ENGLISH NEW TRANSLATION

Nicky Gumbel, July 2015 NICKY GUMBEL, JULY 2015

00:01

00:03 Woman What do I think about the

church? I wouldnt go to
church.

00:06 Woman Yeah, I go to church nearly

every day.

00:10 Woman I normally go to church at

Christmas with my family.

00:13 Man I used to go to church when I

was younger with my mum, but
I just used to get bored and not
really listen. So

00:18 Woman Church. I think its actually a

really good thing to go to.

00:21 Man I like kind of what it stands for,

in the sense of a community
and kind of what it brings.

00:25 Man I dont really like the church.

00:27 Woman Maybe a bit old-fashioned!

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00:29 Man A bit backward sometimes.

00:31 Woman I believe that church can teach

people good morals.

00:34 Man You know, I know people who

go to church religiously, and
then theyll be in a nightclub
doing some scandalous things,
you know! So does that make
them a better person than me?

00:42 Woman I think its a beautiful place to

be. Its really calm and peaceful,
and its lovely when youre
there

00:46 Man The centre of all towns, the

centre of all cities, the centre of
all villages.

00:49 Man If there was a God, I think that

hed be pretty happy for people
to just recognise he exists and
not, you know, necessarily go to
church every Sunday or
something.

00:58 Man Yeah, I dont know, Ive got

mixed feelings about it, really.

01:06

01:02 I love our small group. Small group for me on

Alpha is always the highlight of the evening. I

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 love the people in our small group this term. Im
always so excited to see them. If someone
doesnt turn up, Im always really disappointed!
Weve had a lot of fun together. Weve laughed
together. Weve really got to know each other well.
And I hope we become friends. Certainly I feel
that they are my friends.

01:29 And if Im honest, when I looked around the first

night, I didnt think that would be the case! I dont
know how you felt about your small group. But if
youve experienced anything like what Ive
experienced in the small group, youve
experienced something of what it means to be
church. Because, of course, church is much
more than just a small group on Alpha. But in a
small group on Alpha you get a taste of what
church is all about. And thats why I love church.

02:05 And thats really changed for me. Because I

didnt like anything about church. Before I was a
Christian, what I associated with church was, first of
all, boring services. I came across something that
Abraham Lincoln once said and I had sympathy
with this. He said this: If all the people who fell
asleep in church on Sunday morning were laid
out end to end, they would be a great deal more
comfortable. [Laughter]

02:34 Second association I had with church are boring

services and buildings! Of course, there are many
beautiful church buildings. But do you know that
for the first 300 years of the churchs life there
were no church buildings? So thats not what
church is about. Thats not the essence of
church.

02:54 Its a bit like marriage. You say, Whats marriage

about? Well, its a ring, a marriage certificate. Yes,
but those are the trappings. Thats not the essence
of what marriage is about. At the heart of it is
something much more profound. And at the heart
of the church is something really amazing and

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 beautiful and just glorious, actually!

03:20 And what I want to do today is just look at some of

the images. In the New Testament there are over
100 images and metaphors about the church,
and we couldnt even begin to look at all of those
today. But I want us just to dip a toe in the water.
This is not a theology of the church, this isnt
even an introduction to a theology of the church;
its kind of like an introduction to an introduction!
Its just a little taste. And I want to choose five
words, which are the reason why I love the
church, or some of the reasons why I love the
church. And here is the first one:

04:12 Its the word friends. Jesus said this:

04:17

04:17 I call you my friends. Thats what he says to

you: I call you my friends. Isnt that amazing:
to be a friend of Jesus! And were called not just
to friendship with Jesus but friendship with one
another. And thats whats so amazing. Thats
what I have loved so much about the small
groups that Ive been involved in.

04:45 This is the 73rd small group in a row that Pippa

and I have been involved in with Alpha, and on
every single one we have loved it. Weve loved
the people, and so often theyve become really,

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 really close friends of ours.

