Our story
We are a community in Angmering, and we are here for the community of Angmering.
We seek to be modern, relevant and, above all, authentic in our approach to church and faith.
We are passionate about people and passionate about God, and so we want to share our story and Jesus' story with the people of this area.
We like to think that we would be missed if we weren't here! Because we contribute good to the local community however we can. To give just two examples, we run the very friendly 'tots in tow' parent and toddler group (Fridays, church hall) and the professional aerotone exercise classes (Mondays, school hall.)
Our message
It's all about Jesus. And it's good news.
For those wanting to know more about Jesus, his story and life, perhaps ask questions, we regularly run Christianity Explored groups.
For those who want the short version, our message is summed up in one of the best-known Bible verses:
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." (John3:16,17)
Our desire is to bring this message of hope and freedom, and to see people living life in all its fullness by believing in Jesus and following him.
For those that want more background to the message, it goes like this:
Good News: The Glory of God
Our God is immense beyond imagination. He can measure the entire universe with the span of His hand.
He is unimaginably awesome in all of His perfections, absolutely righteous, holy, and just in all of His ways.
He is also the Creator and Sustainer of my life and knows every little detail about me.
Every breath, every heartbeat, is a gift from Him.
Every legitimate pleasure I experience is a gift from His loving hand to me.
All that I am and all that I have I owe to Him and to His goodness.
This wonderful God is the most supremely worthy Object of honour, admiration and delight, in the entire universe.
And He has created me with the intention that I might glorify Him by finding my soul's delight in Him and by living in joyful obedience to Him in all of my ways.
Bad News: More messed up than I like to admit
I have failed this great God miserably.
Instead of thankfully living for He who gave me life, I have ignored Him, rebelled against Him and have actually sought to put myself before him.
Going my own way and living according to my own wisdom, I have countless times broken either the letter or the spirit of God's Ten Commandments.
Thinking myself to be wise, I have shown myself to be a fool; and because of my arrogance, God has the right to condemn me to the experience of His holy anger in Hell.
So as for myself, apart from Christ I am condemned by the guilt of my sins and also bound by the power of sin, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures. Even my best efforts are tainted by mixed or selfish motives.
Apart from Christ, I am deserving of and destined for eternal separation from all that is good, completely unable to save myself or even to make one tiniest contribution to my own salvation.
Good News: More loved that I dared to hope
However, what I could not do, God did – and in doing it, He did it all, sending his own son into the world to die on the cross for my sins, showing me extraordinary and immense love.
God loved me so much that he was willing to suffer the loss of His son, and even more amazingly, He was willing to allow His Son to suffer the loss of Him at the cross.
Jesus loved me so much that He was willing to lay down His life for me, imperfect me. No one could ever love me more or better than Jesus.
On the third day after Jesus' death, God raised Him from the dead, and by that announcing that His death was completely sufficient to make up for every sin that I have or will commit throughout my lifetime.
God then exalted Christ to His own right hand, where Christ now reigns from on high, granting salvation and forgiveness to all who call on Him by faith.
Best News: My Salvation
Now when I place my faith in Jesus, God instantly grants me a great salvation.
He forgives me all my sins, past present, and future.
He makes me His child, adopting me into His family.
He gives me the gift of the Holy Spirit, who gives me God's power, who pours out God's love within my heart.
In saving me, God also frees me from the power of slavery to any and all sins.
In saving me, God also justifies me, and being justified through Christ, I have peace with God that will endure forever, in this life and the next.
God's grace abounds to me even through trials.
Because I am justified, He brings under complete control every trial and forces it to do good to me.
When I sin, God does not require my confession before he desires to forgive me.
In His heart He already has forgiven me; and when I come to Him to confess my sins to Him, He runs to me and is repeatedly embracing me even before I get the words of my confession out of my mouth!
God does see my sins, and is grieved by my sins.
He even sends discipline into my life, but He does so because He is for me, and He loves me, and it is for my ultimate good.
God gives me full assurance that after I die, I will enjoy Him forever in the new heavens and the new earth, together with all His people.
I don't deserve any of this, even on my best day; but this is my salvation, and in this I stand. Thank You, Jesus.
