Here is an introduction to the book of Genesis and a closer look at the creation narrative
Spring Bible School - starts 22nd April
Here at Woodlands we love the Bible. It is an inspiring, supernatural book, but at times hard to understand. Woodlands Bible School helps you to grapple with different books of the Bible and themes within it. This spring we are going to take four evenings to take a deep dive into the book of Genesis.
Join us from Tuesday 22nd April at 7.30pm in the Foyer at Woodlands Central. All welcome
April Prayer Calendar
Pray each day
Each month, you’re invited to pray for church and all that is happening with our monthly Prayer Calendar. You can view and download the calendar below as a PDF.
8am Talks
Here are a selection of messages shared at our 8am services, with the most recent talks appearing at the top of the list…
Reading John's Letters Well with Dave Roderick (Mar 2025)
This month Dave Roderick takes a look at the letters of 1, 2, and 3 John. You can listen to the audio from the link below
Dinner with Jesus Series
Dinner with Jesus Series
As we lead up to Easter we are looking at Jesus in the gospels through the lens of meals he shared with people. We get to see Jesus’ heart toward others and how He used meals to minister to those around Him. Meals welcome others into our lives and help others feel invited and included.
This seven week series will help us see how we can use meals, like Jesus did, to reach out and connect to those around us. In our discussion notes below, we’ve included a handful of questions for you to discuss as a group as well as a challenge to apply the teaching in a practical way each week.
Our talks in this series will look at the following topics:
16th March – Supper with Sinners
23rd March – Would you like a fish sandwich?
30th March – The Uninvited Guest
6th April – Who’s coming to the dinner party?
13th April – One Last Meal Together
20th April – Easter Sunday
27th April – Breakfast on the Beach
Download our discussion notes to go deeper with the topics each week.
See you on Sundays or catchup on the livesteam!
MESSAGES FROM THIS SERIES
Prophecy Mini-Series
Prophecy Mini-Series
As a charismatic church, from time to time we press in on teaching around our values on the work of the Spirit and the kingdom of God. Last year, we focused on healing and this March we are looking at prophecy.
We are a prophetic people and we are all encouraged to pursue the gift of prophecy. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 14 - “...eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy."
This mini-series over two weeks will explore the prophetic:
What do we mean when we talk about prophecy?
How do we discern and weigh prophecy?
We hope that these talks will help us find our way forward as individuals and as a community.
Talks in this mini-series are titled:
2nd March: The water we swim in
9th March: Test everything
Watch this 90-second video with Dave Mitchell explaining the vision for the series.
Download our discussion notes to go deeper with the topics each week.
See you on Sundays or catchup on the livesteam!
MESSAGES FROM THIS SERIES
March Prayer Calendar
Pray each day
Each month, you’re invited to pray for church and all that is happening with our monthly Prayer Calendar. You can view and download the calendar below as a PDF.
Reading Ezra Well with Tim Dobson (Feb 2025)
The book of Ezra records the time when God was on the move and people responded to His call on their lives to rebuild the temple. What does this book have to tell us as we seek to follow God wholeheartedly today?
Vacancy for Early Years Lead
The Woodlands Church Family (WCF) is a vibrant, growing family of churches with eight sites located across the city of Bristol and a vision to plant more. As we’ve grown, so too has our team, and we have an exciting opportunity for someone to join our Children's team as our Early Years Lead with a focus on children aged 0-4 years at Woodlands Central.
As Woodlands Church Family we aim to disciple children and families to be connected, confident and equipped.
1. Connected
We aim to help children and families to connect with Jesus, with one another in friendships, in relationships with the church community and with a sense of belonging.
2. Confident
We aim to help disciple children to be confident in their knowledge of who God is, to have a sense of their own identity in Christ and therefore confident enough to ask questions, explore faith and be curious.
3. Equipped
We aim to equip and support parents as they disciple their children with the help of the Holy Spirit. We aim to equip children with tools to help them to pray, read the bible and experience the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives. We want to equip them to own their own faith in Jesus, to obey Jesus and to be empowered ministers to the world around them.
