​https://twitter.com/juan_delcan/status/1239353536028139521

Some ideas in this sermon came from Timothy Keller's The Trouble with Christianity series.

Radcliff Christian is becoming a place where no one loses hope and no one is left alone
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We had a great time at our first Family Worship lunch last Sunday (at Britt & Michelle's -- check out pictures on RCC Facebook page)!  

I'm thankful for those who were able to attend last week and am excited about our upcoming lunch this Sunday October 15, 12:45 - 2:00pm.

We will have a 15 minute Family Worship "trial run" as part of our get together this Sunday.  By the way, you don't have to attend the 11:00 service and the lunch. You can just come for the lunch because that counts as worship too!

   Gemma's Messy StoryPosted by BRF team on 27 Jul 2017 

I have always felt God’s presence in my life, even as a child. However, I believe that my true path as a Christian, as someone who aspires to be a disciple of Christ, started approximately three years ago.I had attended church on and off before this, but mainly busied myself with my young family. As my children grew older and started attending nursery, I became more integrated into my community. A friend of mine suggested I try an after-school session called MessyChurch. 

After just one session, I felt so inspired. I felt proud that I had exposed my young children to the teaching of Christ and couldn’t believe what a treasure I had found! I actually felt like a winner; I had found one of the best after-school activities, and it was free. I started to tell everyone I could about it, so they too could join in on the fun.

My passion was ignited by the friendliness, generosity and kindness that Messy Church had promoted that day. It had completely shattered my preconceptions about church being a place not suited to young children. The idea that the church was embracing these families and providing fun, food and prayer for nothing in return just astounded me. 

It is very obvious to me that God was working in me that day. I felt confident enough to walk through the door the following Sunday for the service, knowing that I would recognise, and be recognised and kindly received by, the staff I had met in Messy Church that day.

I now help run Messy Church, am a fully integrated member of the church and find nothing more enjoyable than using the creative gifts God gave me to serve at St Matthew’s Fulham. I want to be an example to others in the non-Christian community that even a family with three under-5s and a teenager is welcome at church, that families are just as important as quiet, well-behaved adults, and that it’s not scary. In fact, it is fun and exciting to learn.

Messy Church, in my opinion, is the best way for a church to display its true colours in Christ, the best way to informally invite families back to church. Messy Church set me on a path of conviction and commitment to Christ, and I have witnessed other families who attend MessyChurch be set on that same path. They are becoming regular attendees, learning more about Christ and helping their children to receive the same teaching. This is not just a new project, a new statistic for the church. It’s real and it works!

Messy Church is available to every family in the community and is just the perfect beacon in the dark. It’s available to everyone, just like the gift of God’s son, and creates a way for families to learn more.
Gemma Hill, 36, is married to Martin and is the mother of four children, aged 14, 4, 3 and 7 months.


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RADCLIFF CHRISTIAN -- WHERE GREAT THINGS HAPPEN!


One of the chaplains at Norton Hospital shared the following story with us this week. A great illustration!

Before he retired, LaSalle University basketball coach William (Speedy) Morris received a phone call while shaving one morning. "Sports Illustrated is on the phone," his wife called out.  He got so excited that someone from Sports Illustrated, the most important sports magazine in the country, wanted to talk with him that he hurried his shaving, cutting himself three different places, ran out of the bathroom, lost his balance and tumbled down the stairs. Finally, limping, and with blood and lather on his face, he got to the telephone.
"Sports Illustrated?" he asked.
"Yes, it is," said the voice on the other line, "and for just $1 an issue, you can get a full year's subscription!"
It's tough when the phone call is not quite what we hoped for or when the plays we purposefully diagrammed don't quite turn out like we expect.

We have our ideas of how things should go in our lives. We have a purpose and a plan. We make our decisions and then, life turns out differently than we expected. The job was not quite what we anticipated it to be—the diagnosis was worse than we had hoped—the plan we so carefully devised fell far short of what we projected. We soon learn that despite our fervent efforts and carefully constructed plots, life cannot always be engineered to fit all our intentions.
This is where our faith helps us greatly. A preacher long ago, writing of the intersection of purpose and faith, said:

Trust God from the bottom of your heart;
   don't try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
  God's the one who will keep you on track.
Proverbs 3:5, The Message

Success in life depends on our willingness to find joy, even when our aims fall short of our hopes and purposes. The good news is that God is ahead of us, working for our good in ways we cannot understand or anticipate. We can trust that God cares for us and that we can trust the process of God's mercy and grace. Have the courage to make mistakes and to let the process unfold.

We need to make plans and anticipate needs; we need to have our agendas and diagram our plays. But we also need to recognize that if and when our expectations don't work out, faith can help us "listen for God's voice in everything we do, everywhere we go." May we find the faith to "trust God from the bottom of our hearts."

It's great to be your Pastor!