Eastern Hills Community Church

Sundays 10:15am August 7 – Sept 4.

This is a rich season when we celebrate the lives and stories of men and women of faith from different times and walks of life. We share in their stories not because they are set apart from us but because we are family. We share in this same journey of faith and love, we share in the same calling, we delight in our diversity and are inspired by God’s faithfulness and glory in each story told.

In 2011 our saints are David Bosch, Clarence Jordan, Jon Owen, Jan L Richardson and Evan Roberts.

Sundays Series June 19 – July 31

The Book of Daniel inspires us with the stories of Daniel and his friends as they unswervingly maintain integrity and faith in their god, the God of Israel, even when facing threats of certain death as they serve in the royal palace of Babylonian Empire. These stories also reveal their God as very much involved in people’s lives, sovereign over all things and able to work his will through what sometimes seems like random and chaotic events, even bringing the very one who oppressed Israel and smashed God’s temple to his knees in worship.

Daniel’s visions also awaken us to the ongoing challenges God’s faithful face as empires continue to rise and fall on the world’s stage. Through these prophetic visions we begin to see the hope of God’s ultimate victory even when we feel like we are merely pawns exiled from home and swept around by the powers that be.

Sundays in May

The Holy Spirit is at work in us! He is inviting us to join a life, which is way larger than we are and built to last. But despite our best efforts to accept his invitation, why do we often find we are back where we started, unsure of ourselves and disappointed with our lack of maturity? Spiritual formation starts when we realise it’s not just about behaving and not just about knowing the right ideas, it’s about allowing the Holy Spirit to fuse it all into living the holy life he created us to live. In this series we read Ephesians – St Paul’s Guide to Christian Living – and pay attention to the way our Christian lives are being formed as we open ourselves to God’s Spirit and respond to His calling.

In Lent season, we will revisit the ancient gospels to remind ourselves that to see the face of Jesus is to be changed and challenged, lifted up and put back on our feet.

This Faces of Jesus series is a distinctive and affectionate look at Jesus the person, the God, the teacher, the wanderer, the man of suffering.

Matt J

Eastern hills community church meets at 10:15am each Sunday at CCC. 17-19 Surrey Rd West, Croydon.

Sunday church is a refreshing time of fairtrade tea & coffee, celebration, reflection, sharing and learning about God and Christian faith. Children are invited to the cry room, baby creche (1-3yrs) or kids church (4 – primary age) during the service.

February Sundays – ‘Last Things First. Looking through the window of Revelation.’

The book of Revelation may be the most famous book in the bible – and the most misunderstood!  Indeed, it has been said that few writings in all of literature have been so obsessively read with such generally disastrous results as the Book of Revelation!  Why then, you may be thinking, choose this book of all books to begin the year and a new season in a new building?  But stay with me, there’s reason to this madness.  Revelation is one of the best discipleship books that we have in the bible.  Darrell Johnson in his book, ‘Discipleship on the edge’, says these four things about the book of Revelation:

· Revelation is more a discipleship manual than a book predicting the future.

· Revelation is a book about Jesus, which, consequently, should lead the reader to the feet of Jesus.

· It helps believers see the present in light of the unseen realities of the present and the unseen realities of the future.

· It issues a call for all people to decide who will be the Lord of their life and their world.

The book of Revelation powerfully presents the gospel of Jesus Christ and it shows us how to be genuine disciples in the midst of the challenging realities of our world.

What better way to start the year and kick off a new season in the life of our church than focusing on the Risen Jesus in the middle of the Church, discipleship and true worship?

In December we celebrate the amazing season of Advent. A time of reflection, festivity and hopeful anticipation! You are so welcome to join us. Continue reading

Sunday Nov 7 – 28th

This Sunday we begin a wonderful new series.

As we begin our journey to advent we explore four fascinating stories from Jesus’ family tree.

Matthew records four women in Jesus’ genealogy. Through the centuries scholars have been fascinated with the question of why these women were included and what they have in common – there must have been something exceptional about Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba. These stories call for reflection and celebration as we look forward to the birth of Jesus.

May these women’s lives speak to each of us this season.

Sunday September 12 is our annual ‘Blessing of the Kids Celebration!’

A short and wonderful Spring celebration of the kids that God has given our community. It is an opportunity for all of us to enjoy a fun service and to bless and dedicate the kids as a church family. We will also be celebrating our involvement in SAO and the opportunity to support their work.

SAO Children is the name of Baptist World Aid Australia’s program focussed on children and includes child sponsorship. Our local Christian partners work with disadvantaged communities to make a long-lasting difference to children living in poverty and build hope for a better future.

Sept 19 – Oct 3.  Miracles with Jesus

In this series we recall a few miracles of Jesus from the gospels. We explore further what it means for eastern hills to be a healing community in our very down-to-earth kind of way.

Oct 10 – Micah Challenge Celebration

On Sunday 10 October 2010 millions of Christians around the world will unite for a Big day of Prayer, Promise and Action to see half a billion people released from extreme poverty.

Oct 17 -31.  Spring Clean for the Soul

It’s spring. There is a scent of hope in the air. We are climbing out of our winter caves and having a big stretch. There is some dusting off to do. It has become a bit stale in there. Time to open the windows, let some fresh air in and get out into the sun. This annual series is about allowing God to give us a bit of a spring clean, freeing us of some of the grease and clutter that has been building up and uncovering who God has created us to be, in his power and love.

Guests Joel McKerrow, Rowan Lewis and Greg Forbes will be sharing with us on the themes of identity, relationship and success.

August 8 – Sept 5

A saint is someone through whom we catch a glimpse of what God is like — and of what we are called to be.  In this series, we tell the story of a few of these folks from our rich heritage of faith. We celebrate their lives together and we learn from them, recognizing that the author of these stories is really the source of the grace by which these ‘saints’ live.

July 18 – Aug 1

“Glory to God” “Holy Holy” “In the Light of Your Salvation..”  These are beautiful words with great depth of meaning that we often use in our worship and praise of our Lord. But do we really appreciate their meaning? In this series we take time to rediscover the meanings of words which we use to describe and worship our God as well as soak in some beautiful live sounds.