Easter lies at the centre of the Christian calendar and we at CGC will be celebrating ourselves, and using it as an opportunity to welcome friends to join us.

Palm Sunday - 5th April - Our service at the Strand Palace will have a theme based around the story of the triumphal entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem and will include some creative fun. Guests will be most welcome.

Maundy Thursday - 9th April - We are inviting the whole church to fast on this, the day when we remember the last supper. We would like to fast until the evening - preferably from food - as an act of consecration to God.
6.30pm - a gathering of worship, prayer, meditation & feet washing at our new church centre.
8.00pm - a meal together where we will break bread and drink wine to remember the Lord's sacrifice.

Easter Sunday - 12th April - Our service celebrating the resurrection of Jesus - with some activities for everyone (including children). Guests will be most welcome. If the weather is good enough, we will be going to Victoria Embankment Gardens for a picnic lunch after the service.

(Following a talk I gave a few weeks ago called "Why there probably is a God" that you can download from our 'Sermon Resources' page - here is a summary of my reasons for believing in God)

No one in my family believed in God. My parents were atheists, my grandparents were atheists, my brothers & sisters were atheists, my aunts and uncles were atheists, I was an atheist - but I changed my mind, began believing in God and became a Christian. It didn't happen overnight, yet over a period of 1½ years I decided to believe. But why?
Why did a fairly sensible man make this crazy decision? Because the evidence was so powerful that I had no choice but to believe.
There were so many reasons for this decision - but here are 6 of the most important:

1) I discovered that the evidence for life, death & resurrection of Jesus was overwhelming.
Like many of us, I thought that Jesus was simply a nice guy who said helpful things such as "Love your neighbour". But, as I looked at the historical evidence for his life, I was drawn to a far more dramatic conclusion. The evidence from history is powerful. As the famous historian FF Bruce (Ryland Professor at Manchester University) put it: "The historical evidence for Christ is as [certain]. . . as the historical evidence for Julius Caesar".
I could not find an alternative explanation for his life, except that he was, and is, the son of God.

2) I realised that science and the bible do not conflict
I studied biology at University College London - and I was sure my studies would give me many good reasons to disprove the bible. In fact, the opposite has proved to be true. The scientific knowledge I have gained has served to confirm the presence of an intelligent designer behind our universe.

3) I experienced lots of miracles
"Why doesn't God just turn up and do a miracle? Then I might believe."
I have experienced hundreds of miracles in answer to very simple prayers. Blind people have recovered their eyesight, the deaf are hearing again and people have walked out of wheelchairs. God has provided for my needs and the needs of others in remarkable ways.
If I tried to list every miracle it would take an encyclopaedia. But I am now sure that God does turn up and do miracles.

4) I found that the bible is intelligent, consistent and wonderful to read
The only time I had ever read the bible was when I was 13 years old. I went through it looking for all of the places where people have sex (there are quite a few).
But as I began to read it more seriously I discovered some amazing things:
It doesn't contradict itself, it hasn't been changed since it was first written and its words are powerful. It provided me with intelligent answers for the most difficult questions we have such as "Why is there so much suffering in the world?"

5) The church is a remarkable community
I never went to church when I was younger - and many who did simply found their experience boring or irrelevant.
When I did finally go, I found a group of people who were far from perfect - but were the most honest, humble and caring men & women I could have imagined.

6) I experienced the power and love of God
Having thought about God for a long time, I finally began to talk to him and to my surprise, I began to experience him. I knew that I was loved in a way no human being could love. I experienced a spiritual power that was unparalleled to me.

These are, in brief, the major reasons that convinced me that God was not a fantasy, but rather a remarkable reality.
All of this may have raised more questions than it has answered. Please feel free to contact me at our office.

18th January 2009

Dear brothers and sisters,

I hope you are well.

This summer I shall be stepping down as pastor of CGC and becoming the pastor of Cirencester Baptist Church. This is one of the toughest decisions I have ever had to make - because I love CGC and everyone in it.

For 4 years Suzie and I have been asking each other and God - "What does He want us to do?” And cutting a long story short - we are convinced that one of the things is for me to step into leading another church. This is part of what God has called me to do - to help churches to grow in their shared life and to reach out to those around them with a view to planting new churches.

I want to make it clear that this decision is not because I a) am bored with CGC, b) have fallen out with the leadership team, c) don't get paid enough or d) have been spotted going into some of the 'wrong' shops in Soho. I love CGC and this city - and could quite happily stay for the rest of my life. The team that God has put around me is a pleasure to work with - and my working relationship with Barney Skrentny is the best 'partnership in the gospel' that I have ever known. I simply believe that God is asking us to make this step. We have talked to many others (both in CGC and elsewhere) and they have given us lots of great advice as we have gone through the process of asking questions about our future and God's plans for us and CGC.

