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ISSUE NUMBER 3
THE NETWORK Spiritual Growth in 2012 - where are we now? You will - hopefully! - remember that God has been directing us in the Kingfisher Network to reconnect with him, grow closer to him and become more like him, in 2012. Of course, this is the goal of our lives for the whole of our lives, but this is a kairos moment, when He is challenging us to focus on this with a fresh passion and intensity. He is calling us to return to our first love in amidst all of the growth and outreach that we have been experiencing particularly in 2011. During that year of seeing over 100 new people coming along to Kingfisher Tredworth, the children's and youth ministry in particular, growing remarkably at Kingsway, and the launch of Brockworth church in October, God has been calling us to balance the growth and expansion with spiritual health and to focus on taking on the character of Christ. With this in mind, we started the year with a a weekly blog, focussing each week on a particular aspect of Christ's character and how we can apply that to our lives , as we are in Christ Jesus'. Many of us have been following this twelve-week series and have used it to draw closer in character to Jesus.
Then, at the start of Lent, we supplemented this by launching a Bible Study series - The Character of Christ - that looked at the first six of these blogs. Launched across the whole Network, this Bible Study series encouraged every single Kingfisher small group to focus on the same challenges to grow together to become more like Christ. "As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend." (Proverbs 27:17 NLT). If you aren't yet in a small group, you're missing out on being sharpened in your Christian life by friends, and so you're missing out on something really special, and a key aspect of growth in your Christian life...see your pastor today about getting into one of our small groups! Now that we are postEaster, we're moving into the next phase of our response to God's challenge of spiritual growth in 2012. Following on from our focus on the character of Christ, where we looked at the attitudes that Christ had at the core of his character, and how we, too need to grow those same core attitudes, now that we are In Christ Jesus, comes a shift in focus to the HABITS of Christ.
What were the priorities in Jesus' life? What habits did he have in place that enabled him to live such an effective life? What habits must we adopt to live the effective life that Jesus Christ lived? To introduce us to the Habits of Christ, there will be a seven week blog (and, as before, in paper form for those who aren't on the internet). The Habits of Christ will take us from the inner attitudes of Christ to the outworking of those attitudes in his everyday life. The Bible tells us that... "You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. (Philippians 2:5 NLT). To have the same attitude means you will adopt the same habits, and as you do that, you will grow to become like him. Then, later in the year, there will be a second, Network-wide Bible Study series - this time on The Habits of Christ. 2012 - this is the year that Jesus Christ is calling YOU back to him, to become a fully devoted follower of His. How are doing so far? We'd love to hear your story - why not feed it back to The Network, or to your pastor?