大象传媒

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Volney Morgan
Good morning friends and family, welcome to Alive City Church, based in the North of the UK鈥檚 Capital, London. Here at Alive City we are helping you find your IDENTITY in Christ so that you are able to Belong, Believe, Become. I am Pastor Volney Morgan, Senior Pastor of Alive City Church. This morning鈥檚 praise and worship will be led by our very own Alive City Music, where there will be a mixture of hymns, up tempo songs and a favourite original by yours truly. These songs are testament to the goodness of God and the excitement and gratitude we have in all seasons, We are so excited and we just can鈥檛 hide it, we鈥檝e got a song and we are singing it loud.聽

Music
I gotta song - James Wilson (based on Blessed Assurance)

Prayer
Father, we thank you for another opportunity in Your presence. We thank You for Your grace and for Your mercy, Your protection and Your provision, for continuing to be faithful even when we are faithless. But above all we thank You for allowing us the privilege to know You. John says 鈥渘o one can receive anything unless it is given from above.鈥� We love You because You first loved us and we can belong to this family of believers because You first called us.聽

Volney
Just over 5 years ago, coming back from the sunny island of Jamaica, the Lord placed it on my heart to start a church called Alive City, now you have to understand is it wasn鈥檛 my intention to start a church, I was happy being a gospel artist leading Volney Morgan & New-Ye, and a minister at my local church. We would travel up and down the uk to various events, and what many people didn鈥檛 know, is that we would hire out spaces just for young people to come and experience the love of Jesus.聽 It was during this time that a passion grew in me for young people who didn鈥檛 quite fit into the traditional mould of church. So it comes as no surprise that God would have me start the church in a similar way. In 2018 we began Alive City church, as a small house group, in North London, with 10 people, today we celebrate with just under 100 members, truly God is amazing and so join us as we sing a song I wrote, Amazing God聽

Music
Amazing God - Volney Morgan & New-Ye

Minister Tanya
Here at Alive City Church we are intentional about doing LIFE together, that鈥檚 why we have love month in February, with panels, where we get to ask real life questions about God, love and relationships. We have 鈥渢ogether month鈥� in August, which is all about really being the community, with the emphasis on game days, days trips, concerts and everyday things that we as individuals like to do. In this day and age of social media, we know it鈥檚 not just an add on to the church but it is a ministry in and of itself and we use it to encourage people to not only come to church but to interact with us online, which is how many people found us. So for right now we are going to hear from two serving members of our church, Nicole and Samantha who have testimonies relating to believing and belonging.聽

Nicole
The journey started in 2020 when I saw changes in my body. I was a little reluctant to go to the GP due to the pandemic at the time, but a few people close to me pushed me to go. After a long series of tests, examinations and consultant appointments. The news came that I had a cyst which caused me to look about 5-6 month pregnant and test results showing high levels of cancer cells. At this time, All I could do is trust God and trust in his word as a covenant keeping God. So, I held on to his promise as I travelled back and forth from the hospital, it seemed I was there a least once a week sometimes more. Due to the size of the cyst I couldn鈥檛 have keyhole surgery, the safest way for it to be removed was for me to have open surgery. I鈥檝e never been to hospital for any procedures, so this was a little scary. The cyst also pushed some of my other organs out of place and sometimes I found it difficult to breathe and lost my appetite, but through God鈥檚 strength I kept going. The surgery was successful, and I recovered quicker than expected and didn鈥檛 really experience any pain post-surgery which surprised the nurses taking care of me. After surgery I had a follow up appointment with my consultant. It was then I heard the news, not only was the surgery successful but I was also cancer free.

