Fellowship

The word "fellowship" comes from the Greek word koinonia, which means "holding something in common". Other translations for the word in the Bible include partnership, contribution, communion, and joint participation.

Sunday Service

It is good to come together with fellow believers in unity declaring our belief of salvation in Christ, worshipping together giving Him praise and glory, serving one another with spiritual gifts and loving one another.
Fellowship builds up the body of Christ and as individuals within the body. Our Sunday services are a wonderful time of worship, teaching on God’s Word, hearing from God prophetically and encountering His presence and touch.
Our lives are enriched by being in the company of other followers of Christ and as God uses His people to encourage and build up one another.

Prayer Central

On the first Sunday evening of every month we hold our prayer central meeting. This is an opportunity to gather together to worship and pray. It might sometimes feel that you have nothing left after a long week and the last thing for which you would have energy is to come out to JCC on a Sunday evening, especially in the winter when it is dark and cold.
Can I suggest a simple reframing of how you view a Sunday. Consider it as the first day of the week and not the last. Within the Judeo-Christian tradition, the first day of the week has always been Sunday. Perhaps then coming out to pray with others on a Sunday evening won’t feel quite so challenging, it’s the first day of the week after all!
Prayer central is a great opportunity to pray with others about significant issues relating to Church life, our town, our country and nations around the World. It is also often a chance to pray for one another and to seek God for breakthrough and freedom in our personal lives.

What can be unexpected sometimes is just how built up you can feel by attending a prayer central gathering. The worship is particularly powerful, perhaps because it is more stripped back and intimate than at the morning service. There is the opportunity to hear from God and minister to one another as well as release up in prayer issues that might otherwise weigh us down. Personally, I always walk away from these meetings feeling lighter and more refreshed.

Jubilee for Men and Women's Prayer (JFM & JFW)

Once a month on a Saturday morning men or women gather together to pray. All the above stated reasons are also relevant to these particular prayer meetings and perhaps because of the smaller numbers gathered and the nature of the gender grouping, these are often times more orientated to praying for one another seeking after God for particular breakthroughs.

Pre-Service Prayer

Our services start at 10am on a Sunday and we gather for prayer before the service between 9.15am – 9.45am. This is a special time to pray and hear from God, building up faith and expectation of what God is wanting to do in the service and taking the opportunity to pray over those who are serving that morning.

Oasis

This is a special women’s group that gather on Thursday mornings to share God’s Word, pray together and share testimonies.

Foundations

Jubilee Community Church runs this course written by John Groves which focuses on six group studies looking at the essentials of Christian living. It is a great way to deepen your understanding of the Christian faith and lay strong groundworks to your faith and walk with Jesus if you are a new believer. We certainly strongly encourage anyone who has come to faith through doing the Alpha course to go on to do Foundations.

In the words of John Virgo, Founder of New Frontiers: How vital it is for the person recently converted to be rooted and grounded in their newfound faith…. In your hands you have an excellent introduction, practically prepared by John Groves, an experienced, hands-on pastor who is fully acquainted with truths vital to be understood and embraced…I wholeheartedly recommend Foundations to you, expecting it to prove a genuinely helpful guide.

Further information can be found at:

Discipleship

Before Jesus ascended to Heaven, he made clear in the Great Commission that making disciples was the call of the church (Matthew 28:18-20). In this sense, discipleship is not optional—there is no such thing as Christians who aren’t disciples.

Therefore, discipleship should be seen as the highest calling, core identity, and central task of the church.
Discipleship is an intentional journey leading to maturity in our relationship with Jesus so that we become more like Him in our attitudes, focus and ultimately behaviour.

The process of discipleship in community protects you from false views of God, Satan’s attempts to isolate you with your own thoughts and feelings, and the constantly shifting ideas of culture.

Followers of Jesus can walk alongside each other, encouraging each other to obey everything Jesus commanded, but they’ll never be able to accomplish that in their own power. It’s the Holy Spirit who gives them the capacity to do so. And it’s the Spirit who produces what the Bible calls “fruit” — the natural results of having the Spirit in your life and seeking His will in what you do and how you live: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22–23).

An essential element of discipleship is walking alongside other disciples as we learn how to live in the power of the Spirit in ever-increasing ways.

Small Groups

We are passionate about small groups at JCC and believe these provide opportunity to connect with each other, connect with God, seek His Kingdom to come and to grow in Christ. We also believe our small groups create exciting mission opportunities so are a great way to partake in the great commission as a group, encouraging and praying for one another as we seek to share the good news of the Gospel.

If you are not part of a small group then you can contact Matt Hoyes (matt@jcceg.co.uk) and he will then look to connect you with a suitable group. Some small groups meet by video on certain weeks to help those with younger children and others always meet in person. There are daytime groups as well as Tuesday & Wednesday evening groups so hopefully everyone can find a group that suits them.

Peer Discipleship

In addition to small groups, we strongly encourage people to meet as even smaller groups of 4 brothers or sisters at least once per month to encourage, support and challenge one another at a level of honesty, authenticity and accountability which can sometimes be more difficult in a larger small group.

A peer discipleship group is suitable for any follower of Jesus who would be considered to have a level of faith and understanding beyond the level of Alpha and Christian Foundations.
There is no specific administration input with respect to the formation of these groups which are therefore self-motivated. We simply encourage you to seek out others independently to form such a group and aim to meet up at least monthly.
The exact format for these groups is somewhat open and some people find it easier to share when doing something such as walking or crafts, others might want to meet in their homes or even at JCC. The key is to hold one another to account as to how the time is being used.

