frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond words."

Everybody has an opinion on the state of our society and the challenges that face our young people. Some are optimistic, some are pessimistic, and some fall somewhere in between. It's important to remember that not everyone expects the worst. What if we refuse to believe the worst in today's youth but instead call them towards God's best for their lives? 

The above quote is actually from Hesiod, an 8th-century BCE Greek poet.  Even Greek poets who lived 2,700 years ago struggled to understand best how to nurture the rising generations. You may perhaps already know that the majority of Jesus' 12 disciples are thought to have been teenagers. The youngest was most likely John, sitting somewhere in his early teens. Jesus takes these young people and radically transforms the world, establishes his church and uses them to usher in the Kingdom of Heaven. 

What if we began to believe and expect that our young people can be used in similar ways? What if we shifted from the ancient old hat narrative of 'no hope for young people', to 'God can use them in a mighty and dynamic way'? 

Our young people have the ability to engage in their faith, rely on the Holy Spirit and see God move in extraordinary ways. The same Holy Spirit that rose Jesus from the dead, that is at work in our lives, is also available to our teenagers. At DTI our young people engaged in worship, prayed for and had words for one another - many of them encountered Jesus in new ways and were filled with the Holy Spirit. We want to make sure there are opportunities across the year for them to be encouraged to continue to go deeper in their faith and relationship with God. It is important that we don’t wait for a couple of big events each year, but that their faith is continually an active part of their lives!

Let's begin to get excited about their futures and expect the kind of depth that comes from walking closely with the Lord. They might surprise us all with the way in which God can use them in His Kingdom. 

In this next season, we want to take time to reset the table, empower our youth leaders and engage our young people on a deeper level, helping them thrive in their faith. Our young people are not the ‘church of tomorrow’ but are very much a part of the church today, they can encounter God in the same ways that adults can, and can (and do!) hear from God and minister to others. We are so excited for all that God will continue to do through our young people!

Vision: Deeper in Church

On Sunday, we discussed going deeper, individually and as a church. After the service, someone in the church shared a story that resonated with our discussion. They knew of an Australian cattle rancher with around 1 million acres of land as a ranch. It speaks to the creative ways the herders manage their cattle and the importance of our church community in our individual and collective spiritual growth.

Imagine the monumental task of herding animals across the vast and rugged expanse of the Australian outback, spanning a staggering 1 million acres. The sheer size of this land makes traditional physical fences impractical, if not impossible. Yet, the ranchers have ingeniously overcome this challenge with an innovative and relational approach.

They focus on water sources, not just as a means of sustenance for the cattle but as a tool to foster a unique and profound bond between them and their herds. These water sources are deep wells that capture rain and tap into the water from below the ground. This bond, more than any physical barrier, guides the herd's direction and ensures their thriving.

In Matthew 3:2, we find one of the first things Jesus preaches: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

Repent means to 'turn around', essentially changing your mind. We change direction and walk solidly towards Jesus, much like the Australian cattle travelling towards their watering holes and not wandering into the wilderness of the borderless outback.

We believe deeply that the Lord has called us to extend the table of the Kingdom of God to the least, the lost, the near and the far-off. The kingdom of God is not something we are 'in' or 'out' of. As Jesus said, it is something that is at hand and near. Most importantly, it is extended to everybody and can be walked towards. This change of direction means we can journey towards Jesus and encounter His glorious kingdom as we go deeper in our faith.

Jesus calls us to change our direction and move towards the wells and rain catches of substantial faith. We hope to see a direction of travel that moves us ever closer and ever deeper to Jesus.

So, what does going deeper look like for you?

It may be time to cultivate a deeper prayer life.

You may need to go deeper in understanding your faith and theology, and our new theology course is a pathway to explore.

You may often receive prophetic prompting from the Lord, and it's time to be bolder in listening and responding to the Holy Spirit's leading.

We often take simple spiritual practices for granted, but what would the church look like if we all doubled down on our acts of worship, reflection, and prayer?

What might we discover about God and ourselves as we go deeper? What refreshing might come if we travel towards the well and allow the Lord to refill us?

Just as cattle instinctively seek water, people naturally seek Jesus when they recognise their spiritual thirst. As a church, it is for all of us to go deeper with Jesus, but is also the role of the church is to provide access to that living water.

Let's go deeper personally, but let's go deeper together. Deeper in church, deeper in community and deeper in our connection to others, making Jesus the centre well we draw upon.

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We’re excited to be starting Vineyard Theological Training at Sutton Vineyard, a brand new series of filmed modules created to help train and equip you in the riches of the Bible and the Kingdom of God. Our first series starts on Tuesday 17th September!

Sign up to our Vineyard Theological Training course here

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