05:02 Sometimes the groups are bigger, sometimes

theyre smaller it really doesnt matter.
Someone came up to me at the end of an
evening service here a few weeks ago and they
said that they were slightly disappointed that in
their Alpha small group they only had two people.
So I said, Well, what did you do? They said,
Well, one of us asked the questions and the
other one answered them! I said, How did you
get on? They said, Oh, we got on really well.
We both became Christians, and were getting
married to each other in August! [Laughter]

05:33 So it doesnt matter what size the group is, but

theres something that happens. Theres
something amazing about this friendship. And
the word thats used in the New Testament, its
really hard to translate this word: its koinonia. It
means fellowship.

05:51 Its a kind of It was used in the marriage

relationship, and its a depth of relationship that
cuts across all age, ethnicity, background,
culture, personality types. This level of
connection that is so amazing, its different from
being a Facebook friend. Theres something
Ive experienced in the church a level of
friendship that I never experienced outside of the
church.

06:27 And we need one another. We need our friends.

Someone said this: There are two things you
cant do alone. You cant get married alone, and
you cant be a Christian alone. Pope Francis said
this: Being a Christian means belonging to the
church. And the writer of Hebrews says this:

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06:48

06:48 Let us not give up meeting together, as some

are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage
one another. In other words, he says, Some
people just give up. Like Alphas just a course.
Do it for ten weeks, and thats it. But the writer of
Hebrews says, Dont do that. Dont give up
meeting together, but encourage one another.
Because your faith will never survive on your
own it will dwindle.

07:24 I heard about one young man, he couldnt

understand why hed Hed had a faith at one
time, but he kind of was losing it. So he went to
see this older man, a wise Christian man, and he
was in a cottage in the country and there was a
fire in the fireplace. And as they were sitting
there, and hed asked his advice, he didnt say
anything he just went to the fire with a pair of
tongs and he took out a red-hot coal. Thats how
were meant to be with our faith: red-hot. He took
out the coal and he put it on the hearth. And very
soon that glow had gone. It had gone like dead.

08:16 And then, without saying anything again, he just

went with the tongs, picked up the coal, put it
back in the fire. In a few minutes it was glowing
again, red-hot. And the young man understood
perfectly well why he had lost his enthusiasm:

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 because we need one another. We need to
encourage one another. Thats what we do. I
dont know whether youve found that, but I found
that just coming together with friends, its so
encouraging.

08:49 Second word is, in a way, even more amazing:

not only friends but family! We are the family of
God. The church is not an organisation that you
join; its a family where you belong. St John
writes this:

09:14

09:14 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the

Christ is born of God in other words, you are
a child of God: God is your Father and
everyone who loves the father loves his child
as well.

09:35 You cant say you love God but you dont like his
children, you dont like the church. God is your
Father, and that makes you brothers and sisters.
Have a look round: these are your brothers and
sisters. None of you have moved at all youre so
British! [Laughter] Have a look round! These are
your brothers and sisters. And if youre not a
Christian yet, they are your potential brothers
and sisters. I dont know whether that puts you
off becoming a Christian!

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10:11 Gods intention was to bring the whole human
race together as a family united around Christ.
And becoming a member is not by birth but by
rebirth. Jesus talked about being born of water
and the Spirit. Jesus was baptised, and he
commanded his disciples to baptise.

10:41 Becoming a Christian involves three things. First

of all, something God does: God gives you the
Holy Spirit. Secondly, something you do: you
repent and believe. And thirdly, something the
church does: and thats to baptise.

11:04 Baptism is the mark of being a member of the

church. And it symbolises washing, being
cleansed the water is cleansing, like we were
cleansed through the blood of Jesus on the
cross. It also symbolises the Holy Spirit. Jesus
says: Out of your innermost being will flow
rivers of living water. By this he meant the
Spirit, the Holy Spirit.

11:27 And then it also symbolises dying and rising with

Christ. So Paul uses this image. He says when
youre baptised if this piece of paper represents
you and this Bible represents Jesus he says
youre baptised into Christ. So everything that
happens to this book, it also happens to the
piece of paper. So Paul says:

11:58

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11:58 ... all of us who were baptised into Christ
Jesus in this mystical way were baptised
into his death: when Jesus died on the cross,
you died.

