The Parables of Jesus - 'Truth in a Story'

For our sermon series this summer we'll be looking at the parables of Jesus, with teaching taken from Luke's gospel account. The challenge for July and August is for "Everyone to read every one" of the parables. 

Some people downgrade the value of the parables as if they were just simple stories to engage a younger generation! In reality, a parable is truth contained in a story. Jesus' parables used imagery that many in the crowd would have recognised and paradoxically they can both reveal and conceal truth depending on the heart of the listeners.

10 The disciples came to him (Jesus) and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?” 11 He replied, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them” 13 This is why I speak to them in parables: ‘Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. 14 In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:

“You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.”

15 For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.
— Matthew 13:10 - 15

Eugene Peterson captures it well in “the message”.

“Whenever someone has a ready heart for this, the insights and understandings flow freely. But if there is no readiness, any trace of receptivity soon disappears. That’s why I tell stories: to create readiness, to nudge the people toward receptive insight. In their present state they can stare till doomsday and not see it, listen till they’re blue in the face and not get it.”  

 

Jesus didn’t code his teaching to prevent some people from understanding, as everyone would have understood the imagery. His teaching divided the listeners into two groups based on their own heart responses. 

 

The invitation this summer, is for everyone to read every one!

Print off this PDF so you can keep a track on the ones you’ve read.


Everyone read every one

 

Tips and questions to help you get the most of each parable

 

  • Try reading each parable in a couple of different versions. The message has a conversational style that can compliment some of the more systematic translations.
  • The Kingdom is the rule and reign of God, it’s both the now and the not yet. Kingdom living requires a mindset shift so what is Jesus teaching me about the character of God and the nature of God’s kingdom? 
  • What is going on during, before and after the parable? Did a problem prompt the parable? Was Jesus dealing with a question or an attitude? What else does it say? What was the response of the listeners?
  • How am I invited to think differently and live differently in the light of this story?

The Flood of Compassion

You will be aware (unless you were on holiday) that we have suffered plenty of unusual weather here in Birmingham over the last couple of weeks. The amount of rain in the city has resulted in a large number of flash floods in areas across the city, one of which was here at Church. On the same day just a few miles from us here, Heartlands A&E department were suffering more substantial flooding which caused the hospital to declare a Major Incident. 

The flood water caused a significant amount of damage to many areas in the hospital despite the magnificent efforts of the staff. One of the members of staff on that day was Birmingham Vineyard’s very own Aimée Wright. Aimée works as an Advanced Clinical Practitioner at Heartlands and Good Hope hospitals. The Sunday after the flood Aimée described to us the devastation of the Children's A&E department, having to be closed for three weeks whilst the damage was fixed and everything in it thrown out and replaced.

The Children’s A&E department lost all of its donated toys and play equipment in the flood. This equipment is there to help when children come in with a wide range of problems. There is also an adolescent room which suffered some damage to their equipment and toys. This room is for teenagers who may not be able to leave the building or have contact with many people. Both rooms and the equipment in them provide some sort of ‘normal’ life and entertainment for the children and young people that they may not otherwise be able to experience. Aimée explained to us that unfortunately the toys and equipment, donated or was paid for through fundraising, weren’t covered by insurance, so there was no way of replacing the equipment and all of it was thrown away. The current situation is that they only have four toys which have been recently given. 

One of our four canvasses here at church is Compassion and Justice. Through some of the activities at church, through our cells and communities we aim to show God’s compassion, justice, love and mercy to those who need it and this situation is a great example of this. So, because of your generous giving as a Church we were able to donate £500.00 towards the cost of some new toys and play equipment for the Children's A&E department. Also Aaron has asked our youth to consider donating £10 each to help replace some of the much needed equipment in the teenagers room. The whole A&E department will be reopening in the next couple of weeks and we hope the new toys will be there ready to use. 

So thank you Church. Thank you for being generous givers so that we can bless others – your giving makes such a difference.

Aaron

Summer Services

Summer is here!

Can you hear the hooray echoing through the hills?!

We're really excited for all the things that God has got planned over this summer - how He's going to speak to us through fellowship, rest, and gathering at Church festivals.

