When is the next Neighbourhood Sunday?When is the next Sunday Morning Gathering at Sidney Stringer? |
Each first Sunday of the month we take church out into our neighbourhoods; engaging with our community together; building authentic relationships, sowing seeds of the kingdom across the city by sacrificially serving and expressing God’s love in practical ways.
See below to find out what is going on and how to get involved in your local Neighbourhood Sunday Activity. For the other three Sundays each month we will gather at Sidney Stringer Academy, CV1 5LY for our corporate celebratory gathering. |
To contact your local Neighbourhood Leader and find out more, please email them by clicking on your area title. These are some of the things we have been doing in our local neighbourhoods:
Kids and Youth
Kids and youth are welcome at any of these events (although youth in school year 9 and above are encouraged to come to serve at CV1). Please contact your neighbourhood leader (by clicking on the title of your neighbourhood) if you want to find out more.
In the past we have always done Community Projects, which have been a primary way in which we have engaged with our neighbours and expressed God’s love in practical ways. We have sought to have a longer term focus in our neighbourhoods rather than short term “projects”.
Neighbourhood Initiative gives us a means to effectively seek and deliver true transformation in our communities and neighbourhoods. Our monthly Neighbouhood Sunday’s are just one part of this.
Each Life Group will ‘adopt’ a community/neighbourhood, serving their neighbours together; expressing God’s love in practical ways and building long lasting relationships in the community, especially in deprived areas of our communities. This may mean that Life Groups join together to meet a particular need as they discern how God is leading them to serve. For more on Neighbourhood Initiative, see some of the material that has inspired us here.
What is Neighbourhood Initiative?
Neighbourhood Initiative is not a program, but a work that God is introducing to bring revival in His Church and transformation to cities. Like a living organism, NI starts small like the tiny mustard seed and has the potential to change the culture of churches and society today. Neighbourhood Initiative is seeing what the Father is doing in your neighbourhood and joining in. Simply put, we are doing what Jesus would do if He lived in our neighbourhoods.
When love and care thrive in a neighbourhood, transformation of a community and the people within is inevitable. NI is basically “The Whole Church Taking the Whole Gospel to the Whole City One Neighbourhood at a Time.”
Neighbourhood Groups
Comprised of all members who identify with a particular geographic area; who are focussed on the transformation of those who live within that specific location; who seek God for His strategy to witness to them and plan together. (We are using CV areas as a starting point, but as we move forward we are trusting the Lord to clarify the locations and makeup of these communities.)
Our hope is that Neighbourhood Groups will develop into CV Sites by 2025. They are currently led by our Neighbourhood Leaders, however we envisage these being led increasingly by a collaborative team as each group seeks to serve their local neighbourhood.
Neighbourhood Initiative gives us a means to effectively seek and deliver true transformation in our communities and neighbourhoods. Our monthly Neighbouhood Sunday’s are just one part of this.
Each Life Group will ‘adopt’ a community/neighbourhood, serving their neighbours together; expressing God’s love in practical ways and building long lasting relationships in the community, especially in deprived areas of our communities. This may mean that Life Groups join together to meet a particular need as they discern how God is leading them to serve. For more on Neighbourhood Initiative, see some of the material that has inspired us here.
What is Neighbourhood Initiative?
Neighbourhood Initiative is not a program, but a work that God is introducing to bring revival in His Church and transformation to cities. Like a living organism, NI starts small like the tiny mustard seed and has the potential to change the culture of churches and society today. Neighbourhood Initiative is seeing what the Father is doing in your neighbourhood and joining in. Simply put, we are doing what Jesus would do if He lived in our neighbourhoods.
When love and care thrive in a neighbourhood, transformation of a community and the people within is inevitable. NI is basically “The Whole Church Taking the Whole Gospel to the Whole City One Neighbourhood at a Time.”
Neighbourhood Groups
Comprised of all members who identify with a particular geographic area; who are focussed on the transformation of those who live within that specific location; who seek God for His strategy to witness to them and plan together. (We are using CV areas as a starting point, but as we move forward we are trusting the Lord to clarify the locations and makeup of these communities.)
Our hope is that Neighbourhood Groups will develop into CV Sites by 2025. They are currently led by our Neighbourhood Leaders, however we envisage these being led increasingly by a collaborative team as each group seeks to serve their local neighbourhood.
The great advantage of Neighborhood Initiative is that it provides a simple, accessible, and powerful way for every Christian to become involved in loving those around them with God-like ‘agape’ love. Deeds of love toward others nearby is exactly the “washing of feet” that Jesus exemplified and told us to do. It recognizes and overcomes the alienation and aloneness that sickens our world and extends right into the heart of our congregations and nearby communities. It puts people first for Christ’s sake, not church first.
Discipleship to Christ is for the home, the streets and the work-place. It is not a particularly religious thing, though specifically religious activities can also benefit from it as they in turn serve real life in our neighbors. Neighborhood Initiative is a primary way in which people of all kinds can ‘seek the kingdom of God and its kind of goodness’ from where they are and as they are. They don’t have to board a plane of religion after it is in the air.
-Dallas Willard,USC Philosophy Professor, Author, Speaker
Discipleship to Christ is for the home, the streets and the work-place. It is not a particularly religious thing, though specifically religious activities can also benefit from it as they in turn serve real life in our neighbors. Neighborhood Initiative is a primary way in which people of all kinds can ‘seek the kingdom of God and its kind of goodness’ from where they are and as they are. They don’t have to board a plane of religion after it is in the air.
-Dallas Willard,USC Philosophy Professor, Author, Speaker