About the Role
This position is a leadership role to oversee and grow how we disciple our early years generation at Woodlands Central. This involves leading, shaping and delivering our discipleship programme for early years. This includes overseeing our Sunday and midweek ministry programmes, as well as events and outreach initiatives throughout the year.
The discipleship strategy will be delivered through a large team of volunteers who you will need to recruit, train and support. You will be responsible for communicating vision to the volunteer teams and wider church. You will also be involved with the wider children’s ministry, with an investment in the whole ministry to all our children.
Candidates should be highly motivated, enthusiastic, able to take initiative, work well in a team and be passionate to see children grow in their faith.
Requirements: This role requires a commitment to be a follower of Jesus and a member of Woodlands Central.
To find out more about this role, download the following documents:
Terms
This is a permanent position contracted at a minimum of 2.5 days per week with a requirement to work on Sunday mornings.
The salary band for this role is £26,000 - £28,000 pro rata, depending on experience. The annual holiday entitlement is 25 days pro rata plus 8 days bank holiday pro rata.
The role will be based at Woodlands Central in Clifton, Bristol.
The post is subject to satisfactory references.
We have a legal responsibility to ensure that all our employees have the legal right to live and work in the UK. Therefore, please only apply if you are eligible to work in the UK as we will have to verify this before you can start work.
How to apply
The closing date for applications is midnight on Friday 28th March 2025. However, this vacancy will close once we have sufficient applications.
Please contact Nigel Savage, Senior Leader at Woodlands Central at nigel.savage@woodlandschurch.net if you have any questions about the role.
If shortlisted, interviews will take place at Woodlands Church on the afternoon of Friday 4th April 2025.
For an application form please contact our HR Administrator Jenny Hanley at hr@woodlandschurch.net.
Please send your completed application to Nigel Savage at nigel.savage@woodlandschurch.net and our HR Lead Julia Shrimpton hr@woodlandschurch.net.
Vacancy for Senior Children & Families Lead
The Woodlands Church Family (WCF) is a vibrant, growing family of churches with six sites located across the city of Bristol and a vision to plant more. As we’ve grown, so too has our team, and we have an exciting opportunity for someone to join our team as Senior Children and Families Lead at Woodlands Central.
As Woodlands Church Family we aim to disciple children and families to be connected, confident and equipped.
1. Connected
We aim to help children and families to connect with Jesus, with one another in friendships, in relationships with the church community and with a sense of belonging.
2. Confident
We aim to help disciple children to be confident in their knowledge of who God is, to have a sense of their own identity in Christ and therefore confident enough to ask questions, explore faith and be curious.
3. Equipped
We aim to equip and support parents as they disciple their children with the help of the Holy Spirit. We aim to equip children with tools to help them to pray, read the bible and experience the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives. We want to equip them to own their own faith in Jesus, to obey Jesus and to be empowered ministers to the world around them.
About the Role
This position is a strategic leadership role to oversee and grow the Children’s and Families ministries at Woodlands involving leading, shaping and building an expanding children's ministry for children aged 0-11.
This includes planning ministry programmes, events and outreach initiatives throughout the year. You will lead and line manage the staffed Children’s Team and through them recruit, train and support a large team of volunteers. You will oversee the Families Ministry including daytime groups and events, equipping parents to disciple their children in the home.
Candidates should be highly motivated, enthusiastic, able to take initiative, work well in a team and be passionate to see children grow in their faith.
Requirements: This role requires a commitment to be a follower of Jesus and a member of Woodlands Central.
To find out more about this role, download the following documents:
Terms
This is a permanent position contracted at a minimum of 3 days per week (22 hours 30 mins) with the possibility of more hours being added and the role potentially becoming a full-time position.
The salary band for this role is £29,000 - £31,000 pro rata, depending on experience. The annual holiday entitlement is 25 days pro rata plus 8 days bank holiday pro rata.
The role will be based at Woodlands Central in Clifton, Bristol.
The post is subject to satisfactory references.
We have a legal responsibility to ensure that all our employees have the legal right to live and work in the UK. Therefore, please only apply if you are eligible to work in the UK as we will have to verify this before you can start work.
How to apply
The closing date for applications is midnight on Friday 28th March 2025. However, this vacancy will close once we have sufficient applications.
