Tots

Playgroup for under 5s and their carers

The sessions run each Monday during term times between 10 and 11:30am. To cover the cost of hiring the hall we charge £3 per family, payable on the door.

For more information, please contact Jane Gibbs on 020 8989 6092.

Easter Services

Good Friday 2nd April in person and online at 11:15 in Wanstead House

Easter Sunday 4th April in person and online at 11:15 in Wanstead House

Joint online event at 7:30pm on Easter Sunday 4th April

On Easter Sunday we will be part of a group of churches producing a live event that will explain why Easter is so significant to us as Christians. Please join us at 7:30pm to hear more – it could be the most important thing you ever do!

www.nelondon-apfl.org/easter

Christmas Services at Grace Church Wanstead

People often wonder if there is a God and if we could ever get to know him. The great news of Christmas is that God has really visited us through Jesus Christ so that we can know him. 

Come and find out more at one of our Christmas services:
Family Carol Service, 16th December 11:15am
Children and Tots’ Carol Service, Christmas Eve 4:30pm
Christmas Day 11:15am

For those already following Jesus we have a variety of meetings, small groups and Bible studies to support you and encourage you to get to know Jesus better. Please see our “What’s On” page for more details. 

Who is to blame for Hurrricane Irma?

I keep seeing Facebook posts with pictures of ‘Christians’ who claim that the disasters caused by the weather are being caused by ‘The Gays.’

I would like to set the record straight.

It is caused by homosexuals and heterosexuals, abortionists and pro-lifers, paedophiles and the young, the old, the middle-aged, transsexuals, men, women, Donald Trump, Mexicans, bank robbers, Bankers, the unemployed, the employed, mothers who breastfeed, mothers who don’t…

non-Christians and Christians,

you and me.

It was my fault.

I’m sorry.

Romans 3: 23-24  … for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

When humans decided that they could make a better job of running the world than the God who created it, He gave us what we wanted; He gave us the opportunity to go it alone.

Even though we ruined His perfect creation, He gave us a way back, and the promise that one-day it would be all made new and perfect again.

The only difference between a non-Christian and a Christian is the fact that Christians have said sorry – we are the ones who recognise that we are the problem.

If you call yourself a Christian and you are pointing your finger at other people, I ask you to go back to the Bible and look for the part where it says, ‘There is no one righteous, not even one; (except you – insert your name here).’

If you find it, please let me know.

If you don’t consider yourself a Christian why don’t you come along to Starbucks Wanstead, on 9 November at 8pm? There will be a short talk called, Is there enough evidence for Atheism?, with the opportunity to ask questions afterwards. Best case scenario you leave with the free gift of eternal life, worst case scenario, you get to shelter from the terrible weather whilst enjoying a free cup of coffee and a slice of cake.

Add to Calendar

Is there enough evidence for Atheism?

Is there enough evidence for atheism? David Wilks (MSt Philosophical Theology) will delve into 2 of the key issues: science and human evil.

Where: Starbucks Wanstead

When: 9 November 2017, Thursday @ 8pm     Add to Calendar

The Encouragement Manual

Hi, I’m Clare. My husband and I have five children (aged between 11 and 2). Most of the time I feel incredibly blessed to be a busy Mum, but occasionally, well, I don’t! Raising children is hard, exhausting, and sometimes unappreciated work, requiring reserves of patience, wisdom and strength that I just don’t have.

Fortunately, there’s an Encouragement Manual written for people like me. And, amazingly, it’s written by someone who created my children, and loves them even more than I do.

When the dirty dishes are piling up, laundry is everywhere and I can’t see the floor for the toys, it tells me that all these menial tasks can be holy and meaningful too.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. (Colossians 3:23-24)

Through endless days and disturbed nights, it encourages me to keep going.

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. (Galatians 6:9)

When I am worried about how life is going to turn out for my children, it tells me not to be.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)

When my children are driving me crazy, the Manual reminds me to view them the way that the author, their Creator, does:

Children are a heritage from the Lord,
offspring a reward from him.
Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are children born in one’s youth.
Blessed is the man
whose quiver is full of them. (Psalm 127:3-5)

When I feel like what I am doing is not important or worth much, it reminds me that spending time with my children and teaching them about God is exactly what I should be doing.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. (Deuteronomy 6v5-7)

And that if I am faithful in this, the benefit to my children will be immeasurable.

Train up a child in the way he should go;
even when he is old he will not depart from it. (Proverbs 22:6)

All your children will be taught by the Lord,
and great will be their peace. (Isaiah 54:13)

In all this, and in many many other ways, God’s Word the Bible supports me, lifts me up, and gives me hope on a daily basis. I am certain that it can be an Encouragement Manual for you too, no matter who you are or what you do. God created you and loves you and wants to tell you:

So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (Isaiah 41:10)

How much money is enough? Just a little bit more.

A few years ago we had a really big shed built at the end of our garden.
That same weekend, the sermon at church was about the man who built a really big barn to store all his stuff.* (You can find it in Luke 12:16-21)

The irony was not missed.

Unlike the man in the parable I didn’t die the same night, (or if I did, I didn’t notice) I survived to ask myself a few questions:

Do I need all this ‘stuff’? (And I don’t just mean all the half empty tins of paint and left over bits from badly thought out DIY projects).
What am I working for?
What do I really value in life?

When we die our ‘stuff’ is left behind to sit in someone else’s big shed, or line the tax man’s pockets. Thankfully though, we don’t have to rely on our wealth to save us – after all we can be rich one day and the wind changes and it’s gone; stolen, paid out in medical bills, or as it goes in this house, vet bills, and shed roof repairs.

Jesus calls us to change our focus – to see the one thing that has lasting value, that can’t rot, be lost or stolen, that is not affected by the economy; our relationship with God. That’s the only thing that will last forever.

Romans 8:38-39
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We don’t need to buy our way into heaven; Jesus has paid that price for us – it was far too costly for us to pay ourselves!
He paid with his life then offered us eternal life as a gift.

A funeral plan might be a sensible thing to buy, but why plan for your death when you haven’t planned for your life?

*Please note there is no treasure in my shed – we keep the gold bullion under the mattress.