Episodes

Like individuals, churches have personalities formed by gifting, calling and experience. As we look ahead, we need to ensure that we move in line with the community that God has called us to be.

Salford Elim Church has a history but it also has an inheritance. There are things in our history that shaped us, and that should still shape us as we move into the future. Exploring them will feed our faith.

If you knew what the person sitting next to you did in secret last week, you’d probably think they don’t belong in church… Then again, what if they knew about you? Jude teaches us how Christ’s love and truth work together to keep hypocrisy out of the church, while keeping hypocrites in.

Do our lives look any different to those around us? What difference does the gospel make to our lives?

Rules come at us from many places. Some protect us while others restrict and diminish us. What do we do for the eyes of man, rather than for the love of, and submission to God?

The gospel message is simple but so significant to our lives when fully grasped. What impact can the gospel message have on your life today?

Jesus is the centre of the universe, and only in him does everything hold together. He should be the centre of our lives too.

Sunday was the beginning of our new sermon series titled ‘A Better Story’, where we began exploring the letter to the Colossians.

Listen or watch back to our Pentecost Sunday joint service with St James’ congregation.

Self-centredness and self-entitlement are ugly things. Like Jonah, we can easily care more about our own comfort than the salvation of others. We need God to give us his heart for the world.

After the whole city of Nineveh repented, you would have thought Jonah would have been ecstatic – it was an incredibly successful street outreach! However, his self-righteous prayer shows just how much he still had to learn about the mercy of God. We may be the means of God’s mission, but we must also heed the message for ourselves.

Despite our disobedience, God refuses to give up on us – his mission is far too important. Through Jonah, God used a message of judgement to change a whole city. As we are obedient to God’s missional call, we may well be surprised by how people respond.

Like Jonah, we often try in vain to run from God’s call to mission, but he will use any means necessary to get our attention and to expose our fears and prejudices: sometimes storms, sometimes the very people we are trying so hard to avoid.

A celebration of salvation. We joined together and heard from different voices sharing what God has done in their lives, and we remembered the significance of the resurrection for us all.

We all want peace: world peace and personal peace. But do we know what will bring us the peace we all seek? In his final week on earth, Jesus entered a city that was in turmoil, but they didn’t recognise him as the one who offered the only thing we all really need – peace with God.

This is the word that earliest Christians would repeat to one another – a cry that Jesus would come quickly. That history would be resolved. That all would be well. It’s a good prayer!

Christianity is a realistic religion. It doesn’t avoid the truth that life can involve pain. Physical pain, relational pain, mental pain. But all this pain won’t get the last word. The tears may last a while, but there’s joy coming.

The world has too many evil regimes. Too many people are oppressed. Too many suffer at the hands of the powerful. How will this be brought to an end by a rider on a white horse?

What has happened to all those who have died waiting for Jesus to return? What will eternal life be like? How does this hope help us live well now? On Sunday, we explored the possible answers behind these questions.

We know that being in healthy communities brings us health. What practices build these communities? How can we stop churches becoming unhealthy?

We know Jesus said he would build the church – but how does that happen? Can we just sit back and chill out? Or do we have to work hard for him? Or is there another way of seeing how our small, non-anxious decisions can be used by him in his work. We think so!

The Spirit helps us hear God In the early church it was normal to expect that you would hear from God – through one another. What does it means to be ready to speak in this way to one another and how can we make sure we can hear properly? The temptation to be self-sufficient is ever present. The Spirit guards us from the temptation by reminding us that we need what others can give us. We all get to play, we all get to join in, we all get to receive.

The temptation to be self-sufficient is ever present. The Spirit guards us from the temptation by reminding us that we need what others can give us. We all get to play, we all get to join in, we all get to receive.

The Spirit takes you on surprising pathways. It’s a familiar mistake to think that being committed to God will protect you from difficult days. The Spirit is not an insurance policy shielding you from problems but a companion who guides you through them.