Please contact Rachel Riddall, Senior Leader at Woodlands Central at rachel.riddall@woodlandschurch.net if you have any questions about the role.
If shortlisted, interviews will take place at Woodlands Church on the afternoon of Friday 4th April 2025.
For an application form please contact our HR Administrator Jenny Hanley at hr@woodlandschurch.net.
Please send your completed application to Rachel Riddall at rachel.riddall@woodlandschurch.net and our HR Lead Julia Shrimpton hr@woodlandschurch.net.
New course - Sharing Jesus Naturally
Starting on Tuesday 25th, over six sessions we will explore how you can be confident in sharing about Jesus, how to tell your story making Jesus the hero, how to start a natural conversation with your friends about Jesus.
This is a new course being delivered from Woodlands Academy.
Join us for Lent 2025
As Lent begins we want to invite you to join with us thinking about and celebrating the Easter story.
For many churches around the world Lent is like a journey where we join together with the whole church world wide, including our brothers and sisters in the persecuted church. It’s a time of drawing closer to God and thinking about the events of that one week that changed the course of human history.
In 2025, Lent begins on Wednesday 5th March and ends on Thursday 17th April.
This year, why not choose a bible reading plan that will help you follow the story of Jesus’ journey to the cross? Lent culminates in Holy Week, when as a church we try to find ways of pausing each day to remember the specific events of that week, including our Good Friday service and Easter Sunday celebration at Woodlands.
Nowadays there is a wealth of free digital bible plans available online and in apps.
DIGITAL LENT RESOURCES
The following resources are available through the Bible App which is completely free, with no advertising and no in-app purchases, or access plans direct from their website version of the Bible online.
Lent for Everyone: Daily Devotionals by NT Wright
Following the story in real time can bring even more significance to arguably the most important week in the Christian year. For each day of Lent, there is a reading chosen from the Gospel of Matthew, plus a reflection by NT Wright.Journey to the Cross: 7-Day Bible Plan by Pete Greig
Pause and pray as you prepare your heart for Easter. Join Jesus on His journey to the cross, through the tomb, and into resurrection life.Dreaming the Impossible Bible Plans
DTI have created Bible plans for young people aged 12 - 18. Check out Psalms to Make You Think which is a a 4 day study of different Psalms to help expand deepen your relationship and passion for God. Or try How to Thrive in Teenagehood, written by teenagers for teenagers so that young people would not just survive this season of their lives but thrive in this season of their lives.
Additional free app based daily devotionals from 24-7 Prayer:
Lectio 365
A free daily devotional resource that helps you pray the Bible every day, inspired by Lectio Divina, a way of meditating on the Bible that’s been used by Christians for centuries.Lectio for Families
Free devotional app that helps families read the Bible and explore faith together.Inner Room
A Lent prayer series, available through the Inner Room app. The app has morning, afternoon, and evening prayers designed to bring you back into the presence of God for a few minutes throughout your day. This year their theme is ‘what’s shaping you?’, with an invitation to choose to be shaped by God this Lent.
Volunteer Opportunity: Children's Team Administrator
The Woodlands Church Family (WCF) is a vibrant, growing family of churches with eight sites located across the city of Bristol and a vision to plant more. As we’ve grown, so too have our teams, and we have an exciting volunteering opportunity within our Children’s Church team at Woodlands Central.
JOIN THE TEAM
We are recruiting for volunteers to join our Children’s Church team to support and underpin some key administrative work for the team at Woodlands Central. We’d love to hear from you if you’re interested and Children’s team admin is something that sounds like an area you’d be interested in helping with!
Key areas of work include:
Volunteer rota checks for acceptances/declines and highlighting gaps where more volunteers are needed.
Processing all new children’s church volunteers through the recruitment process.
Processing new children into groups on ChurchSuite.
Transfer Sunday registers of attendance to ChurchSuite records.
Assist with setting up meeting dates and sending out invitations.
General administration as delegated by children’s church leaders e.g. booking a venue space in the building, sending prewritten emails to groups e.g. for one off events.
