Past Preaching Programme

The call to repentance lies at the heart of the Christian gospel and is reflected in the act of confession that occurs near the start of most of our services at Christ Church. Sometimes reduced to personal contrition, ‘repentance’ is actually a far broader term referring to our lives being actively turned around by God. During this series we will take a deeper look at the meaning of repentance reflecting upon what will actually change in our conduct if we take repentance seriously.

Lent is traditionally a time for taking stock of our lives. During this series (which will also be followed at the 9.30am service during March) we will therefore look at a number of areas within our lives, including our approach to money and relationships, and reflect upon what God wants to change within them.

Some of the most popular sermons at six30@ccnm in recent times have been those in which people have spoken on the theme of ‘Why I am a Christian’. During this series five other people will speak on ‘My Story of Mission’, with the aim of inspiring and challenging us through the story of their very different experiences of Christian mission.

Christ Church has had a long tradition of supporting Christian mission overseas. As well as thinking about how we could deepen our involvement in this mission, this series will also focus on how we might be more involved in God’s mission to both New Malden and our family and friends.

Think of missionary work and many associate it with Europeans wearing pith helmets and going out to ‘darkest Africa’. The Bible is clear, however, that all Christians are called to be part of God’s mission to the world and during this series we will look at some of the different ways that we can be involved in this.

Paul’s letter to the Philippians is one of the greatest testimonies that we possess of the difference made through having a personal relationship with Jesus. During this series we will look at various different aspects of that relationship as we seek to ‘go deeper’ with Jesus in our own lives.

One of the most important aspects of deepening our relationship with God is allowing the Holy Spirit to make us more like Jesus. During this series we will therefore look at each of the fruit of the Holy Spirit that Paul speaks of in Galatians 5 and look for practical ways in which these could further develop in our lives.

One of the most important claims of Christianity is that we can enjoy a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. During this series we will use a number of stories from Luke’s Gospel to think about some of the things that this relationship can bring us – forgiveness, purpose, acceptance and peace.

In all the business surrounding Christmas, we can often find it extremely hard to prepare in any way for what its celebration of Jesus’ coming should bring to our lives. This series will seek to help us to look for those things that God wants to bring us in the way of comfort and challenge this Christmas.

As well as thinking about the first coming of Jesus, Christmas is a time when we focus on the future coming of Jesus. In this series we will therefore look at a number of questions and issues connected with this.

After years of celebrating Christmas, its stories can sometimes be dulled by over familiarity. During this series we will therefore seek to uncover some of those elements that make these stories deeply shocking and challenging.

With much of the emphasis within the evangelical and charismatic traditions placed upon our personal relationship with God, we can sometimes end up having a much ‘lower’ doctrine of Church than the Bible possesses. In this series will be therefore look at a number of very practical ways in which we can both ‘do church’ and ‘be church’ better.

Written to Christians that he hadn’t personally met, Paul’s letter to the church at Colossae concentrates on the ‘fullness’ that we can find by keeping our focus on Jesus. During this series we will seek to apply its important truths both to our individual lives and our life as a church.

One of the most important things we should be seeking to do, as Christians and as a church, is to relate our faith to contemporary issues. During this series in September we will therefore be thinking about how we respond as Christians to the current issues of ‘Alcohol’, ‘Parliamentary Corruption’, The ‘Pick ‘n Mix’ culture and ‘Swine Flu’.

Written in the early days of Christianity, the ‘Apostles' Creed’ is a summary of the central elements of Christian belief.  It contains a number of vital truths about God the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit but also the Church and our future hope.  During this series (which will continue into November), we will take a different line of the Creed each week, unpack its meaning and look for its application as we seek to follow Jesus today.

Written to a fairly new church, Paul’s first letter to the church at Thessalonica, 1 Thessalonians focuses on the ways in which ‘the Gospel’ or ‘Good News’ of Jesus Christ should shape everything about the life of the church. After a couple of introductory sermons asking ‘What is the Gospel?’ and how it first arrived at Thessalonica, we will then go through 1 Thessalonians seeking to apply its truths to our context at Christ Church.

