Devoted to friendship.
In this talk, we focus on a slightly more emotionally risky aspect of devotion. The part where we share not just what we have, but who we are. It’s the intimacy reflected in a meal in a home, a conversation around a dinner table, a showing of our cards with the courage to be seen. A devotion to friendship.
Friendship can look different in different seasons of life, but some challenges get in the way no matter who or where we are. We will explore a few of these together, and look to the bible for examples of friendship we can look up to. The good news: wherever you are on your friendship journey, you can become a better friend because you have access to the source of love.
By Tavia Grubbs
Devoted to those in need.
In this talk, we discover what true devotion to those in need looks like through the example of the early church. God's heart for those in need is undeniable. Just as Jesus saw His own face in "the least of these" (Matthew 25), we're called to see Christ in those in need around us. We are invited to move from awareness to action, starting where we are with what we have.
By Noah Sanford
Devoted to signs and wonders.
Whilst the text doesn’t explicitly state that the first Christians ‘devoted’ themselves to signs and wonders, it’s clear that the miraculous was an ongoing part of their early Christian experience. This is more than enough of a challenge to us, because for most Christians, the regular experience of the miraculous is not their reality. And yet, the Christian faith is a miraculous faith from start to finish. And Jesus’ clear instruction to us who follow him is to do the things He did, and even greater ones too! So, we would do well to learn to pray for, seek out, and expect Jesus to do miraculous things.
But not for their own sake. Miracles are always signs, not ends in themselves. They signal to Jesus as God the Messiah, the one whom all humanity longs for and seeks. And, they signal that His kingdom has come. As Christians, we’re all called to be part of this signaling work - to preach the good news, heal the sick, and cast out demons. It is what makes our faith so exciting and life-giving!
By Ed Flint
Devoted to prayer.
Continuing with Acts 2’s vision of the early church as a radical, Spirit-filled community — not simply a weekly meeting or a religion of “right belief,” but a living preview of God’s kingdom on earth - this week we examine prayer.
The early believers were devoted to prayer, learning to pray from Jesus Himself, who showed them prayer is rooted in love, not effort, and meant to reorient us daily to God’s presence. Through practices like silence, honesty, and communal prayer, we resist the hurry of life, deepen our trust in God’s kindness, and grow as a family on mission together.
By Hannah Flint
Devoted to the Lord's Supper.
From the beginning, the first Christians celebrated the Lord’s Supper together. The spiritual significance of the meal is past, present and future.
When we take communion we are acknowledging the once and for all work of Jesus’ death in history; we experience his Spirit feeding us, grafting us to him, as well as to one another in the present; and we are reassured of Jesus’ return and the hopeful expectation of heaven. Communion is as integral to our faith now as it was then, and the more we devote ourselves to it, the more we open ourselves to the transformative work of the Spirit.
By Ed Flint
Devoted to fellowship.
This week, we’re in part two of our new series, Devoted—a short walk through a few, but very important, verses in Acts 2 about what the very first Christians gave themselves to.
Fellowship. It’s a word that might seem pretty blandly church-ish, but Luke has something far richer in mind: koinonia, the shared life that flows from belonging to the Triune God. We explore how this fellowship is different to, and more than, other kinds of community, how it’s shaped by Christ’s self-giving love, and how it calls us to a deeper kind of commitment to one another here and now. It’s a lofty vision, but a heavenly invitation all the same!
By Hannah Flint
Devoted to the apostles' teaching.
Kicking off our ‘Devoted’ series from Acts, we consider what it means to be devoted to the apostles' teaching.
At Pentecost, 3000 were cut to the heart by the message of the gospel. But their faith did not remain solely in the realm of the emotional. They did not disdain their intellect, but devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching.
We do the same - neither prioritizing our emotions nor our minds. Anti-intellectualism is in fact incompatible with the fullness of the Spirit, for the simple fact that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth. So, we seek out Godly, intelligent teaching and we submit to being teachable.
But we don’t allow devotion to the apostle’s teaching to be an end in itself. Rather it is the means by which the Spirit flows through us to bring the Kingdom of God to our world.
By Ed Flint