Inventive Advent

This Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent, meaning we get Advent Calendars! An advent calendar is exciting, but it’s so often about ‘what’s in it for me?’ - most often, chocolate and a countdown to receiving in excess.

As a family we’ve tried a couple of things to make it mean that bit more. 

We tried having one calendar and taking turns to promote sharing. We tried being Jesus-centred with a chocolate advent calendar that had a nativity image and Christmas story booklet. 

These went some way to countering the consumer culture of Christmas. But if I’m honest, they hardly made a mark. This year, we’re being even more intentional about advent. Here are some of the ideas I’ve found:

Preparing

Instead of small gifts/chocolates in the advent calendar, have tasks to help prepare for Christmas. Talk about how Mary prepared for the arrival of Jesus. This gets the whole family involved in the preparation together and helps with the list that you’d have to work through anyway. Write your own or choose 24 from this list. 

Giving / Serving

Instead of a traditional calendar, commit to a random act of kindness each day, making advent about others rather than self. Talk about our Biblical command to show God’s love to others. Here are some excellent suggestions for brightening someone’s day.

Learning

Get to grips with the big meaning of Christmas by putting it in context of the whole Bible. Each day, read together a part of the bible leading up to the birth of Christ. Use a story bible, or use a list of readings like this.

Jesus

Focus on Jesus by discovering the names attributed to Him in the Bible. Make a paper chain by adding a name each day, reading and talking about the verse together.

Play

Build up a nativity scene, 1 figure at a time throughout advent, you can be creative with this. Set up the entire nativity scene except for Jesus and add him on Christmas day. Each day move a glow star closer to your nativity scene and allow the children to help the wise men follow.

I hope that these activities help you to enjoy this season as we get ready to celebrate the amazing arrival of Immanuel.

Hannah MacFarlane

Review of 18-30s Weekend Away

It’s hard to believe it’s been a month since our 18-30s weekend away! Life gets so busy and seems to fly by – a nice weekend break in Darsham was just what we all needed. It was such a great opportunity to spend some time together and get to know one another – and God – a little bit better. 

We had a great turnout – around 40 people attended! However, the Darsham Community Centre only sleeps 24, so several of our brave men pitched their tents in the garden. The Community Centre also happens to be a converted station house, so the tents were quite close to the rail lines – not the best night’s sleep for our campers but they survived! 

We were blessed to have Al and Debs McDonald as our first speakers on Saturday morning. As there was no pulpit they improvised with an ironing board, which certainly helped it stick in our minds!

“'The Sermon from the Ironing Board' is what I remember most from Darsham,” said Jeremy Brown.  “From behind this unusual pulpit, Al and Debs encouraged us to discard our former selves and 'do more of what makes us holy'.”

After lunch, we headed off to Dunwich for an afternoon by the sea. One group found a field where they could play some games, while the rest of us took a walk around Dunwich Heath, followed by tea and cakes. It was a lovely afternoon and a great chance to connect with each other and just hang out.

That evening we had a great talk from Tom Scrivens, who reminded us how big and amazing God is, focusing on verses from Isaiah 40. It was a great way to get us in the right mindset for worship, led by Abi Beaton. 

Following this we had a really powerful time of worship and prayer – the Holy Spirit was definitely there, working on our hearts! A lot of people were prayed for, and several people brought words for others in the group. We also spent some time praying for what God is doing in the church and the town.

Sunday was more chilled out, with worship in the morning and some time to just hang out. The weekend definitely felt like it was over too soon!

“It was a great opportunity to fellowship with friends, get to know someone new and step away from the normal madness which is everyday life and just focus on God!” said Kamilah Bartley.

God really moved over the weekend and broke through in people’s lives. It was amazing to see His heart for the 18-30s at Hope. He’s definitely doing great things – among the 18-30s, in Hope Church, and in Ipswich as a whole!

Jade McFarland

Why Membership?

It was a great privilege to welcome 11 people into membership at Hope Church yesterday. 

I get asked from time to time why we have a membership at Hope Church. My first response is that many, many churches have membership and we're certainly not an exception! My second response is that in a growing church, which we are, it's so important for the leadership team to know who's really identifying Hope Church as the place they want to call home and who's just checking us out. 

Here's five quick reasons why we feel membership is important. 

It is stated in the Bible: “Those who accepted his message were baptised, and about 3,000 were added to their number… and the Lord added to their number daily” (Acts 2:41&47). The biblical pattern is that people come to know Jesus and then get added to a local church.

It is implied in the Bible: The Bible describes local church as a  “body”; this metaphor for the church assumes functioning, meaningful membership.

Leadership held to account: The Bible cautions church leaders that they will be held to account for how they lead, and equally church members are instructed to honour their leaders. Both instructions presuppose meaningful church membership.

New Testament structure: The epistles (the letters in the New Testament) were written to local churches assuming all believers would be members of local churches and therefore would hear their epistles being read out.

New Testament discipline: In cases of serious on-going un-repentance, Paul instructed the churches to expel members from the church. This instruction assumes that there is a group of people who are members of the church, distinct from those who are just visiting. 

So, with this in mind, if you're not a member of Hope Church and you'd like to explore church membership some more, I'd love to invite you to our next Getting Connected Evening on the 1st of December, 19:30 pm at the Orwell Centre. 

As well as there being some snacks and drinks (bonus!) we'll be presenting the key values of Hope Church and what our vision is going forward.

Tom Scrivens