King's Church Lewes Podcast

Today we welcome Jono Hayward from Crowborough Community Church (another church in our Catalyst network). When we face trouble, pain and challenges in life it's easy to lose heart and perspective. What does God say that can bring us hope and fresh clarity for our lives?

There aren't enough hours in the day. There aren't enough hours at night either! Exhaustion affects us all. So how do we avoid being overwhelmed? How do we avoid the kind of despair that plagued Elijah?

‘Why do bad things happen to good people?’ we instinctively ask when we see people suffering, and when we are suffering ourselves we ask ‘Why is this happening to me?’  We are in good company, as the Bible asks exactly the same questions.

Sometimes the pressures we face are just too much to bear and it feels like we can’t go on. What do we do when we have nothing left and can no longer cope?

There are all kinds of things to make us feel uncertain about the year ahead. Today we hear from someone who was right in the middle of suffering and uncertainty but something gave him hope for the times ahead.

2020 was a pretty difficult year for most of us in all sorts of ways.  We’re all hoping that 2021 will be a bit more normal and a bit less stressful.  You may even have decided what you’ll do to make it better.  But will it be, and what if it isn’t? 

After Christmas there are usually just a few days of festivities left and then it’s back to normal, ordinary life.  However the Bible’s Christmas story also ends with a return to normality, and this anti-climax helps change our perspective on mundane day to day life.  

Christmas can bring us a lot of joy but it also has its challenges, especially this year. What help is the message of the original Christmas to your (perhaps challenging) Christmas in 2020?

The birth of Jesus 2000 years ago is the historical event may people remember at Christmas, but what why did he come and what difference does it make to our lives today?

Many people know the Christmas story, often from school Nativity plays: The baby Jesus is born to the Virgin Mary and placed in a manger.  But is it just a story for children or is it possible to believe that it actually happened?  

Many people would feel that Christmas is definitely for them, except for the Jesus bit. You may feel you’re not the right sort of person, but today we look at the family history of Jesus and find that you might be in good company. 

We love the idea of peace at Christmas, both around the world and in our homes. Unfortunately, many things aren’t peaceful at Christmas. What impact does Jesus and the first Christmas make to us having “Peace on Earth”?

After a very difficult year almost everyone’s looking forward to Christmas and hoping to celebrate it in a way that is at least close to normal. But even if it is, we will still face all sorts of problems and difficulties going into next year – maybe we need something more?

There's a great need to serve another at the moment, both inside the church and in the wider community. What can we learn from Jesus, the ultimate servant?

Sometimes the instructions in the Bible seem a little strange because they were written a long time ago in a very different culture. This command is certainly like that, so we need think carefully to find out what it’s really saying to us today.

Compared to many of the ‘One Another’ commands this idea can feel daunting to many and impossible to others: How could I possibly be able to teach others when I’m find things challenging myself? Shouldn’t we just leave it to the experts?

There are times in life when we all need support and for some it is a constant need. Who should be providing this support and how can we be a church we does this better and better.

Encouraging each other seems a good and obvious thing to do, but what does it actually mean to encourage one another and build each other up to do love and good deeds for the sake of God's Kingdom?

The last 6 months of life in the UK have been totally different to anything we’ve experienced before, and we are far from ‘back to normal’.  How should we approach the next 6 months and how can we stay spiritually and psychologically healthy?

Forgiveness is at the very heart of the Christian faith, so it’s surprising that Christians often have problems forgiving others. Are we expecting too much of each other, or have we just forgotten what being following Jesus is really all about?    

We all know that none of us are perfect, yet it can be so difficult to accept those who are different from us and who might frustrate, inconvenience or upset us. How can our church community be a more accepting place and a demonstration of God’s acceptance?

No one would seriously disagree with Jesus telling us to love one another.  And yet it can be so hard to actually live it out day to day. Do we just need to try harder, or is there a better way?

It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that the strength of a church is found in its services and programs – but if all that stops, what’s left? In fact, the real strength of a church is in our relationships – how we are with ‘one another’.

When Jesus was in the darkest of times, he quoted a song. Why did he quote this song, and how does that help us when we suffer?

Jesus uses the simple but profound picture of a vine and its branches to help us understand the importance of staying 'rooted' in him.  Doing so will help us to overflow with fruitfulness and love for others.