Tots at Emmanuel

Mums & Tots, Wednesdays, 10.00-11.15am
Dads & Tots, every 2nd Saturday, 9.30-10.30am
Weekly and monthly meetings in the church lounge during term time, for mums & dads to meet with their tots to play and enjoy conversations together.

Emmanuel Bookclub

Thursday 5th June, 8pm
Join us at our next meeting where we will be discussing The Insanity of God by Nik Ripken.

The Insanity of God is the personal and lifelong journey of an ordinary couple from rural Kentucky who thought they were going on just your ordinary missionary pilgrimage, but discovered it would be anything but. After spending over six hard years doing relief work in Somalia, and experiencing life where it looked like God had turned away completely and He was clueless about the tragedies of life, the couple had a crisis of faith and left Africa asking God, "Does the gospel work anywhere when it is really a hard place? It sure didn't work in Somalia.

Nik recalls that, “God had always been so real to me, to Ruth, and to our boys. But was He enough, for the utter weariness of soul I experienced at that time, in that place, under those circumstances?” It is a question that many have asked and one that, if answered, can lead us to a whole new world of faith.

The Insanity of God tells a story—a remarkable and unique story to be sure, yet at heart a very human story—of the Ripkens’ own spiritual and emotional odyssey. The gripping, narrative account of a personal pilgrimage into some of the toughest places on earth, combined with sobering and insightful stories of the remarkable people of faith Nik and Ruth encountered on their journeys, will serve as a powerful course of revelation, growth, and challenge for anyone who wants to know whether God truly is enough.

Parallel Histories

Monday 12th May, 7.30pm
Join us to explore the nations and civilisations which rose and fell during the events described in the Bible.

Purpose: To improve our understanding of the historical environment of biblical events.

What it’s not: Sermons, Bible study

What it is: Ancient history around the Bible (rather than Biblical history); a field trip to the British Museum is a possibility!

Join us at Emmanuel on the following Monday evenings:

• 12 May: Alexander, the Greek diaspora and supremacy

• 9 June: The Seleucids and the revolt under the Maccabees

• June (tbc): Rome arrives