Having completed the study on 1 Thessalonians, during November we looked at a number of practical ways in which we need to relate ‘the gospel’ to further aspects of our church life together.

This sermon series 1 Kings chapters 12 to 16 - a section that is very rarely looked at, let alone preached on. It covers the period between the end of King Solomon's reign and the arival of the prophet Elijah. By looking at the history within these chapters, we hope to reflect a little bit more on the God who has worked through history, and will continue to do so.

During the summer it is good to unwind and what better way than with some of the best stories contained in the Bible! So during August, sit back and relax as we follow the ups and downs of one of the most important figures in the Old Testament – the prophet Elijah.

With the recent ordination of Helen Hancock and Carolyn Lucas as well as Katy Loffman training as a Lay Reader, we need to remember that God calls all Christians to ministry. In the light of this, the talks in the series will look at different aspects of God’s calling and how he wants us to respond.

One of the things that might surprise us is how many characters in the Bible finish less well than they began. With all of us growing older how we respond to this change is therefore a crucial spiritual issue. Looking at both both negative and positive examples (sometimes from the same character!) this series of sermons will therefore be seeking to challenge all of us on how to allow God’s grace to shape us as we grow older.

With so many children in the congregation we get used to seeing lots of baptisms or christenings at Christ Church. Many of us, however, probably have lots of unanswered questions about this ceremony and its meaning. During this series, therefore, we will have the chance to think more about baptism and its crucial significance – both for our lives and that of our church.

Much of the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives can be understood in terms of what it means for God to make us part of his family. In these three sermons we will think about the Spirit’s role in initiating our membership of God’s family, deepening this relationship and producing the family likeness within us.

In our busy lives we are surrounded by loads of things that can trouble and perplex us. Some of these concerns are very specific to our situations such as stress over exams and friendships whilst others relate to events occurring on a more national or global level. What we do ‘at church’ can often seem quite irrelevant to these areas and the things that ‘ordinary people’ are really concerned about or interested in. In this series we will therefore seek to explore some of these issues and look for where God can be found in them.

Many of the Psalms combine great honesty about the difficulties that occur in life with a strong desire to seek God’s presence. In the first part of this series we will seek to reflect this balance as we use some of the psalms to reflect on finding God within depression, anxiety and sickness. Recognising that it is also very possible to lose sight of God in the good times of life, we will then use some of the other psalms to reflect on finding God within deliverance, surprise and praise.

Partly due to the success of the musical (and our recent ‘sing-a-long’!) the story of Joseph in Genesis 37-50 is fairly well known. However, as well as entertaining us, ‘Joseph’ is a story with a great deal to say about how God can work through events that occur in the world and our lives. In this series we will retrace the ups and downs within Joseph’s story, look for where God is present within them and hopefully be encouraged to look for a similar presence within our own lives.

John's Gospel lays a particular emphasis on the personal nature of the encounters that Jesus had with individuals after his resurrection. Looking at three passages from John 20 we will seek to learn more about the nature of the resurrection of Jesus and how God would have us respond to it.

Lent is traditionally a time of preparation for Easter and during this series we will think about what a commitment to this preparation this might mean in terms of engagement with ourselves, the church and the world.

All of us face temptation and in the first of our two series in Lent we look at the three temptations of Jesus as recorded in Matthew's Gospel, consider their modern day equivalents and how we might respond to them.

As we go through Lent and approach Easter at the 11.00 service we will follow the central section of Mark’s gospel as Jesus heads for Jerusalem and his death and resurrection. Stories and teaching often considered in isolation are grouped together in most of the sermons in this series and we will be asking what Mark intends us to learn about Jesus and discipleship by presenting this material in the way that he does.

One of the most exciting aspects of the 9.30 service is the number of new people who are currently joining the congregation. In this series we will be thinking about the elements present in a great church with the hope that as we grow numerically we would also grow in the depth of our commitment to genuine community and the God revealed in Jesus Christ.