Munching my muesli reading through the March edition of Evangelicals Now my eye was drawn to an article about Cuba. Last summer I had sat next to a Cuban Baptist pastor at the Evangelical Ministry Assembly. It was a real privilege to meet him and he very kindly gave me his contact details just in case I was ever passing through Havana! I was keen to read more about what was happening in Cuba.

A friend and I had a bit of wake up call this morning when we read the Bible together. 1 John 2:15 tells us not 'to love the world or the things in the world'. John defines the world very carefully for us in the next two verses. The world he has in mind is not a spinning globe but a system of organised rebellion against the Creator of the spinning globe: 'the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions'. It is all passing away. All the world loves most will become a few handfuls of dust.

My Bible study this morning was from Acts 16:16-40. It's the well known event where Paul and Silas are in prison for the Gospel, singing songs with all the other prisoners listening in. At midnight there is an earthquake that renders the prison open and provides the simplest escape for all the captives.

However, much to the jailer's amazement (for he was about to top himself), all the prisoners are still there, sitting in the darkness denying their apparent opportunity for freedom.

Now, the main point of this passage centres around the jailer's question in v30, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” and the answer of Paul and Silas, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” Here in Acts 16 we see Gospel living providing an opportunity for Gospel preaching that led to the jailer putting his faith in the Lord Jesus.

Thinking about the passage further, though, I found myself asking this question: what about the brief role of the prisoners in v25-28?

As part of our all age service on the 2 March (Mothering Sunday), we showed a video called 'Priceless'.

It is a video that concludes what we were looking at in the service by highlighting that the love of God shown on the cross of Jesus is indeed priceless.

There are two things that continue to amaze me, and will probably continue to do so as long as I have breath in me.

The first is just how I continually fail to live out the life of fulness and freedom in Christ. Take my regular Bible and prayer time, for instance. I love spending time every morning being fed from God's word and I really value the opportunity to bring praises and requests to my Lord God at the start of each new day. However, guess what part of my morning routine I consistently leave out in favour of significantly less important tasks? My great and saving God permits me to have access to his word of truth whilst also allowing time to hear my prayers and requests... and what do I do? Read my emails, make a coffee, prepare a talk... anything but look at the Bible and pray.

Thankfully, the second thing that always amazes me is that I am saved - and this not by any doing of my own but is a gift of his wonderful grace. Ephesians 2:8-10 is such a brilliant reminder that we are saved by God's grace first, in order to do God's good work second. Our actions do not lead to salvation. Instead, they flow out from it.

So as I battle with the usual morning distractions tomorrow and strive to meet with God in his word and in prayer, I can do so knowing that whatever the outcome I am still loved by God because of Jesus' perfect obedience to his Father, ultimately on the cross. All I need to do is keep persevering and remember it is by grace I am saved.

On Monday 18 and Tuesday 19 February, the leaders of the two youth groups at Christ Church (11-14s and 14-18s) met with parents to share with them our vision and ideas for how we can develop our ministry to be more effective in our task of making disciples amongst 11-18s in Bromley.

The evenings consisted of three parts: looking at our vision and ideas, a time for questions and comments from the parents, and time spent praying for the young people and the work of both the parents & the leaders. They were great evenings, not least because they helped to forge and strengthen the relationship & partnership between parents and youth leaders which is so vital yet so often left out in Christian youth work.

For us leaders, the evenings were both a challenge and a massive encouragement. It was a challenge because it forced us to keep our feet firmly fixed on the Lord Jesus and his commission to us that requires us to keep reaching, growing and spreading the Gospel until he returns (Matthew 28:18-20). It was also helpful to be asked tough questions, which help us to see things from a parental perspective that most of us leaders are unaware of. The encouragements were just as important, as they confirmed to us that we are heading in a good and faithful direction.

As we stand on the verge of a period of thinking about our youth ministry and taking it forward, I am really excited about seeing our young people grow in their faith and be equipped more and more to reach their friends with the good news of Jesus.

I hope that you are, too.

Serving in church

Things only happen at Christ Church because there are so many people involved in serving in many different ways. And there's always more to do than is being done!

People sometimes ask 'how can I serve at Christ Church?' We don't need a specific job to be serving Jesus in the the church, we just need to get on doing it! Here are some pointers to begin with:

Be there!

Simply being in church or at a meeting is a great encouragement to others. It's a real help too if people see familar faces week by week.

Sometimes we live such busy lives outside our working week that church attendance can become erratic. It's something we fit in, rather than fit other things around. But for the sake of ourselves, our family, and the wider church family, it's good to be there.

Be all there!

Our heads can be so full of everything else that even if we are physically present in church we're not spiritually engaging. It's good to pray for ourselves and others before coming: for those teaching and leading, for ourselves and others to be listening and growing in Christ, and that we would be protected from the evil one in our gathering together. Perhaps read the passge before hand. It's good to pray with our children too on a Saturday for  the Sunday gathering with God's people.

How can we encourage one another on a Sunday?

• Looking out for one another, and greeting people we don't know. It can be easy to stick with the people we meet with in Growth group or another friendship group.
• Singing up! We don't have to make a show but it's good if our singing is with both head and heart as well as voice.
• Praying up! 'Amen' said with conviction shows we really do agree with the prayer prayed.
• Opening up! Opening the Bible when it is read and explained shows that we're engaging with God's word not listening to human insights from the preacher. And it shows the newcomer or the enquirer that we hope they will listen to Him too and not us.

Let's be all there for one another when we gather together.

Be all there to serve!

Sometimes people ask, 'what's my gift?' It's puts the focus on me. A better and more Biblical question to ask is 'how can I serve?' That looks outwards to how I can encourage and build others up in some way. We may find some gifts we didn't know we had too!

There are lots of ways to serve at Christ Church. Not all have a title or are given much public recognition but are enormously valuable. Are you serving others at Christ Church. Don't wait to be asked! You can start right now - pray!

Do it for Jesus!

We serve to honour Christ not ourselves. Colossians 3:17 says: "And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."

Serving God's people is a privilege not a prize. We should serve thankfully not grudgingly if we serve in Jesus name. And we serve to bring honour Him not ourselves.

A friend of mine used to ask me 'Iain, would you do anything for Jesus?' and then ask me to do some small thing. It's a good question.

Do it well!

Jeremiah 48:10 says, "Cursed is he who does the work of the LORD with slackness". It's a challenging verse isn't it?  If we're doing something for Jesus we need to do it as well as we possibly can. Not turning up, regularly turning up late or leaving early, and not finishing something are all signs of slackness and not really being bothered about serving Jesus and our brothers and sisters. Whatever we do we need to do it as well as we possibly can.