Stories matter. The stories we tell each other, and tell ourselves, have a huge impact on how we see the world, and on how we act in the world. Stories, also, are often a great way to get past our defences – they have a way of bypassing the walls we put up to keep out things we need to hear but don’t want to.

It is perhaps no coincidence, then, that parables are among the most striking features of the Gospels (the biographies of Jesus in the Bible). Jesus used these ‘stories with a point’ to teach in a quite unique way. Parables were quite rare prior to Jesus, and were rare in the early church outside the Gospels. They were a very ‘Jesus’ thing. As the famous New Testament Scholar Joachim Jeremias said: ‘We stand right before Jesus when reading the parables’.

Jesus uses these stories to make powerful points which we need to hear. He uses them to engage our minds and hearts with the things he was telling us. He delights us along the way with both the playfulness and the profundity of the parables.

We are excited to be spending the next three Sundays listening to, chewing on, and being impacted by three parables Jesus tells in Matthew’s Gospel – about forgiveness, grace, and obedience. We’d love to have you join us for these Kingdom Stories.

Sundays 16, 23 & 30 Nov
9:30am and 7pm
95 Percival St, Rangiora
more info: click here