This summer, we're going down to just 1 morning service and 1 evening service (rather than 2 in the morning and 1 in the evening).  We will have events running every week throughout July and August, either at, before, or after the services. For details, just see above!

Community Sunday

One Sunday of every month we don't have church in our central building, but get together in our smaller communities around the Birmingham area and do church within different contexts. This last Sunday we did just that and our different communities  had Teddy Bear Picnics, prayer walks, barbeques, family celebration services, and much more!

Below are just some of the photos of what went on:

Big Church

We had a wonderful time getting together as one big family on Sunday. There was time to hear what God's been doing in and with our youth recently, then Andrew and Rosie shared some of our story as a community, bookended as always by some really God filled prayer and worship! 

The talk is now live on our podcast (simply search for Birmingham Vineyard on your favourite podcast app) or on the listen page here on our website, so you can catch up with the sermon if you missed it.

Announcing BVAdvance

We’re really excited to announce BV Advance - our new full time voluntary year which will help 5 interns grow and develop in their walk with Jesus, learn new skills and develop their leadership potential. 

Through serving, teaching, studying and having lots of fun, we want to help them be all that they can be and discover more of who God is and His plan for their lives. There will be opportunities to gain experience in a wide range of ministry areas. They will accompany the staff team whenever they equip churches and minister around the country and there will be the opportunity to go to the Vineyard National Leaders Conference in Nottingham and on an amazing missions trip to Malawi. There will also be training and optional extra theology study through Vineyard Hub Training. 

The year will start in early September and conclude in late August 2017 and has only a minimal cost attached.

If you or anyone you know might be interested in this opportunity, please head here for more details and an application form

God on the move!

On Sunday we were really excited to see God heal several people who had physical injuries. One of the stories that was told was this one about a healing that has happened over the past couple of weeks. This is what Eleanor said:

"Some of you will know I injured my wrist at work a few weeks ago in April. At the next B30 community prayer event, 2 friends very kindly offered to pray for me because I couldn't even grasp something without dropping it and feeling sudden pain. My wrist felt pretty weird, warm and tingly at the time, and when I got up the next morning it was free from pain for the first time since the injury, even though my grip was still rather weak and my wrist was noticeably less flexible than the other one. But after the prayer I was able to put my own shoes on, squeeze out toothpaste with my left hand (as opposed to my teeth!), turn on taps and hold things. This felt amazing! I’d been getting so frustrated before as half my hand didn't seem to move, even when I willed my fingers to work. 

Then the following Sunday one of the 5-year olds in Discovery Zone wanted to pray for it too, so he and his Mum prayed for my wrist to increase in strength. It was so sweet and brave of him and I've been able to use my hand as normal all week since! God is so so good!!"

It seems as if healing is one of the areas that we are really seeing God at work, so lets press in and ask Him for more in the weeks to come! 

Rosie 

Emergency Needs Met!

Imagine arriving in the UK with nothing for your three year old child, or arriving with a baby due in two weeks. That’s exactly the situation two families faced this Easter weekend. The social network of Facebook connected Christians across the country and has meant that as they arrived in Birmingham our Grow Baby project was able to help. They chose nappies, clothing, new cot blankets, a pushchair and toys. We don’t officially open our doors until 15 April but we aim to be Jesus’ hands and feet to families with under 5’s and there’s no time limit on that is there?

They weren't our first customer either! Through our Foodbank contacts we've already helped a mum who was using the services of one of Birmingham’s shelters. Thanks to donations from our church family she received beautiful clothes for a newborn, nappies and other essentials.

If you want to help us restock we’d love more nappies and newborn clothing. Oh and a request I couldn't meet; baby wipes and nappy sack bags would also be very handy. If you have some time to spare and would like to join us being Jesus’ hands and feet then please contact Wendy and Rob Slater who lead our Grow Baby team on: growbaby@birminghamvineyard.com

Week of Prayer

As a community we look forward to these weeks so much, it's an opportunity to refocus our lives and really prioritise listening to God. 

