Dead man walking: the case for the empty tomb

29th March 2017

Many people today see Jesus as an interesting religious thinker (like the Buddha) or a revolutionary prophet (like Che Guevara). But to contemporary people Jesus was either a dangerous heretic or he was the son of God. Put another way, they either believed he had been rightly executed by the Romans, or that God had raised him from the dead, offering life to the world.

This Easter we will be joined by Stephen Shaw QC to consider the evidence for the empty tomb. Stephen has practiced at the Northern Irish Bar for over 30 years and has been Senior Counsel since 2001. Stephen regularly speaks on the evidence for the Christian faith and we are delighted that he is able to join us for this one off event, organised by Gospel in the City.

Wednesday 12 April 2016, 1:10 – 1:50pm
May Street Presbyterian Church, Belfast (see below for directions)
All welcome. No booking necessary.

A copy of a flyer for this event is available to download here. Feel free to share this with anyone you know who may be interested.

Lent Bible Readings: The Controversial Christ

6th March 2017

In the run-up to Easter, we are returning to Mark’s Gospel after a couple of months’ break. After the excitement and enthusiasm of the early days of Jesus’ public ministry, the mood has turned sour as Jesus is challenged again and again about his unique claims.

We’re going to be looking at five “conflict stories” in Mark 2-3. In each we’ll see how Jesus’ claims are at the same time wonderfully good news and strangely controversial. Ultimately, we’ll see that Jesus’ commitment to bringing life sets in motion the events that lead to his death.

  • 08 Mar The Christ who blasphemes Mark 2:1-12
  • 15 Mar The Christ who eats with sinners Mark 2:13-17
  • 22 Mar The cutting-edge Christ Mark 2:18-22
  • 29 Mar Christ the law-breaker Mark 2:23-28
  • 05 Apr The Christ you want to kill Mark 3:1-6
  • 12 Apr Dead Man Walking: the Case for the empty tomb

This series will be great for anyone exploring what Jesus’ life was all about, and there will lots for Christians to chew on as we consider together what it means to follow a controversial Christ.

Our speakers for this series are Moore Casement (Cornhill Belfast), Sam Bostock (Union College), Christoph Ebbinghaus (Kirkpatrick Memorial Presbyterian Church) and Jim Crooks (the Crescent Church). The series will finish in Easter week with a special talk from Stephen Shaw QC, “Dead Man Walking: the Case for the empty tomb” (12 April).

A copy of a flyer for this series is available to view and download here. Feel free to share this with anyone you know who may be interested.

A Vision from Revelation

13th February 2017

The book of Revelation is one of the Bible books we often find confusing. But in the first chapter, John gives us a powerful introduction that helps us understand Revelation’s central message. Even more importantly, this chapter gives us a vivid picture of the God who speaks to us and who makes us into a kingdom of priests. It’s the kind of image we need to have filling our imaginations if we are going to live as salt and light in our workplaces.

So we hope you’ll join our meetings on the next two Wednesday lunchtimes as Trevor Johnston opens up Revelation 1 with us.

  • 15th Feb: God revealed (Revelation 1:1-8)
  • 22nd Feb: A vision for the workplace (Revelation 1:9-20)

Trevor Johnston serves as Rector at All Saints Church on University Street.

Lighthouse

City on a Hill: Developing a Public Faith

8th January 2017

What does it mean to be a disciple of King Jesus in our workplaces?

For the first few weeks of 2017, we’re going to be looking at the opening to the Sermon on the Mount. With potent images Jesus sets out what life in his kingdom looks like: comfort for the mourners, joy for the persecuted, salt of the earth, light for the world, a city on a hill.

Jesus gives us a vision for a kind of “public faith” – a way of shining brightly as citizens of his kingdom in a world that rejects his rule. As Tim Keller has said:

“To be “public” doesn’t mean being strident, nor to force the subject into conversations. It simply means that Christians should not hide who they are.”

Join us for a mixture of Bible teaching and interactive seminars over five Wednesday lunchtimes as we work out how we might bring light to our workplaces by being who we are.

  • 11 Jan      Time to be blessed
  • 18 Jan      Salt of the earth
  • 25 Jan      Light of the world
  • 01 Feb      Kingdom living in my workplace (part 1)
  • 08 Feb      Kingdom living in my workplace (part 2)

New Year Prayer

3rd January 2017

We plan to kick off the New Year back in the usual venue by gathering together to pray for ourselves, our workplaces and the Gospel in the City network.

Join us 1:10-1:40pm, Wednesday 4th January 2017, Caffé Nero’s on Fountain Street. Sandwiches available (suggested donation: £3).

Lunchtime Christmas Carol Concert

14th December 2016

gic-carol-service-flyer

Gospel in the City plans to host a Lunchtime Carol Service on Tuesday 20 December 2016 from 1:10-1:40pm in Urban Soul (May Street Church basement).

This will be a traditional carol service with well-known Christmas carols led my New Irish Arts and a short message from Christoph Ebbinhaus.  It is intended to be accessible to anyone who enjoys a traditional Christmas service and we hope would be perfect for a pre-Christmas office trip out!

Please note the different day and location to the usual Gospel in the City meetings Tuesday 20 December 2016 (i.e. not the usual Wednesday lunchtime) from 1:10-1:40pm in Urban Soul, May Street Church basement (i.e. not Caffe Nero).

