Mission Weekend: Seven Kings Got Talent

UFC Band

Our judges - Keith, Irene and Dennis

Amrita Singravelou

Spirit & Life Church

Guiseppe Palumbo

Jade Springer

Palmer Stone Stage School

Danny & Joel Molyneux

Spirit & Life Church

The Winners

Part 1 of our Mission Weekend at St John's Seven Kings was full of flair and creativity as we hosted Seven Kings Got Talent. With over 30 performers there was plenty of variety in what was a packed show. We enjoyed soloists, duos and groups performing songs, instrumentals (guitar, tin whistle and piano), magic and dance (tap and Indian). In between the competition sections, the United for Christ Band performed worship songs. Our judges - Keith, Irene and Dennis - had a difficult task which they performed with great aplomb. The evening was compered by Dr. Winston Solomon.

Tomorrow we look forward to Part 2 of our Mission Weekend with a Dougie Dug Dug Crazy Science Praise Party for all the family at 4.00pm.

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Dougie Dug Dug - I'm Gonna Jump Up And Down (Be Happy).

United for Christ band at St John's

Last night the worship in our Evening Service at St John's Seven Kings was led by the United for Christ band, a local youth worship band. UFC led us in worship reflecting God's presence with us in all the changing scenes of life, while spoke about the privilege and challenge of being a temple for God's Holy Spirit:

In John 2. 13-22 Jesus cleanses the Temple but then says that the new Temple is his body which is shortly to die and be raised to life again after three days.

The physical Temple was destroyed in AD70 by the Romans, as Jesus had prophesied, and this left Jews and Christians with a dilemma; where to worship now the focus of worship had been removed. The Jews solved this problem by making synagogues the heart of Judaism while Christians understood that, as the church is the body of Christ, the Holy Spirit lives in us, as in Jesus’ physical body, and so we too are temples of the Holy Spirit.

We see this teaching worked out and applied by Paul in 1 Corinthians 6. 13b – 20 where he ends by saying:

“Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and who was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourselves but to God; he bought you for a price. So use your bodies for God’s glory.”      

If we are now God’s temple because he lives in us by his Holy Spirit, then says Paul, there is another cleansing that needs to go on. Our bodies, our lives need to be made into a fit dwelling place for the Spirit of God. Our lives need to become houses of prayer not a den of thieves and that means that they need to be cleansed of all that is wrong, sinful or unholy and used for the glory of God.

Let us reflect both on the wonderful privilege of being a body, a life, a person where God lives by his Spirit and on the tremendous responsibility of being a temple of the Holy Spirit.

In what ways do our lives need cleansing? Do our lives resemble a ‘market place’ or a ‘house of prayer’? Can we give our temple of God’s Spirit a full and proper spring clean driving out by prayer and fasting all that is sinful in our lives and committing ourselves to hallowing our lives through prayer and sacrifice as we follow in Jesus’ footsteps.

“Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and who was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourselves but to God; he bought you for a price. So use your bodies for God’s glory.”      

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Hillsong - Glorious Ruins.

Evening Service with the UFC Band

On Sunday 2nd February at 6.30pm our worship at St John's Seven Kings will be led by the United For Christ (UFC) Band, a worship band made up of young people from the Ilford Bible Study group (including young people from our own congregation).

The band last led our Evening worship in April 2013 on Arts & Entertainment Sunday and have also performed worship songs at the Tamil Carol Services. We look forward to their return to St John’s and encourage you to come along to support young people in their faith and to be blessed by their ministry to us.

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Hillsong Live - Glorious Ruins.

35th Tamil Carol Service

St John's Seven Kings was the venue tonight for the 35th Tamil Carol Service. A packed church enjoyed the varied programme of dance, songs, carols and Bible readings in Tamil and English before sharing fellowship together over a meal. Among an abundance of performers were the Singsations, the UFC youth band and Spirit & Life Church.

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New Covenant Singers - Yesuvai Nambi Patrikonden.

Arts and Entertainment Sunday Service with UFC Band

Our Arts and Entertainment Sunday Service led by the UFC band was an uplifting and encouraging time with young people sharing their musical talents and experience of God as well as prayers for the arts and entertainment professions and thanksgiving for the creative skills God has given us.

We used the following prayer written for Arts and Entertainment Sunday:

Dear Lord, we give thanks that you created us. You filled our world with music, vision, words, movement, colour and expression. You gave us sensitivity to interpret and the ability to communicate. You shared your love with us through a vibrant array of Dance, Drama, Song, & Laughter, and art in the form of sculpture, painting, architecture, publishing & design.

Forgive us when we focus only on the creation, rather than the creator. Help us remember that the beauty, loveliness and gentleness of your character is represented by the world around us and expressed in the skills of those in the arts and entertainment professions.

Lord, we pray for all who have been given artistic talents and ask that you would strengthen them by your Holy Spirit and that they will use their gifts with honesty, integrity and humility. We pray that those in the world of TV, Film, Theatre, Media and creative arts may sense your presence as they release their gifts, and that those who receive these gifts will see your heavenly power at work.

Lord as we bow down before you, we ask you to raise up the Arts & Entertainment professions, that they may declare your true majesty and glory, and that they may represent you as you intended. Amen.

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Delirious? - All God's Children.

Arts and Entertainment Sunday with UFC Band

In our 6.30pm Evening Service at St John's Seven Kings on Sunday 28th April we will be celebrating Arts & Entertainment Sunday in a service where our worship will be led by the UFC Band, a worship band made up of young people from the Ilford Bible Study group.

Arts & Entertainment Sunday, a new initiative from several Christian arts groups representing performers, artists, and creators within the world of Stage, TV, Film and media is inviting people to pray for their profession.

“We thought Olivier Sunday offered a good opportunity to ask people to pray for the    arts and entertainment professions on the same day as this popular televised event,” explained Chris Gidney, Director of Christians in Entertainment. “As a commercial producer, writer and performer myself, I know just how pressurised working in the business can be, but also how influential it is in our everyday lives.”

Arts Centre Group spokesperson Susanne Scott said, “It’s so important to remember to thank God for the creative skills he has given us. Imagine a world without colour, shape, and sound!”

Fellow artist and Director of Christian group Artisan, Steve Cole added, “It’s an important time to pray for our world and those within it, and the arts, media and entertainment have such a crucial part to play. I know that prayer makes a difference.”

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Chris Tomlin - How Great Is Our God.