This week we will be looking at the events leading up to Easter. The goal is to encourage each of us to spend time in God's presence.

We would love to encourage you to pray wherever you are during the week and as a community we want to cover the entire week in prayer, so we're asking everyone to sign up for at least one hour on the 24-7 prayer space below. You could pray with a friend or your cell group, during your commute or on a walk, the possibilities are endless! 

www.24-7prayer.com/signup/6e366c


Good Friday? No, Great Friday!

Our week will culminate in an all church event called 'The Presence' on Friday 25th March. 

10:15 - 11:30  :  We'll meet together for hot cross buns, tea and coffee followed by a short service.

11:30 - 12:30  :   A time of more reflective personal prayer and worship


Daily Themes and Resources

We will be looking at some of the event leading up to Easter Sunday as a focus for each day and will send out daily resources to help you with that. If you would like these resources sent to you each day and are not yet on our mailing list you can contact us here to give us your details.

We'll also link the resource sheets here throughout the week so you can download them.

How to break up an hour

Family Prayer Resources

Monday - Preparation

Tuesday - Weeping

Wednesday - The Fig Tree

Thursday - Passover & Agony

Friday - The Trials & the Cross

A new Alpha course commences...

Our fifth Alpha Course is starting tonight! We're so excited to be welcoming a new course load of guests through the door. There's still time for you to invite people in your circles - it's a great opportunity for people to find answers to their biggest questions around faith and God. 

Look forward to hearing great stories in 7 weeks time!

Big Church, Great Church!

We had Big Church on Sunday! It was such a special time of being together in God's presence. Check out the photos below!

 Christy Wimber graciously came to speak to us and shared an empowering message of God continuing to use His power, despite our weakest moments. Listen to her talk here

Our kids also had an amazing time, led by Powerpack Ministries, with fun games and Holy Spirit encounters.

We just can't wait until the next one on 22nd May.

 

Christmas Services

Christmas is coming!

We know that's scary for some, but the festive season is well upon us. The good news is that we have plenty of services to get you all into the Christmas spirit - and plenty of opportunities to invite your family, friends and even strangers to! 

This is what's happening this December:

Why not come along and join us, and bring everyone you can while you're at it! You'd be so welcome and we'd love to see you!

Week of Prayer Resources

Our week of prayer will be starting soon and we're looking forward to all that God is going to say and do in our community!

We'll be sending out resources daily to everyone, but will also update this page throughout the week with notes for every day.


Splitting the hour - Download this for some help on how to split an hour of prayer down into smaller sections, using this you can either split it into 4 or 12 sections

Monday - Today's topic is Thankfulness, download the document for more information, with some prayer suggestions and resources.

TuesdayThe focus for today is the Alpha course and our un-reached friends and family, take a look at the resources and join us in prayer!

Wednesday - Today we'll be praying about children, families, youth and students. Download today's resources and get involved!

More to follow each day until the end of the week!

Responding to the refugee crisis

We believe that we are called to respond to the ongoing crisis affecting millions of people around the world and would urge you to prayerfully consider how much you can give to support the campaigns mentioned below.

 

222 Ministries

Our friends at 222 Ministries are doing great work in some of the affected areas, you can join us in supporting all of their work:
http://www.222ministries.org/donate/view/GB/16

Or give directly to their refugee aid campaign:
http://www.222ministries.org/donate/view/GB/9

 

Tearfund

We are also supporting Tearfund's refugee crisis campaign along with many Vineyard churches in the UK, they have a fantastic track record and we trust that they are using the money well!
http://www.tearfund.org/en/refugeecrisis/

 

Donating Items

On Saturday 3rd Oct we will be hosting a drop point for donations to CalAid. Check out the event page for more details including what they do and don't need:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1622215248030535/

If you aren't on facebook you can find more details on the flyer here

Introducing... Elaine!