Samantha
I joined Alive city church in March 2021 and I believe that to really belong to a church you have to be part of it, not just in attendance, but caring for other members and feeling cared for.聽From my first visit at Alive city church I felt welcomed, but more importantly I felt I could be me. It is not for others to judge those who come into the church but to show compassion and understanding.聽God is love; because behind every smile, there could be heart ache or sadness. My priority on a Sunday used to be gym and sauna; but not anymore. Being at Alive city church has helped me to build my relationship with God, and furthermore I love being part of this family of which I belong.聽

Music
Never lost 鈥� (based on the song by CeCe Winans, covered by Elevation Worship)

Volney Morgan
Amazing testimonies thank you. We're now going to have our bible reading read by聽 Minister Afia and Esther. Esther has been here since the beginning,, she鈥檚 my baby sister so she had no choice, and Minister Afiya. The reading we鈥檙e about to hear shows how God welcomes difference and we all make up the body of the church together. My聽 wife Pastor Angel will then bring聽 us the Word.聽

Bible reading
1 Corinthians chapter 12: verses 12-27聽聽

Angel Morgan
When I think of community, I think about the word belonging, which immediately makes me smile, I begin to picture a place full of laughter and acceptance, a place where people care for one another, a place where people are interested and invested in each other, a place where I can be open , a place I can feel safe, a place where I am heard and understood, a place I can just be me. The beauty of this place is, because of all these things,聽 I have the room, the backing and the unspoken, but fully understood permission to be great, the sense of belonging I feel here, spills out into everything else and pushes me to and in turn extend this gift to others. And yet we are living in a time where even though there has never been more opportunity, ways and mediums through which we can connect & belong , we all seem so disconnected. In this social media age, it has become almost standard practice to present palatable, acceptable versions of ourselves on various platforms hoping that somebody, anybody will like or comment on the version that we are presenting. We do our best to hide our flaws with filters, and jump on trends that we don鈥檛 necessarily understand or really believe in because there is a craving for someone to notice us, someone to acknowledge us, someone to stand up for us, someone to look at us, someone to really see us, but how? How will they see us when we are hiding the most human parts of ourselves. we publicise the good, but what of the bad and the ugly? There is a fear, justifiably so, that if we show these parts, we will not be accepted. Now hear me, I鈥檓 not saying that we should go out there and put all our business in the street, but what I am saying is that, the only one that will truly see us, the only one that will notice or acknowledge us, the only one that will not turn from us when we come with our messy, dysfunctional selves, is Jesus Christ.聽 So now you鈥檙e thinking how does that help me right now? This is where the body of Christ comes in.聽

Music
It is well with my soul聽聽

笔谤补测别谤蝉听
Our Lord. Glory and honour be unto you. Your word encourages us to enter into Your gates with thanksgiving in our hearts and to enter your courts with praise, for indeed today is another day that you have given us, therefore should we not be glad and rejoice?聽聽

It is through your Grace and mercy that we have made it this far in our lives. Today we have come in this broadcast to give you thanks and praise. Thanks and praise for the lives you鈥檝e touched, for the hearts, minds, souls, and bodies you have healed in our families and amongst us here at Alive City Church.聽聽

And as your word tells us in the Gospel of John through the confession of Peter testifies, 鈥淟ord, to whom shall we go? You alone have the words of eternal life you are our only hope. We have believed and confidently trusted, and even more we have come to know [by personal observation and experience that You are the Holy One of God The Christ, the Son of the living God.鈥濃�澛犅�

For today we do not declare you to be the greatest but that you alone are Great.聽

May our worship to you today,聽 give faith, hope, joy and peace to many wherever they are. Like Peter, may we be reminded that all we need is found in knowing you Christ our Lord. These things we ask. Amen聽

We pray for the body of Christ around the world, for every man and woman and every boy and girl, praying that you continue to uphold us, knowing that we so earnestly want to believe but, require help for our unbelief too. We ask you to draw us ever closer to You day by day, praying that we be conformed more and more into the image and the likeness of Your Son so that we may ultimately become that which you created us to be from the very beginning of time and remaining supremely confident in this: that He who began a good work in us will be faithful to complete it until the coming day of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And we pray this good work will spread wider and be a source of peace and justice around the world, bringing reconciliation in conflict and harmony between communities.聽聽

We ask this, as we join together in the Lord鈥檚 Prayer鈥β犅�

Lord's Prayer

Music
In Christ Alone

Volney Morgan
Now may the saving grace of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, the full fellowship of the Holy spirit the comforter, rest, remain and abide with us all now and forever more. Let the church say, Amen. So singing us out is our praise and worship team Alive CIty music聽

Music
Rain 鈥� Noel Robinson