Student Bible Week

At the end of June we had an awesome week studying the Bible with students who were still around. In an attempt to start as we mean to go on and not waste the days of summer a group of us met in the mornings to study the book of Ephesians then spent the afternoon painting and decorating with some people in church who needed help.

It was an incredible time as we went through the incredible truths of what God has done for us that Paul writes about in Ephesians.  That he loved us before the creation of the world: before the earth even existed, before he had made plants and animals and most importantly before we had even done anything, God loved us.  I heard a pastor from America called matt Chandler comment on this saying ‘that means God’s love for us cannot be dependent on our past, because he loved us before we had a past.’  This has a massive impact on the way we cope with times when we mess up: knowing that God’s love for us is not dependent on what we do or have done means that we can turn to him in repentance immediately and know his forgiveness - what a privilege!  We are alive in Christ and saved only by his grace.

We also spent time learning about prayer from the book of Ephesians and then immediately put this into practice prayer walking around the campuses of Leeds.  This was a really encouraging time - there’s something about praying when you’re walking around seeing how God speaks through the things we see and hearing what he’s saying about different places.  Also it’s always great to pray with other people as they inspire us to focus on God.

The afternoon were so much fun doing something practical together, we had two teams at two different houses so by the end of the week you could really see the difference - we are now professional painters and decorators!

So good times were had by all, so much so in fact that i think we should do it again next year - don’t miss out!!