Basingstoke Church

Libby helps us look at how ordinary believers in Acts, scattered by hardship into Antioch, become the ones who start something new - a church so alive that it can't help but multiply. Three thousand, five thousand, a great number, more added daily, and so it grows! What might God have each of us do to make space and spaces for people to encounter him ?

In part 2 of Vision Sunday, John looks at what it means for us to notice what God is already doing across Basingstoke and make room for it. That includes a 150-year-old prayer discovered in our own library, now written above our door, and the stories of people meeting God on dog walks, in hospital and in front of the TV. If you've ever wondered whether church is for "people like you," this one's f...

In Acts we see the early church struggling to cover all the ministries that needed to happen as they grew so rapidly. Similarly for us today, we need to be releasing more people into ministry, to make space for more and more people to come fully alive in Jesus through the Holy Spirit. That is only made possible by everyone giving, praying and serving. Where might God be calling you to sew into the...

The apostles in Acts don't only talk about God's kingdom - people fall under its shadow and get healed. What does it look like for us as a church today to expect the supernatural as normal, to show the invisible King as visible. Where do we want God to demonstrate and show his power? Where do we expect God to show up, and where have we quietly stopped asking?

Having received everything, the early church hold nothing too tightly: money, homes, whatever's needed, wherever the need is. This is grace with nowhere else to go but outward. Generosity is a direct result of grace freely received. What should our response to the grace of God be today?

Matt and Hannah from Beacon Church Blackpool join us to share faith-filled stories of the power of prayer. In Acts too, we see the early church, although under pressure, are filled with the Spirit and praying in faith for God to provide and deliver. What would change for us today if we actually believed prayer moved anything?

Everything begins here - Jesus' promise landing as wind and fire on an unremarkable room of people, giving them ability to speak different languages to let everyone know in their own native tongue that they belonged. Pentecost is the ignition point of the church. Today we too are sent out, full of the spirit, to speak about Jesus in a language that others understand.

Reading the story of the wise and the foolish builders, we're called to hear God and act accordingly - intentionally building our life on Jesus, not anything else. Both builders in this story heard God, so the difference wasn’t in the hearing, but it was in the choice of what and where to build.

How is your spiritual battery level? We are called to keep close to God, spending time in His presence, as that’s where our power comes from - being connected to Jesus the source, continually filled with His Holy Spirit.

Karen closes the series by looking outward at how God speaks through nature, and the wonder and beauty of creation - with an encouragement to look for and notice God's presence in that.

John Hudson speaks on the moment when God turns up. Drawing on the story of Elijah who was crying out to God when he felt all alone, John unpacks what we can expect as God comes to be with us in the hard times. This a shorter talk for our Summer All-In series.

On the Emmaus road Jesus walks alongside two disciples who don’t recognise him, their hearts burning within them before they understand why. We too want to be more aware of God's presence walking with us by day by day through His Holy Spirit.

How does the Holy Spirit actually speak to us in practice? Acts 2 gives the theological foundation for God speaking in different ways - including prophesy, visions and dreams, so we can ask and be prepared for God to speak to us, even as we sleep.

A biblical, communal, and personal introduction to prophecy, defined simply as hearing God’s voice on behalf of yourself, another person, or a group. Paul’s measured, community framing here shows that prophecy is not for an elite, it is the most accessible of the gifts, oriented entirely towards building others up.

Scripture is a lamp for our feet, as we find the rhythm of reading or hearing it as a regular part of our life. We can practically root our lives in God’s word and allow it to impact us.

Scripture is the most reliable and most frequent channel through which God speaks. When we open our hearts to God as we read it, it is powerful - revealing the wisdom and character of God by the Holy Spirit.

Jesus is the Word made flesh. God’s speech is not merely information but personal presence - communication is at the heart of who God is. Before we ask ‘how do I hear God?’ we need to be captured by the fact that God speaks, and that the fullest expression of his speaking is a person - Jesus.

God is the one who restores, strengthens, and sustains us. Hope allows us to release anxiety, humility lets us submit to God’s care, and trusting in him secures us even in trials. We can confidence that hope is enough - for life, witness, and endurance.

Watch the podcast John refers to in his sermon here, from The Diary Of A CEO: https://youtu.be/dLrvJeSugkM?t=4978 The clip starts at 1:22:58 in that video. Love is the natural evidence of hope. Above all things, love covers over a multitude of sins. Hope doesn’t require us to “add something else” to be valid - love flowing from hope is proof that God is at work in our lives.

Our hope becomes visible in daily life. People notice the difference hope makes, and when they ask, we are ready to explain it : not with arguments or doctrine, but with the simple story of hope in our lives. Your life is your testimony : hope is your answer.

Hope forms a distinctive community: compassionate, humble, forgiving, and committed. Even ordinary believers shaped by hope live visibly different lives that reflect God’s presence and character.

When life is unfair or difficult, hope changes how we respond, enabling us to continue to live in the reality of a world with broken systems. We follow Jesus' example as he endured injustice and stood against it, knowing the victory was already won in God.

Celebrating the baptism of 6 people at our 11am congregation and hearing some of their stories. Ordinary lives shaped by hope become a quiet but powerful witness to others of the power of God at work by his Holy Spirit.

Jesus is the cornerstone. Hope gives us a stable foundation in identity, belonging, and security. Building our lives on him allows us to face the instability of life with confidence and trust.

Hope restores us into the people God created us to be. Love flows naturally from hope; it’s not something extra we have to add. Purification is about letting go of what blocks love and stepping into our true selves.