This Sunday we're really looking forward to welcoming Elaine, our new Assistant Pastor for children. We'll be spending some time getting to know her a little and hearing some of her story. Until then here are a few fun facts for you:

Elaine Portrait

Favourite season of the year?
Autumn

Starbucks/Costa or independent store?
Starbucks

Favourite music genre?
Rock / house

When you were a kid what did you want to be when you grow up? 
Teacher

What’s one thing you can’t live without? 
Audio books

Guilty Pleasure song? 
Shania Twain

Starter or Dessert? 
Dessert

Favourite holiday destination? 
Italy

What was the last book you read? 
Soul keeper by John Ortberg / Georgia by Lesley Pearce

Sunday Service Times

During the summer we regularly become a smaller congregation with people going on holidays so from July 19th and through August we will be moving to just 2 services on a Sunday:

10:30am and 5:30pm

During the 10:30am service our children's ministries from age 0-11 will still be on as normal. To make sure we have enough leaders at all times, there will be no children’s ministry in the evening service.

As normal you will be able to come from 5pm for toast and crumpets before the 5:30pm service

New Office Manager

We are delighted to announce that Joanne Porter will be our new office manager and PA to Andrew and Rosie. She will be starting work next week and we are really excited about her joining our team!

A massive thanks goes out to the wonderful Sarah Wicker, who has been doing an incredible job for many years and is now stepping down to move on to new things.

Four Canvasses Feedback

Thanks to all those who filled in the Birmingham Vineyard Canvas Questionnaire, and for taking the time to share your heart and passion for what God wants to do in our church family and in the city.

We have been reading the comments and listening to your thoughts and ideas. We have already used the questionnaire information to pick up on some pressing situations expressed, linking individuals into support via their Cells and Community contacts. We have also informally connected some people who have a shared interest in specific issues (eg looking to starting a community café).

What's next?

We are now arranging a series of “Round Table” sessions – 1 per canvas – to explore the values and passions, ideas and suggestions in each canvas, so that we can start to set up plans and actions to grow in each of the areas. The Round Table sessions will have a brief summary of all the questionnaire feedback for that canvas, and we have identified a couple of people per canvas who will facilitate the conversation and help lead us as we plan our next steps.

The sessions are open to anyone in the church who wants to engage with ideas or who has capacity to make a difference. Taking part in the round table does NOT automatically commit you to delivering personally on all the projects and ideas discussed! It does give you the opportunity to shape what happens next.

The session dates are:

Doing Life Well – Wednesday 10th June 
Work and the City – Wednesday 17th June 
Leaders and Nations – Monday 13th July 
Compassion and Justice – Monday 20th July

All the sessions will take place in Network House and will run from 8:00pm – 9:45pm prompt.

Please take this opportunity to help us grow and develop the heart behind each canvas.

God bless

Mike McMaster
(on behalf of Andrew and Rosie)

Felling trees, filling potholes and planting a forest!

We are delighted to announce that we have taken ownership of the car park opposite Network House. This has been made possible by the ongoing generously of all of who support the ministry and vision of the Church so thank you!

What We've Done

Our first task was to undertake some essential repair work to make the space safe.
In essence the worst pot holes have been filled and we unfortunately have had to remove the 6 trees.

From an environmental perspective removing trees is not a decision we've taken lightly. As trustees we've taken advice (from the surveyor, from our mortgage company, our insurance company and car park operators).

By removing the trees we :

  • Eliminated ongoing structural damage to the car park surface.
  • Eliminated the significant structural risk to the neighbouring properties.
  • Reduced the risk of personal injury.
  • Increased the light to the area.
  • Removed the already diseased trees (2 of 6)

In the light of this decision we have chosen to invest in planting trees locally, not only to offset the loss but increase the positive impact on the urban environment.

We've spoken with Birmingham Trees For Life  and agreed to a "business sponsorship package” that will enable us to plant a number of established trees and 400 saplings in partnership with local schools close to the city centre in Birmingham. 

 

What’s next…

We’ll have the car park available from Sunday the 7th June. 

We are exploring the best company to manage the car park long term, but just to be clear parking for Church will be free! As part of this we are also looking at getting the lines repainted so we can fit as many cars in as easily as possible.

We are looking at upgrading the lighting and CCTV coverage of the car park so that the area is as welcoming as possible for all.

Andrew 
On behalf of the trustees.