Building Healthy Relationships - Small Groups and Marriages
Hello Bracknell!
We hope you found our new series “Next of Kin” on relationships helpful this week. We learnt the first of three core skills to building healthy relationships: Listening for great CONNECTION. If you missed it, you can catch up with Catrina’s message to all of Kerith on YouTube here. If you prefer to listen along, Bracknell-specific messages are always podcasted here, too, once they’ve been edited. This Sunday Andy Jackson is bringing us our second core skill: how to navigate CONFLICT to make true peace. Looking forward to seeing you on Sunday, if you can make it.
This term, I wanted to recommend two other ways we can practice skills that build healthy and rewarding relationships:
Firstly, for building a breadth of friendships, we have Small Groups both online and in person. Each term small groups run for 8-10 weeks on a whole range of topics and activities. They’re our no.1 recommended way to build a healthy breadth of friendships in the church community. Sign ups are open for just a couple more weeks for the Autumn term so NOW IS THE TIME to join in. Maybe you’re new to the church and would like to meet some more people? Or maybe you’ve been here a long time but are ready to learn something new or make new friends? Maybe you’d like to take some existing friends along with you and grow deeper with them? How is God prompting you? To find your group visit Bracknell’s Small Groups & Courses on our website to Sign Up.
Secondly, we’ve been wanting for a long time to bring some Godly wisdom for our Marriages (and cohabiting partnerships). We can’t wait to introduce you to Geoff & Sherry Surratt, who are visiting from Denver, Colorado, USA in October, as part of our series. They will be spending Saturday 15th October with us on our Bracknell Site for “Together: A Marriage Workshop Day”. It’s going to be packed full of skills, practices and insights to help us build deeper, healthy relationships with the one person we’ve chosen to commit to over the long-haul. Beccy and I (Ben) have benefitted hugely from their caring insights and helpful experience. We’d love for you to benefit, too.
It’s important you come as a couple as you’ll be doing some important practicing together on the day (so no, you can’t send one of you whilst the other one does the shopping - sorry!)
There’s a cost to cover lunches and refreshments and resources. As always, let us know if the cost would be a barrier. We want to help.
Places are limited, and will be available to all our sites, so for more information, and to reserve your place, click below.
Whoever you are, however God has brought you into relationship with others around you already, we pray you have a great term learning helpful skills and insights, and experiencing the Holy Spirit’s help in putting them into practice.
Much love, Ben & Beccy Oliver
(Interim Site Pastors)