Find us
We meet on Sundays at
Brentwood County High School. It's a great location in the centre of Brentwood. There's loads of parking.
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Contact us
info@immanuelbrentwood.org
Immanuel Church Brentwood, c/o St. Peter's Church, Gubbins Lane, Harold Wood, RM3 0QA
01708 342080
About Us
Immanuel Church Brentwood is a new church formed by members of St Peter's Church in Harold Wood who live in the Brentwood area. With the kind invitation of the parish church of St Thomas of Canterbury and the encouragement of the Bishop of Chelmsford we began Sunday meetings in January 2012.
Leadership
The minister of Immanuel is Revd. Andrew Grey. An ordained minister in the Church of England, Andrew has served at St Peter's Harold Wood since 2007. Formerly on the staff of St Helen's Bishopsgate in the City of London , he holds post-graduate degrees from Durham University and Oak Hill Theological College. Andrew is married to Elizabeth; they have two small children.
Andrew is helped by a large team of leaders. These include Gavin Wright (who works for Immanuel as a ministry assistant), Kevin Gilderson and Mark Smithers (who serve as the senior lay leaders of the church), and several others.
What do we believe?
We believe that God works in power by his Holy Spirit through His Word the Bible. Therefore, we chiefly give ourselves to the prayerful teaching of the Bible. We are what is sometimes called a conservative evangelical or Reformed church.
1. We have one aim:
to honour our glorious God
2. We have two tools:
God's Word the Bible and
prayer
3. We have three targets:
to tell as many people as possible the glorious news of Jesus Christ, to
make mature disciples of Jesus Christ, and to
train Christian people to serve Jesus Christ in Brentwood and beyond.
New Here?
We're really glad you've decided to check us out. You may have come to this site because you are looking for a church to join, or because you are interested in finding out more about God, or perhaps you want to find out what we do to serve and impact the community around us.
The best way to get to know us is to meet us in person, so do come along to one of our meetings. We believe you'll find we're friendly, approachable, reasonable, genuine and committed to Jesus.
It's hard to give a real flavour of what we're like on the web, but we hope this is helpful:
1. We're not a big church.
Not yet anyway. That's in God's hands. We hope to grow because we long for more people in this area to join us in discovering the good news about Jesus Christ and the new life he offers.
2.We're not a traditional church.
We are 'relaxed, but reverent.' We respect tradition greatly and we are an Anglican church with an ordained Anglican minister. But we recognise that traditional church doesn't work for everyone. Our meetings are relatively informal, with a mixture of contemporary and traditional music.
3.We're not a perfect church.
If you join us, you will soon discover that we are very ordinary group of people. We all have lots to learn and none of us pretends we've got it all sorted. It is our God, not us, who is truly extraordinary.
Church life
We are a new church. Over the coming months and years we trust that the work of the church will grow. Here's some information about who we are and what we do right now.
Sundays at Immanuel
We meet in a drama studio and classrooms at Brentwood County High School. What do we do on a Sunday? Our pattern is a little different to that of many churches...
9.30 Sunday School classes for all ages. We have a class for adults, plus groups for children and young people.
10.15 Fresh coffee and home-baked cakes.
10.45 Church, for about one hour.
We encourage our regulars to pitch up for the whole time - for both Sunday School and for Church. It makes for a full morning, but we find it encouraging and fun. Newcomers are welcome to join for as much or as little of the morning as they like.
Adult learning
We are committed to reaching those outside of the Christian faith with the good news of Jesus and to growing mature followers of Jesus.
So, we start Sunday morning with a 45 minute class for adults, designed both to reach out and to grow us in our understanding of the Bible. This term the whole church we will be taking the Christianity Explored course - both a great introduction to the claims of Jesus suitable for newcomers and a great refresher course for Christian people.
Children and young people
We long for the children and young people of Immanuel Church to grow up enjoying and following Jesus. We believe that parents are the primary teachers and disciple-makers of their children. But we want to partner with and encourage whole families in their God-given task by providing Bible-rich, God-centred, safe and fun groups.
On Sunday mornings from 9.30-10.15 the following groups for children and young people meet:
0-4s coordinated by Annette Green
5-10s coordinated by Hannah Gordon, Elizabeth Grey, Charlotte Smithers
11-17s coordinated by Gavin Wright
Church services: what? "Relaxed but reverent"
Christians are singing people - we have a great God to whom we love to bring our praises! We sing a mixture of contemporary songs and great old hymns.
We have many needs as a church, a community and wider-world. So we pray together on Sundays, asking God for his help and forgiveness. Our minister or another member of the congregation will lead us in prayer. Sometimes we read out some of the great prayers of the Bible to help us in our praying.
We read lots of the Bible - often a passage from the New Testament, the Old Testament, and a Psalm. We want to help unbelieving folk get to know our great God - so it's great for them to get to know the Bible better. And Christian people will only be blessed and built up as we spend time in God's Word.
We also have a 20 minute sermon seeking to teach, explain and apply one of our Bible readings. It's our custom to practice what is sometimes called "expository preaching" - which simply aims to expose or draw out what God has taught us in His Word.
Sometimes on Sundays we will have holy communion or the Lord's Supper. The Bible commands us to remember Jesus' death and resurrection in this way.
Church services: who? Everyone, including whole families
We believe that age-appropriate groups are important - hence during the Sunday School slot we have an adult class and groups for children and young people. And during our church services we provide a room with toys where the youngest of children can "chill out" if they're distressed.
But we also understand from the Bible that Christian children are very much part of church. So we encourage whole families to "do" church together. We want our children to grow-up singing, praying, and listening to the Bible in the company of their families and church family. We believe that in the long-run this will grow more mature followers of Jesus.