12:12

12:12 We were buried with him when Jesus was

buried, you were buried: old life gone through
baptism into his death in order that, just as
Christ was raised from the dead when Jesus
was raised from the dead you were raised to a
new life. We too may live a new life.

12:37 One time I was walking around Clapham

Common, and I heard someone shout, Nick!
and I looked up. He said, You Nicky Gumbel? I
said, Yeah. He said, Alpha course! I said,
Yeah. He said, Wait there! So I waited, and he
came down. He said, Hello, my names Dave. I
did Alpha in prison. I was serving fifteen years for
armed robbery. Do you want to come inside?
[Laughter] So I said, Er, lets chat out here, shall
we? [Laughter]

13:09 And he told me his story. And we became

friends. I bumped into him on another occasion. I
said, Dave, where are you off to? He said, Im
off to be baptised. I said, Dave, think of this: as
you go down under those waters, your old life
has completely gone. And as you come up out of
the water, think: a new life has begun!

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13:37 I love church because its my friends. I love it
because its my family. And then I love it because
of this other word thats used in the New
Testament: its home.

13:54 In the Old Testament, the physical temple was

Gods home. Thats the place of his presence.
Thats why people loved it so much. In the New
Testament, its not a physical building its a
building made up of people.

14:13

14:12 So Paul talks about a holy temple... you too

are being built together to become a dwelling
in which God lives by his Spirit. Jesus said:
Where two or three are gathered in my name,
there I am in the middle, in the midst. In other
words, when the church comes together like this,
the whole Trinitys there God the Father, God
the Son, God the Holy Spirit.

14:42 And thats why its so amazing. Sometimes

people walk into a church and theyll say, Wow,
theres an amazing atmosphere here! What are
they sensing? The Holy Spirit, Jesus, the
presence of God. And that is amazing.

15:00 The church is Gods home. I love the fact

Hillsong Church: I went to Hillsong Church in

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 Australia, and it really struck me that they had
this huge mat at the entrance of the church
which said: WELCOME HOME. I interviewed
Cardinal Schnborn, whos the head of the
Austrian Catholic Church, at the Royal Albert Hall
a couple of years ago, and Ill never forget what
he said. He said, I feel this deep in my heart.
This is what I feel the Lord is saying, this is what
I sense that God is doing here: its like God is
saying, Come home! I wait for you.

15:49 Theres something amazing about coming home

to be refreshed, revived, reinvigorated, re-
energised. And thats what the early church did:
they came together for those things. It was like
coming home. And when they came together,
what they did was they devoted themselves to
the apostles teaching the equivalent for us
would be hearing the Bible expounded; to the
fellowship to this friendship that is so
encouraging; to the breaking of bread to
communion; to prayer praying for one another
included in that.

16:31 And church is designed to be a place where

people come, and are not judged, but theyre
loved, accepted and welcomed home.

16:46 The fourth reason that I love the church, the

fourth word is the word Jesus. St Paul says this:

16:58

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16:58 Now you are the body of Christ, and each
one of you is part of it. He says like, Jesus is
the head, youre the body, and together you
make up Jesus to the world. This is how the
world will see Jesus: through you.

17:21 Jesus never wrote a book; he formed a

community. He started with a small group, and
that small group grew rapidly. For 2,000 years its
been growing. And the universal church consists
of all those worldwide and down the ages who
profess the name of Christ.

17:41 And its vast. There are now 2,300 million

Christians in the world. I used to think the church
was declining: nothing could be further from the
truth. I read some statistics recently that since
1970 the Christian church has grown by over 1
billion: 1,000 million new Christians. Tens of
thousands of people are becoming Christians
every day. Today, tens of thousands of people
around the world became Christians.