So, we plan to make this move this Summer - probably in July. It will be a big change for us - but we are excited, as are the congregation in Cirencester who have been without a pastor for 3 years.

Obviously, close to all our hearts is the question "What is next for City Gates?". I am passionate that CGC goes from strength to strength and continues to grow in loving God, each other and the world. I would not be considering this change if I did not believe that the church has the resources to go on in the future with strength and fruitfulness. The leadership team and trustees have been discussing for some weeks what the future of CGC might look like. In particular we are asking the question "Who will replace Matt?". There are two main options open to us:
1) To look for someone from within CGC
2) To look for someone from outside CGC

Our preference is to find someone from within our church who understands who we are, where we are going and is already involved in leading the church.
The leadership team and trustees have met with Barney Skrentny who shared with us what he would see for the future of CGC if he becomes our senior pastor. In the light of this the leadership team are proposing that Barney takes over the role of senior pastor at CGC when I move on.
This is the proposal that we are putting in front of all of you. We now invite you to feedback to us what you think about this. To help this process, we will be holding a Question Time after the service on Sunday February 1st. Barney will make a presentation and we will have opportunity to ask him questions (if you have a question for this meeting, please email it to one of the leadership team). Attached to this letter is a brief biography of Barney to help give you a greater impression of who he is.

As well as considering who will be our senior pastor, we are also exploring who can work alongside them, possibly as an Associate Pastor, to complement them.

I will continue as pastor of CGC until the summer with the intention that I will be working alongside my successor and gradually handing the reins over to him or her. After that we plan to continue our relationship with CGC and to look to be working together with you in the future.

You may well have questions or thoughts about all this. Please feel free to contact any of us on the leadership team or the trustees - including me. We will be happy to hear from you. (Their names and contact details are overleaf).

Please be praying for CGC that this time of changes leads to a stronger church in the future. God is with us and is building His church.

With much love,

Matt

The leadership team at CGC are proposing that Barney replaces Matt Frost as senior pastor when he moves on in the summer of 2009. As part of this we have put together a potted biography of Barney to give people some more info about him:

Barnabas Anthony Richard Skrentny, Age 44, one wife, four children, lives in Tufnell Park.
Born in Chicago USA, came to the UK in 1972 aged 8. Yorkshire boarding school education, Law degree from UCL (where he met his wife); worked for Holy Trinity Cambridge as pastoral assistant, and then with City Gates Church running a homeless hostel (the Gate House) from 1987-1988.
Married to Shirley in 1988 (first ever City Gates wedding) and moved to South East London, 1989, to plant and lead a church in Deptford Park, SE8 (1991-1996). Ministry Assistant to Roger Mitchell (former Ministry Assistant to Roger Forster) 1996-2001, and congregation leader of Passion for Camden Town, a pub church. After both churches subsequently began to be involved in the deconstruction movement and for all intents and purposes eventually disappeared, (after he had handed leadership of them on to others) became interested in theological education in order to engage with the "what is church?" debate from the point of view of information rather than speculation. 

Moved to Canada in 2001 to study theology at Regent College, Vancouver and received Master of Christian Studies degree (Practical Theology) in 2004. Returned to UK even though Vancouver is the one of the best loved cities in the world, because still felt called to London. Upset long suffering parents by doing so, who are still waiting for him to get a proper job. Began PhD with the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies, in late 2004, which must be finished soon! Current title: "Ecclesiology and ecclesiogeny: issues of church planting within the British New Church Movement." Joined City Gates Church, joined a cell group; worked to create a more unified community in North London for City Gates folks. Joined the Leadership Team in 2006, appointed Associate Pastor in 2007. 

Nicholas Healy says: "the church is the place where the debate goes on as to how best to be faithful to Jesus," and Barney agrees with this. He favours a virtue based understanding of spirituality, and sees the church as the place where we create practices that promote the key virtues of mutual love, holiness and outreach. He loves the Sermon on the Mount, and talks about it a lot. Spurring one another on, practical care, personal openness, the pursuit of particular spiritual goals, running the race and pressing on towards the goal are often mentioned. An agitator for the kingdom, Barney's ministry does not always make people comfortable; in later years however, some have returned to thank him for this! He wants to be involved with encouraging households of peace, communities of mutual care and goodness, training Christian leaders, and church planting. He has enjoyed working with Matt for the last few years, and would want to do many of the same things, even if they get done in a different way. He is a "prophetic" according to Andy Raine's motivational gifts book, "Given for Life," ENTJ or "Field Marshall" according the Myers-Briggs personality types and a synthesist/analyst according to Harrison and Bramson's "Art of Thinking," a book on thinking styles.  He enjoys playing the guitar, family walks, restoring and painting old furniture, wikipedia, and of course being married to Shirley and having lots of children!