Hi, I'm Mick Reynolds the Minister of the Gateway Community Church and I
hope you can spare a couple of minutes while I share with you about our church:

We are a Church that Loves to Praise God a Lot

Football fans may shout for their team. Teenagers may scream out the name of their pop idol. Demonstrators may shout out the slogans of their cause. We believe in using every means we can to proclaim how fantastic is our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ.

In the Psalms it says, "Let everything that has breath Praise the Lord." It means we should use every breath in our body to sing and shout our praises to God. Another verse says, "Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good, celebrate his wonderful name with music." We love to celebrate the mercy of God with music. We also clap, dance, raise our hands to honour God who has done so much for us.

Why do we do it? Praising God brings us closer to Heaven. Through Praise we glorify God. Praise creates faith in our hearts. Praise even defeats the powers of evil. Praise focuses our minds on what is most important. Another Psalm says, "Shout joyful praises to God, all the earth! Sing about the glory of His name! Tell the world how glorious He is.

We are a Church that Cares a Lot

The church should show the world what love is all about. Jesus said, "Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples." Caring for people is more than a feeling. Care has to be demonstrated. We come together in our church to be part of a family. God's family. This means we have real relationships with one another. A quick "God bless you" on a Sunday is not family. We go out of our way to help one another, pray for one another, serve one another. We forgive quickly if we are offended always putting things right with each other.

We seek to care about the people in this community. The many kids whose lives are full of pain because of broken homes. The teenagers who can so easily be led into addictions that could destroy their lives. We seek to care for the elderly and those whose lives are in a mess, or who live without any real purpose, or have no real peace or satisfaction. That's why we call ourselves the Community Church. We are meant to care by doing something for people that can help change their lives. We seek to develop a church programme that will build bridges into the community to show this care. We would be happy for our church building to be open 24 hours a day if it could help someone.


We are a Church that Believes in God's Supernatural Power

We believe miracles happen today. The Bible says, "Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today and forever." That means Jesus has not changed. The Jesus that did so many miracles and healings while He was on earth still wants to do the same today through His church. We believe that when Jesus said He would send the Holy Spirit to be with us He meant it.

When we come together as a church we expect the presence of God to be real. We understand that God is with us and because of that anything can happen. Our lives can come into contact with the all powerful God of Heaven. That's why you will find us praying for people in our service. We lay hands on one another because Jesus told us to do it. So real is God's presence that people will often fall to the floor as God's power touches their bodies. Many folk will tell you that they have been healed or wonderfully set free from some hang up. They have experienced the supernatural power of God.

Every Christian can be filled with the Holy Spirit and know God's supernatural power working through their lives each day. So that when as individuals we go to our jobs or out into the community we can touch others with that same power. We can pray for our neighbours, our work mates, our friends and expect miracles to happen.

We Believe that only by having a Personal Faith in Jesus can we get to Heaven.

Jesus said these words, "I am the way, the truth and the life, no-one comes to the Father except through me." We do not believe there are many ways to God. We do not believe it doesn't matter what you believe as long as you are sincere. We do believe that Jesus is the only way to God. God sent Jesus to this earth to make a way for human beings to find forgiveness. To make a way for each one of us to know God in a real way. To open a door into Heaven for everyone who believes.

Jesus did that when He died for us on the cross. Jesus suffered and died receiving the punishment we deserved for our sins. He took our place when He died. In dying Jesus opened a way for us to receive God's forgiveness. Jesus built a bridge between man and God so that we could experience God's love in our lives.

We believe there is something we need to do to know God. Believe Jesus is the Son of God and turn away from all that is wrong in our lives. Call on God to forgive us and personally open our hearts inviting God to come and be with us. When we do that we become Christians and have the assurance that we are going to Heaven.

Most of all we want folk to come and discover the same living God we have found.


GATEWAY COMMUNITY CHURCH

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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