18:19 Of course, weve had a bit of decline in Western

Europe where we live, and therefore its easy to
think, Oh, the church is in decline. But thats not
representative of whats happening globally. Look
at whats happening in Latin America. We went to
do a conference in Latin America with a man
called Cardinal Damasceno in the Catholic
Church, and at the end of the conference he
said, Do you want to come to church with us at
the weekend? So we went, thinking itll be a little
church.

18:49 We arrived at this church: there were 45,000

people in the service! 4,000 buses, 6,000 cars. In
Rio last year, World Youth Day this is a picture
of the scene on the beach [image on screen]:
three million young people worshipping Jesus,
led by Pope Francis. The church is thriving.

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19:14 United States: 92 per cent profess to believe in
God. 250 million Christians. Africa: in 1900, 10
million people; by 2000, 360 million Christians:
thats a growth rate of 3,600 per cent. China:
1940, 4 million Christians; today, China experts
reckon there are well over 100 million, and China
may soon become the largest Christian country in
the world.

19:42 And it includes, of course, parts of the church

where theyre persecuted. Again, I was so
ignorant. I thought persecution of the church had
died out when the Roman Empire stopped
persecuting Christians. Nothing, again, could be
further from the truth.

20:02 More people have died for their faith in Jesus

Christ in the last 100 years than in all the other
centuries put together. But by all accounts, even
in those places the church is strong and vibrant.
And its a huge privilege to be able to worship
without being arrested, imprisoned, threatened,
or even tortured and executed.

20:30 So we are the body of Christ. Paul said, You are

the body of Christ. So we dont want to be
divided. Tragically, the church has kind of divided
so much over the years. But the exciting thing,
and this is what Ive observed: weve been
privileged to travel all round the world is the
Holy Spirit is doing a new thing. Hes bringing
Christians together of all different churches. And
people are recognising that we need one
another; that the church is multifaceted, but it
needs to be united.

21:09 And I have come to love so many different parts

of the church. I love the Catholic Church Ive
been so enriched by it. I love the Orthodox Church. I
love the Pentecostal Church. I love the Salvation
Army. I love I mustnt do this list, because Ill miss
someone out! But I love them all. Ive been so
enriched by the church. And we are one body.

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21:33 And unity is so important. We need one another.
I dont have the whole truth! No one has the
whole truth. Its only together that we get a better
view of the one who is the truth: Jesus is the truth.
And we need one another. Unity and truth go hand
in hand.

21:57

21:55 And Jesus prayed that we may be one we

may be united in order that the world will
believe. Because a divided world demands a
united church. Were supposed to set an
example of unity. And unity is so powerful. Its so
beautiful. And Im so excited to see that its
happening. Because what unites us as Christians
is infinitely greater than what divides us.

22:25 Unity doesnt mean uniformity. Of course, there

are lots of different parts, and variety is great. We
can learn from one another. I used to think if a
church was different, Oh, they must be wrong!
Now I think, Wow, if theyre different, what can I
learn from them? Paul says: Consider others
better than yourselves. And I think thats a
challenge, in a way. When we see another part
of the church, lets consider them better. Theyre
doing things differently: they must be better.
Maybe we can learn things from them.

23:01 So this united church where everyone has a part

to play: everyone praying, everyone giving,

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 everyone serving. And the church is the biggest
volunteer organisation in the world: feeding the
hungry, visiting people in hospital, serving people
in prison, caring for ex-offenders, fighting injustice,
fighting human trafficking doing all these things.

23:28 Just one little tiny example of what the church

does. I read this recently: that churches in the UK
provide half of the toddler-and-parent groups, they
have the biggest network of debt counsellors, and
they will feed over 100,000 hungry people this
year. Thats just one thing that they do. The
church is Jesus. Its his body to the world.

24:01 And the fifth word I want to pick is the most

well, its not the most important, because theyre
all important, but its a word which kind of sums
up Jesus sums up what this course is about,
but this word also sums up what the whole
course is about. Its the word love.