Our church services last about an hour. The sermon is about 20 minutes long. It is not "dumbed down", but aims to be clear and accessible to both young and old and to newcomers and regulars. To help the children listen to the sermon we give them a little clipboard, coloured pencils and a learning sheet with a few key points from the sermon. It's amazing what a small child can learn!
Listen to Sunday sermons online
Click on the links below to listen to sermons from our current Sunday Bible preaching series.
At Immanuel we love to hear the Bible read and taught. We believe that the Bible is the word of God and not just an ordinary human book. Through it enquirers can learn of the Christian faith and believers can grow in their knowledge and love of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's nothing quite like it!
Colossians 3:12-17 (Sunday 13th May 2012)
Put on Christ's clothes
Preacher: Andrew Grey
You can either click on the green title of the sermon and they will open in a new window or right-click on the title and click Save As..
Adult Sunday School Sessions
Below you will find the audio and handouts from the Adult Sunday School sessions, right click on the links below and click Save As... to save them to your computer.
Series 2: God's Great Salvation
God's wrath at our sin (6th May 2012)
Audio |
Handout |
Transcript
Jesus' incarnation and obedient life (13th May 2012)
Audio |
Handout |
Transcript
Series 1: The mission of the Church
One aim: Glorify God (15th April 2012)
Audio |
Handout
Two tools: the Bible and Prayer (22nd April 2012)
Audio |
Handout
Three tasks: tell, teach and train (29th April 2012)
No Audio |
Handout
9.30-10.15am - Sunday School classes for all ages
We start Sunday mornings with Sunday School classes for all ages and encourage regulars to stay on for Church afterwards.
Age-appropriate learning is crucial for adults just as for children. Our classes help young and old alike to grow deeper in their knowledge and love of the Lord Jesus.
We run children's and young people's groups for 0-4s, 5-10s and 11-17s. These are Bible-rich, God-centred, safe and fun groups. More information is on the back of this programme.
There is also an adult class (see programme below). After Easter we have a three-week Christian Basics course. Then we're digging deep into God's Great Salvation. Here we'll search the Scriptures and set out a Reformed doctrine of salvation.
This course isn't for boffins and isn't just food for the brain. It will be hugely practical and personal. We'll look at questions which bother all Christians. Like...
Might I stop trusting Jesus and fall away?
Why do I feel guilty?
Isn't predestination unfair?
How is it fair for Jesus to pay for my sins?
Am I really saved or just kidding myself?
10.45-11.45am - Church service
Together we enjoy fresh coffee and home-baked cakes from 10.15-10.45am. Our church service begins at 10.45am.
We encourage whole families to do church together if possible. We love children and don't mind at all that they don't always sit quietly and still. We believe that long-term spiritual growth will be helped as they learn to "do church" together with their family and with the whole church family.
We provide a creche for younger children. We know that church can be stretching for under-3s . There are leaders on hand to look after them for some or all of the service if they or their parents need a break. Our Welcome Team will introduce leaders to parents and show visitors where creche is located.
We prioritise the reading and preaching of the Bible since this is God's chosen means of rescuing and building up his people. We share the Lord's Supper regularly (see * below).
Weekly Bible readings are listed below. This term our teaching begins in 1 Corinthians 15. Then we'll complete our studies in Colossians before turning to the Old Testament for sermons in Haggai and Ecclesiastes.
| Date | Sunday School - 9:30 - 10:15 a.m. | Church Service - 10:45 - 11:45 a.m. |
|---|
| May | 6 | God's Great Salvation (1) | Colossians 3:5-11 | Put off the old |
| | We need to be saved: God's wrath at our sin | Esther 9:20-10:3 / Psalm 16 | |
| 13 | God's Great Salvation (2) | Colossians 3:12-17 | Put on the new |
| | Jesus' incarnation and obedient life | Matt. 5:1-20 / Psalm 17 | |
| 20 | God's Great Salvation (3) | Colossians 3:18-4:1 | Marriage, children, work |
| | Jesus' death upon the Cross | Matt. 5:21-48 / Psalm 18:1-29 | |
| 27* | God's Great Salvation (4) | Colossians 4:2-18 | Living among outsiders |
| | Jesus' resurrection, ascension and heavenly rule | Matt. 6:1-18 / Psalm 18:30-50 | |
| June | 3 | God's Great Salvation (5) | Haggai 1:1-15 | God's building project |
| | Our union with Christ | Matt. 6:19-34 / Psalm 19 | |
| 10 | Summer special | Haggai 2:1-9 | God's presence |
| | TBA... | Matt. 7:1-12 / Psalm 20 | |
| 17 | God's Great Salvation (6) | Haggai 2:10-23 | God's King |
| | Election and predestination | Matt. 7:13-24 / Psalm 21 | |
| 24* | God's Great Salvation (7) | Ecclesiastes 1:1-15 | Is life meaningless? |
| | Irresistable grace and effectual calling | 1 John 1:1-10 / Psalm 22:1-21 | |
| July | 1 | God's Great Salvation (8) | Ecclesiastes 1:16-2:11 | Wisdom and pleasure |
| | Regeneration, repentance and faith | 1 John 2:1-14 / Psalm 22:22-31 | |
| 8 | God's Great Salvation (9) | Ecclesiastes 2:12-26 | Wisdom and work |
| | Justification | 1 John 2:15-29 / Psalm 23 | |
| 15 | God's Great Salvation (10) | Ecclesiastes 3:1-17 | Slaves of time |
| | Perseverance and glorification | 1 John 3:1-10 / Psalm 24 | |
| 22* | God's Great Salvation (11) | Ecclesiastes 12:1-14 | Futility and death |
| | Assurance: am I really saved? | 1 John 3:11-24 / Psalm 25 | |