Songs of Advent

28th November 2016

From “Away in a Manger” to Wham!, Christmas has always been a time for singing – and that’s especially true of the first Christmas. The early pages of St. Luke’s Gospel almost read like a musical as a teenage mum and a dying man sing for joy. The songs they sang are now beloved parts of the daily liturgy in both Catholic and Protestant churches. But what was it about the first Christmas that made these people so joyful? And could the joy of that first Christmas come to our workplaces this Christmas? Join us on Wednesday lunchtimes as we explore these Advent Songs:

  • 30/11 What makes Mary special? (the Magnificat, part 1)
  • 7/12 How to put the revolution back into Christmas (the Magnificat, part 2)
  • 14/12 How to get everything you’ve ever wanted this Christmas (the Nunc Dimittis)

We will then finish off the advent season with a Gospel in the City Carol Service on Tuesday 20 December, 1:10-1:50pm in Urban Soul (May St Church). We’ll enjoy singing a few traditional carols and hear a short message from Christoph Ebbinghaus.  Could you invite your office for a pre-Christmas trip out?

gic-carol-service-flyer

Ask Google: Why does love hurt?

11th November 2016

Every day millions of internet users ask Google life’s most difficult questions, big and small. Inspired by the Guardian series, these talks will answer some of the commonest queries.

why-does-love-hurt

“To love is to live fully, to have a purpose that makes life worth living” (Linda Blair). If that’s true, then why does love hurt so much? Why would God, who says that he is love, make a world where we our closest relationships are the ones that tend to cause us the most pain?

Join us on Weds 23rd November for a chance to think about these questions over lunch. Our speaker will be Stafford Carson, a former moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland and current Principal of Union Theological College.

1:10-1:40pm, upstairs in Caffe Nero on Fountain St. Sandwiches available (suggested donation £3).

Read the Guardian answer here: Why does love hurt?

How to please God in our everyday lives

6th November 2016

It’s been suggested that, give-or-take, we have 120 waking hours available each week for work, family and leisure time. If you’re a Christian, you might spend up to 10 of those hours a week at church, but probably not much more. That leaves 110 hours per week that we might call our “everyday lives”. Our time at work and our time with our families and friends.

Most Christians have a sense that we ought to be using those 110 hours to serve God, and that our worship shouldn’t just be confined to times when we’re with our church. But it’s not always obvious how we should be using that time. Sometimes God can feel pretty distant from our daily lives. Often we just need a reminder about what’s important.

So for the next couple of weeks at Gospel in the City, we’re going to be thinking about how we can please God in our everyday lives – our personal lives and our work lives. We’ll be thinking about how Christian personal relationships and attitudes to work can reflect the distinctive character of the loving God we worship.

We’re going to be looking at a couple of short sections from one of the Apostle Paul’s first letters, to a group of Christians in the city of Thessalonica in Greece. After a very short visit, a number of the Thessalonians have become Christians. But Paul had barely begun to take them through the basics of the Christian life before he’s forced to leave the city because of opposition to his message. So Paul writes to tell them how, since they’ve “turned from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his Son from heaven”¹, they can now live to please God.

If you’re not a Christian we think this will be a good chance to see what kind of God we worship by seeing the sort of life he wants us to have. A chance to see things from the inside, so to speak. And if you’re a Christian, we hope you’ll be encouraged and equipped to live to please God in your everyday life.

9th Nov: How to please God in our personal lives (1 Thessalonians 4:1-8)

16th Nov: How to please God in our working lives (1 Thessalonians 4:9-13)

Lee Campbell, who serves as pastor of Strandtown Baptist Church in Belfast, will be helping us think through these passages.

Wednesday lunchtimes, 1:10-1:40pm, upstairs in Caffe Nero on Fountain Street (1 min from City Hall). Sandwiches available (suggested donation: £3).

¹ 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10

 

Speaking with Authority

2nd October 2016

speakingwithauthority

Some people, and some messages, seem to command a hearing. For most of the last two thousand years, in most of the world, Jesus and his message of the good news of God have created just such a response. The gospel writer Mark tells us that at the beginning of his public ministry Jesus went into Galilee saying “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15).

In the crowded religious marketplace of 1st century Palestine, Jesus was immediately recognised as a uniquely authoritative voice. Since then few people have felt able to ignore Jesus’ message. But perhaps in Belfast today we find it harder to understand exactly why the people who first heard Jesus asked themselves, “What is this? A new teaching with authority!” (Mark 1:22)

In this series of four lunchtime Bible readings in the first chapter of Mark’s Gospel, we’re aiming to go back to those heady early days of Jesus’ ministry and see for ourselves what it was that made Jesus and his gospel so compelling.

12th Oct  The Voice of God (Mark 1:1-11)

19th Oct  A top line summary of the entire Bible (Mark 1:12-15)

26th Oct  Listen to the boss! (Mark 1:16-34)

2nd Nov  Words of life (Mark 1:35-45)

Speakers:

Sam Bostock (Gospel in the City)

Moore Casement (Cornhill Training Course, Belfast)

Martyn Cowan (Union Theological College, Belfast)

Join us upstairs in Caffe Nero on Fountain St (1 min from City Hall), 1:10-1:40pm, for lunch, a reading from Mark’s Gospel and a short talk. Sandwiches are available (suggested donation £3).