church | Gospel in the City

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?

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.

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

16^th 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

Ask Google: Am I a good person?

25th September 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.

am-i-a-good-person
Am I a good person? However you look at it, the Bible’s answer to this question has been very influential. But what exactly is the Bible’s answer?

On Wednesday 5th Oct, Christoph Ebbinghaus will be helping us think about the Bible’s answer to the question Am I a good person? Join us for a talk and an opportunity to ask questions upstairs in Caffe Nero on Fountain St, 1:10-1:40pm. Sandwiches available (suggested donation £3).

As the Guardian’s answer concluded: “The only certain thing about this question is that if you’ve never thought to ask it, the answer has to be “no”.”

Christoph Ebbinghaus has been serving as the the minister of Kirkpatrick Memorial Presbyterian Church for the last twelve years. Before entering full-time ministry, he trained as an accountant in Belfast.