A useful guide is to spend half the time sharing and listening and the other half looking at truth and intercession in prayer and seeking the Holy Spirit.

In view of the call of the great commission, groups should have a key intention of multiplying over time and the formation of groups of 4 is in part to facilitate this with the idea that a group splits in half with each two members looking to add another two and so forth.

We would anticipate consideration of multiplication to occur after a twelve month period and then be ongoing.

Wellbeing

Jesus states in John 10:10 – ‘I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.’
I am inviting you to come on a journey of wellbeing as set out from God’s perspective. I believe this will bring clarity as to what God’s intention is for us with respect to improved wellbeing, how He views the whole issue and how He offers us a path through Him to greater fulfilment, joy, peace, vitality and deeper sense of satisfaction in our lives.
I would simply like to signpost you to the wellbeing section on the JCC website under the resources tab and take up the opportunity of improved wellbeing that is available to each and every believer in Christ.

Freedom in Christ

The eldership team at JCC strongly encourage people to do freedom in Christ. We aim to run a Freedom in Christ Steps day at least once a year but also would advise individuals and groups to work through the whole Freedom in Christ discipleship course. The course can be worked through by listening to these session podcasts, click here.

Alternatively, the course is available in the form of a book, at www.ficm.org.uk.

There is also an App available now with extra features that help you get the most out of the course and can be downloaded from Google Play or the Apple App store.

Even though we are new creations in Christ our previous experiences and relationships continue to influence our thinking and behaviour. These often lead us to believing lies about ourselves and can prevent us from fully accepting and living out our new identity in Christ.

This course helps us take hold of the truth of who we are in Christ based on the Word of God and shows us how we can be released of strongholds that Satan uses against us and would otherwise hold us back from being the person God created us to be and do all the things that He has prepared in advance for us.
Find more information about the course at www.ficm.org.uk/discipleship-course.

Relationships

In Psalm 133 it says "How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity. It is like precious oil poured on the head ." We were made by God to be in relationship with Him but also in relationship with one another.
In Matthew 22:36–40, Jesus is asked: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” His reply: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: “Love your neighbour as yourself.” “All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

How we relate to other people whether they be fellow believers or non-believers is of high importance to Jesus. Our desire is to be more like Him and as we mature in our faith, our interaction with others should be more reflective of how He related to those He met and spent time with during His life on earth. Different levels of connection and closeness with others holds varying levels of challenge as we seek to love one another well. We will need the Holy Spirit and a readiness to forgive as we have been forgiven.

There are various courses and resources to help us in this journey of how we relate to others whether that be as we seek to marry, if we are already married, if we are living as a single person, if we are parenting children, caring for others in need or seeking meaningful friendships. I would point you to book by Dave Smith titled "God’s Plan for your Wellbeing."

In addition, there are more specific courses to consider at www.htb.org/courses. These include pre-marriage, marriage, singleness, dating, bereavement and parenting.

Jubilee Community Church is also a hub for Spurgeons, and you can access support from the local parent support worker if you want to grow and develop your parenting skills if you are finding there are challenges for you in this. It is both wonderful and at times difficult being a parent! Further information and referral for support is available at: www.spurgeons.org

Habits - Managing Finances

There is no doubt that if we have financial strains this can lead us to worry and be anxious which will take our eyes off God which is what Satan is always trying to do. Managing our finances well and stewarding well what God has given us will lead to increased freedom from worrying about our financial situation.

We are very fortunate to have a CAP Debt Centre running from Jubilee Community Centre which helps those who are struggling with debt but also runs a pro-active course to help people budget and plan their finances so they can avoid getting into debt. It is a great way to learn how to better practically steward our money and is highly recommended even if you don’t feel debt is a potential risk for you. Further information can be found at: www.capuk.org/get-help.

Restoration - Sabbath

It might be surprising to have a section just about Sabbath but in an ever increasingly busy World which seems to encourage filling our time doing more, it is crucial and important to consider the Sabbath. This is a countercultural directive from God and we either trust that He knows what is best for us or we don’t?

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Exodus 20: 8-11

If God rested on the seventh day after the work of creation then it would seem very wise and sensible that we seek to obey His command to do the same.

The term Sabbath comes from the Hebrew word Shabbat which literally means rest or cessation. Taking a day of Sabbath each week is good for us. We are at risk of burning out if we do not take adequate time to rest and be restored by God. It also helps us trust God to provide for us even if we don’t work one day each week. People are under ever increasing financial pressures but sometimes we need to stop and reflect whether we are striving for more things based on desire and Worldly narrative rather than what we actually need. Taking an intentional decision to drop a day of work so we can rest and delight in God may require a step of faith and trust that God can and will provide for what we need. There is also a risk that work itself or the desire for more materialistic wealth become false idolatory and we can place more importance on these things than our relationship with God.

Now it is important to recognize there are different seasons to life and taking a whole day set aside as a sabbath each week might just seem impossible. This may indeed be valid in situations such as parenting young children or looking after elderly frail parents. However, there still may be some intentional steps and changes we can make on a day each week that will help us restore and draw closer to God. Examples might be taking a break from social media communication, avoiding shopping and buying things, taking a walk and enjoying God’s creation, setting aside a longer time for worship and prayer and preparing food/meals the day before.

We should encourage and challenge each other in love with respect to achieving this vital time set aside for rest and stopping of our regular daily routines. What are your current arrangements with respect to taking a Sabbath and what might you have to do to better achieve it?