Personal attributes and key skills
Strong administration skills with an eye for detail
Good written communication skills
Administering confidential information in line with our Data Protection Policy
Team player
Our volunteer roles require a commitment to be a follower of Jesus and a worshipping member of the Woodlands Church Family.
Could you commit to around one day a week to support this ministry? Ideally it would be helpful, if you have availability during the day, to meet with the children’s minister on a Monday between 11.30am - 12.30pm to run through weekly tasks but there is flexibility as to when the rest of the hours/tasks are delivered in the week. You’d be very welcome to join us at our Children’s team meeting too.
Support in volunteering role
You’ll be given in-house training on Data Protection and the use of our ChurchSuite database if needed.
You are also welcome to join in with our wider Central team time on Monday mornings from 10am - 11am where we gather to worship, pray, share good news and have input from key members of the team.
Hannah Dunmall
Assistant Children’s Minister
INTERESTED?
Please contact our Assistant Children’s Minister Hannah at hannah.dunmall@woodlandschurch.net for an opportunity to meet and discuss the role further.
February Prayer Calendar
Pray each day
Each month, you’re invited to pray for church and all that is happening with our monthly Prayer Calendar. You can view and download the calendar below as a PDF.
Vision for Midweek Life at Woodies
Midweek Leaders Gathering:
Did you miss our gathering on 27th January 2025?
Listen to Nigel share our vision for midweek life at Woodies.
Seasons of the Soul Series
Seasons of the Soul Series
Finding God in every season of life
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing.
- Ecclesiastes
We all love to be in seasons of prospering, success and fruitfulness, where we sense God’s blessing on what we are doing. Of course! Most of us have also experienced seasons of suffering too, where external pressures or internal pressures can impact our sense of well-being and make us question what our lives are meant to look like. Seasons come and go and these ancient words from the book of Ecclesiastes tell us that all of this is normal human experience. It may be more accurate to say that parts of our lives can appear to be in different seasons - whilst one thing is dying, another may be coming to life. Age sometimes seems to correlate with seasons, maturity bringing fruit into our lives that was elusive in younger years.
One idea that can help us navigate the ebb and flow of blessing and hardship in our lives is the idea that just as there are seasons in nature, our lives can follow similar patterns. A winter season can look very dark but God may be at work in the darkness doing essential work in us. Work we can cooperate with or resist. Some people talk about the ‘seasons of the soul’ -- if you had to choose the one you are currently in, what would you say?
This series is called Seasons of the Soul and is all about finding God in every season of life. The series is really asking the question ‘What is God doing in your lifeat the moment? How can you cooperate with the work of the Spirit in your life as he seeks to renew and heal your mind and body to make you more like Jesus?’ We want to give you an opportunity to think, reflect and pray about where you are at with God and allow him to work in the deeps of your soul.
Here’s what we’re hearing about each week in our messages on Sundays:
Winter - 2nd February
Spring – 9th February
Summer – 16th February
Autumn – 23rd February
Download our discussion notes to go deeper with the topics each week. This also includes recommended reading and signing up for our Wholeness Course as well:
MESSAGES FROM THIS SERIES
Wholeness Course Starts 25th Feb
Wholeness: Explore Identity
Explore how our lives can be established on the sure foundation of our God given identity. This is a course with stories of breakthrough, teaching, including our ‘Spiritual spring clean’ and opportunities for receiving prayer.
Our next Wholeness 1: Explore Identity course will be taking place over 6 weeks beginning the 25th February and running on Tuesday evenings from 8pm - 10pm at Woodlands. To sign up follow the link below.
To find out more about the wholeness course head to the webpage here.
Hear some Testimony’s from the Wholeness Course
Refresh Group for Mums and Little Ones
On Thursday mornings at 10am in The Crypt, we offer new mums and babies the chance to meet up, share a cuppa, refresh and pray with one another.
This group is specifically aimed at supporting the well-being of new mums and their babies.
If you have young children of different ages, check out our Tiny Treasures Toddlers group that meets on Wednesday mornings at 10am in term time.
January Prayer Calendar
Pray each day
Each month, you’re invited to pray for church and all that is happening with our monthly Prayer Calendar. You can view and download the calendar below as a PDF.
