A new teaching programme in a group of rural Churches has been put together that hopes to share Bible teachings that encourage us all to work together and encourage each other more.

Churches in Peasedown St John, Foxcote, Shoscombe and Wellow over the next year will look at the theme of ‘One Body, Many Parts’. They aim to delve deep into the Bible to look at what guidance the scriptures have for us in the 21st century.

Sunday sermons from January through to December will work through a different topic each month.

Revd Matthew Street, who leads the set of Churches known as the St J’s Group, said:

“The Bible is a powerful book with information that not only tells us about historical events, but how teachings revealed by God to prophets, holy men and His Son Jesus still have relevance for us today.

God has gifted each of us uniquely. We have different personalities, skills, experiences and circumstances but we belong to the same Church or community. Biblically, we are different parts of the same body; we need one another.

The Bible is made up of many parts - an Old Testament of 39 books and a New Testament of 27 making 66 books in total. As Christians, we believe that under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit the Bible was written by over 40 different authors from all walks of life: shepherds, farmers, tent-makers, physicians, fishermen, priests, philosophers and kings.

Every month is 2023 we are going to look at a different part of the body and study in detail how some of the authors have used a particular body part to highlight a spiritual discipline that we can apply in our daily walk with God.”

The ‘One Body, Many Parts’ teaching programme will run across 44 Sundays in 2023 at these services:

10.00 am - Morning Service at St Julian’s, Wellow

10.30 am - Morning Service at St John’s, Peasedown

11.15 am - Morning Service at St Julian’s, Shoscombe

4.30 pm - Soul Food at St John’s, Peasedown

Recordings of each talk will also be available after each Sunday on the St J’s Group website - www.stjsgroup.church, which also includes details of future events, the Church’s work in the community, and details of activities going on during the week.