The MRBC Sunday Service 29th May 2022

This Sunday’s Service is at church at 10-30am. Mark is doing his second talk in the series on Isaiah 6 entitled Growing Back Stronger.

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Here’s the TKC song for 2022 “Not made for the harbour” by Andy Flanagan. Our other TKC resources for today and the coming week are on: http://www.mrbcfelixstowe.org.uk/blogmrbc/2022/05/26/thy-kingdom-come-2022/

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The BMS video on Ukraine is below:

The BMS Ukraine page is at: https://www.bmsworldmission.org/appeal/ukraine-2022/

For Reflection and Discussion

Read Isaiah 6:1-13

It may be useful to look at this before you start this study:

https://churchmodel.org.uk/2022/05/15/growth-decline-and-extinction-of-uk-churches/ by John Hayward.

1. How aware are you of the decline of the Christian faith in Britain in the last half century or so? How seriously should we take studies like the one above? (It’s one of many over the years that describe the same trend.)

2. Why do you think churches have contracted so rapidly and now some denominations face extinction? Is it just the faithlessness of the present generation, or does the church bear responsibility for it’s own demise?

3. Last week we saw that even by the end of the first century, churches were in deep trouble and some facing extinction in the Roman province of Asia (Western Turkey). What was happening to the rest of the church in the world at that time? We have lamented to contraction of church in our land, but what is going on in the rest of the world? What does that tell us about the purposes of God?

4. We see in Isaiah 6:13 that the stump grows back, but that only happens when the tree is properly cut back by the forester (or vines grow better if they are pruned – John 15). What do you think that entails for the church in our day? What should we do to allow God to produce new growth in us by His Spirit?