Developing a Christian Character is our Bible Study Series, and Discovering Genuine Christianity is our Preaching Series, at Emmanuel for the months from September to December 2007. At Emmanuel Church we have been seeking to personally own the Core Values of our congregation which are: Loving, Listening, Including, Celebrating, Serving and Praying. The Series entitled ‘Looking like Him’ will help us embrace these Core Values.

At Emmanuel we want to become true disciples of Jesus, and to be people who are hungry to please God. We acknowledge that our standards of living for Jesus have been lowered in order to enable us to live more comfortably; we feel this should not be the case and want to do something about it! Praise God for the work of the Holy Spirit within as we listen to his voice in the word. We find that Jesus doesn’t call us to live comfortable lives, but rather to live countercultural lives that speak to the world around it with a prophetic message of the presence of the living God in our thinking, speaking and acting. Jesus expects us to live free and holy lives to his praise.

We hope that through hearing the voice of God speak through the ‘Developing Christian Character’ Bible Study series, and the ‘Discovering Genuine Christianity’ Preaching series, that we will become more like Jesus. Our aim is to look increasingly like Jesus; therefore the series title ‘Looking like Him’ needs little explanation. Go on – look like Jesus! For information on home groups dates for the autumn click here

As part of Emmanuel's Strategy for Growth we are seeking to spend some time in Bible study looking at the key principles of our church that we sense should underline all of our activity.

The key principles are: Loving, Listening, Including, Celebrating, Serving and Praying. These will form the basis of our Home Group study from 17th April 2007 through to the end of June 2007. Each Prayer Meeting will also have a focus given to the 'Emmanuel Strategy for Growth'.

As preparation for this series we recommend that everyone in the congregation reads the following books: 'Mission-Shaped Church', Church House Publishing ISBN 0 7151 4013 2 and 'Guidance and the Voice of God' by Phillip D Jensen & Tony Payne, Matthias Media, ISBN 1-875245-66-9. Copies will be on sale on 1st and 8th of April after the service.