Mark chapter 8 31 [Jesus] then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. ‘Get behind me, Satan!’ he said. ‘You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.’ 34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life[a] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 37 Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.’

‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny him/herself and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life [self/soul] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?’ The words of Jesus in three Gospels

1. Mt Hermon 5. 2. Caesarea Phillippi aka Paneas and today as Banias 3. Caesarea Maritime 4. Jerusalem

Caesarea Philippi Northern Israel

Niches/Alcoves for statues

This suffering and dying is not just a one-off life-event that Jesus did for us; it is the way of life that Jesus calls his disciples to follow. ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny him/herself and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life [self/soul] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul [life]?’

Our Three Purposes/Focusses to see people passionate for Jesus – Going deeper with God Growing closer to one another Going further into the community St Alban’s Vision is to see people passionate for Jesus – growing in community & mission, through experiencing God’s Love and Word, being led by the Holy Spirit in all of life.

GOING DEEPER WITH GOD Discernment 1. To teach and encourage, through Sunday services, small groups and seminars, how to listen for God’s voice in order to discern God’s leading in our lives. 2. To establish a team to reflect upon the messages shared when waiting on the Lord in Sunday services. GROWING CLOSER TO ONE ANOTHER Hospitality Teams 3. To establish one or more Hospitality Teams that can coordinate church-wide fellowship events (such as: Sunday Shared Lunches, Newcomers’ Lunches, Hospitality Sunday or Dinners of Eight). Housegroups 4. To establish two new housegroups to incorporate recent newcomers and foster a sense of belonging, participation and discipleship in our church. Care for one another 5. To grow in our awareness and support of one another, especially those who have demanding situations in their homes, workplaces or community lives.

GOING FURTHER INTO THE COMMUNITY Community Projects 6. To establish project teams for two or three community projects in 2019. (Such projects could be: ‘Coffee, Cake & Carwash’, ‘Car Boot Sale’, Clothes Swap or a Saturday child-minding service in December for Christmas shoppers). 7. To develop a community project to give away free Bibles, in various languages, using the Mission Seed Fund. 8. To raise awareness of and encourage greater participation in our community ministries, especially Prison Ministry, Mainly Music, The Buzz, CRE in schools and the Alpha Course. Ministry among Muslims 9. To provide greater education about and support to Friends of Friends Fellowship (FFF), and to Enoch and Tanya Hwang, in their Ministry among Muslims, and to encourage greater participation by our members in this ministry and its training course ‘Friendship First’. 10. To help foster interest and participation in the FFF ministry in other PN churches.

Cruciform Life 11. To explore what it means for Christ-followers to be counter-cultural cross-bearers in today’s society by denying ourselves, taking up our crosses daily and following Jesus, and the upside-down values this involves.