24:20 Church is a kind of love affair. I love the church

because Jesus loves the church. Jesus loves
you. Paul writes this:

24:35

24:35 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ

loved the church and gave himself up for her.
And then he goes on to talk about marriage, but
he says: Actually Im not really talking about

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 marriage; This is a profound mystery but I
am talking about Christ and the church.

24:54 He says, Look, marriage is not the be all and end

all. Jesus never married. In a way, marriage is
kind of like a picture of something even more
amazing and beautiful and profound: the
relationship between Christ and the church.

25:11 Marriage is a great analogy. Marriage is like kind

of an institution, but if you take marriage as an
analogy, if you just have marriage but no love, its
kind of dead and dry. If you just have love but
without marriage, its a bit unstable. If you bring
together the love that two people have for each
other, and the institution of marriage, then it is so
powerful.

25:45 And its the same with the church. If you just
have the institution of the church, it can be a bit
dry. If you just have the love and fire of the Holy
Spirit, the faith, it can be a bit unstable. But bring
together the love, the fire, the enthusiasm and
the institution of the church and it is so strong
and so powerful!

26:09 Another reason marriage, I think, is a great

analogy is because marriage is long-term.
Alphas just the beginning. Alphas like the
wedding, maybe the honeymoon, but its not like
the whole relationship. And what matters is the long
term, the marriage.

26:27 Where are you going to be in your relationship

with Jesus long term? Jesus loves you. He gave
himself up for you. If youd been the only person
in the world, Jesus would have died for you. He
loves you unconditionally, wholeheartedly,
continually.

26:46 And we express our love for God in our worship

and by what we do in our service. And the church

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 this is my dream for our little local church: that
we should be famous for our love a love that is
radical, inclusive, unconditional, of people of
different backgrounds, ages, ethnicities,
lifestyles, perspectives.

27:12 The church is not a kind of museum that displays

these perfect people. Its more like a hospital
that welcomes the broken, the hurt, the
wounded, and helps them to find healing. This
unconditional love breaks down barriers. It puts
people back on their feet. It restores and it heals.

27:36 I think of Eddie, whos given me permission to

tell this story. [image on screen] This is what
Eddie looked like when he came on the course.
He was very sick. He had DVT in one leg and
right knee, I think it was, and left ankle. He had
cirrhosis of the liver. His lungs were failing. And
he was close to death. He came on the course,
he went on the Alpha Weekend, Paul Cowley
prayed for him on the Alpha Weekend, and he
encountered Jesus, he was filled with the Holy
Spirit, and he was set free from all his addictions.

28:14 And this is what Eddie looks like now: [image on

screen] that is Eddie, totally transformed by
Jesus Christ. Hes a part of the church here. Hes
an amazing guy. Hes like a full-time volunteer
serving Jesus Christ in the church, free from drugs,
free from his addictions, loving and serving Jesus
Christ. And that to me is a picture of what church is
all about.

28:43 Being a Christian means belonging to the

church. You dont go to church you are the
church. You are friends of Jesus. Eddie had no
friends; now, I consider it a real privilege to be a
friend of Eddie. He has so many friends.

29:02 You are Gods family. Eddie had no family. He

now has this amazing family who love him, his

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 brothers and sisters in Christ.

29:14 Church is home. Eddie had no home. He had

nowhere to live. Now, he has a home. He has a
home he has an actual physical flat to live in,
but he also has a home in the church.

29:26 Church is Jesus. Eddie is out on Skid Row telling

other people about Jesus. Thats what he does.
His heart is filled with love for Jesus Christ. He
represents Jesus wherever he goes!

29:47 And church is love. Were the bride of Christ.

Eddie has experienced this amazing love of
Jesus. Thats what its all about. You are loved.
You are loved by God. If you take nothing else
away from this course, know that you are loved
by God. Jesus died for you. You are a child of God.
You have the Holy Spirit living within you. You
have the most powerful message in the world.
You can see people like Eddie having their lives
transformed by Jesus Christ.

30:27 Cant do it on your own. Mother Teresa said this:

You can do what I cannot do. I can do what you
cannot do. Together we can do great things.

30:45

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30:49

30:55

31:00

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