Community
Life Groups
Life groups are gatherings of 6 to 14 people who meet in homes across the city. Their purpose is to help us (i) share our lives together, (ii) encounter the life of God and (iii) affect the lives of those around us.
(i) Sharing our lives: we come just as we are, giving and receiving the loving support we need for everyday life.
(ii) Encountering God: we pray together, search the Bible, worship and step out in spiritual gifts.
(iii) Affect others: we pray for others to come to know the love of Jesus and look for opportunities to demonstrate this practically.
Powerhouse
Powerhouse is our monthly prayer and worship gathering and is very much “the engine room of the church”.
“How astonishing it is that God wills to do his work through people. It is doubly astonishing that he ordains to fulfill His plans by being asked to do so by us. God loves to bless his people. But even more he loves to do it in answer to prayer.”
John Piper
At Powerhouse we worship God, seek to hear His voice and pray for one another, our church, our city and the wider world.
“God does nothing but by prayer, and everything with it.”
John Wesley
Students
We know exactly how it feels to turn up in a new city and how finding a great church to get stuck into can be crucial to feeling settled. This is why we are passionate about welcoming you into the Gateway family!
Students from many academic institutions in Leeds attend Gateway. We have Life Groups for students and host socials throughout the year. Find out more by dropping us an email at office@gatewayleeds.net.
Outreach
Find out more about the various initiatives we’re involved in, as we seek to share God’s love with the people of Leeds.
Alpha
Who is Alpha for?
Alpha is for everyone; no question is out of bounds and you are free to discuss as much or as little as you wish. We don’t assume any background knowledge of or belief in Christianity and everyone is welcome, no need to book in advance.
What is Alpha?
Alpha is an opportunity to explore the meaning of life in an informal, fun and friendly environment. The Alpha Course consists of a series of talks, looking at topics including ‘Who is Jesus?’ and ‘Why and how do I pray?’. We usually meet for a meal and each talk is followed by discussion in small groups.
You don’t have to come to the whole course – just pop along for the first one and see what you think. No pressure. For more information, please email office@gatewayleeds.net.
To find the dates of our latest Alpha, see the calendar.
Food Bank
Gateway runs a Trussell Trust Food Bank outlet from St Mark’s, as part of the Leeds North and West Foodbank network. It has been fantastic to be able to use our building to serve our community, as volunteers from Gateway and elsewhere work together on Mondays between 11.00pm and 1.00pm to provide emergency food parcels for local people in need. We also sign-post people to other agencies to help them address longer-term needs. Clients are referred to the food bank via charities, Citizens Advice, Social Services, the local authority, housing providers and various other organisations.
Visit the Leeds North and West Food Bank website for more info, or email us if you’re interested in getting involved as a volunteer.
Community Cafe
Gateway’s Community Cafe at St Mark’s is open every Tuesday during school term times between 9am and 1pm. We have a delicious menu of cake, soup, sandwiches & basic kids food on a pay as you feel basis. We also have a play area for pre-schoolers and babies plus weekly activities and a story time.
The Marriage Course
The Marriage Course is for couples who are seeking to strengthen their relationship. Some couples do the course to intentionally invest in their relationship; others are looking to address more specific challenges. Either way, the course offers essential tools and practical ideas to help you build a relationship that lasts a lifetime.
The Marriage Course is based on Christian principles but designed for all couples with or without a church background.
To find out when our next course is scheduled, please visit the calendar.
Chillzone Youth Club
Chillzone is our Friday night youth club held at St Mark’s. From 6pm to 7:30pm each week we welcome young people from school years 7 to 13.
Our heart for Chillzone is to engage with young people from Woodhouse and Little London and to help each young person realise their importance and value. Each week we share how our weeks have been, followed by lots of fun and games, quiz and tuck. Chillzone is a great way to finish off the week!
If you or someone you know is interested in coming along email: hannah.clark@gatewayleeds.net.
Make Lunch & Early Intervention
We run a Make Lunch Project during the school holidays in partnership with TLG which aims to bring hope to struggling families by providing free, hot and healthy meals to children who would otherwise go hungry.
We also run a TLG Early Intervention Programme, helping to mentor pupils at the local Quarry Mount Primary School. Email office@gatewayleeds.net to find out more.
St Mark's Grounds Project
🌳 St Mark’s Grounds Project runs every 4th Sunday of the month between 11am – 4pm (please come for any amount of time you are available)
Our Grounds team have started work on the outside area of St Mark’s by creating a path and nature trail around the grounds to enable access for the church and local community.
If you are interested in joining the team for this next date please email… office@gatewayleeds.net for more details on the project and what to expect on the day.
Life at Gateway
Baptism
Some of our favourite meetings together are those where people share their story of coming to faith and get baptised. Please speak to your Life Group leader if this is something you would like to consider or email chris.frost@gatewayleeds.net
Why Baptism?
1. Because Jesus commanded it:
See Matthew 28: 18-20, commonly known as “The Great Commission”
Jesus includes baptism as a fundamental part of The Great Commission and discipleship.
This is a Christ-given ‘ordinance’ or ‘sacrament’ (NB: There are only two such ‘sacraments’ – baptism and communion – see 1 Corinthians 11: 23-26)
In obedience this became the practice of the Church
See Acts 2:37-41, 8:12 and 26-39, 10:44-46, 16:4 and 15, 16:31-33.
Baptism became a fundamental part of the response of a believer to the gospel. Hence, it became known as ‘believers baptism’.
2. Because Jesus modeled it:
See Mathew 3:13-17
Jesus was the only person who ever lived who didn’t need to be baptised (see v14), and yet He still chose to be.
His reason: “to fulfil all righteousness” (see v15), meaning to fulfil what was right before God the Father and model an act of obedience and worship to all who would follow.
What Does Baptism Mean?
From the above it is clear that baptism is a wonderful step of faith in Jesus, repentance, obedience and a declaration of discipleship, commiting ourselves to live for Him in response to all He has done for us.
However, there is so much more:
Romans 6:3-5: We are baptised ‘into’ Christ. Therefore, we share in His death, burial, resurrection, new life and glory! Thus baptism is a declaration – a seal, of our ‘union’ with Christ. The death of our old life (the baptismal water symbolising a grave) and our resulting new life ‘in Christ’. See Galations3:27 and Colossians 2:12.
Baptism was designed to be an initiation into this new life in Christ. An initiation into discipleship and the body of Christ, His Church.
It clearly is designed to represent the cleansing from sin that Christ has won for us. We are made free from sin and are a new creation when we are saved. See Acts 22:16 and Romans 6:10-12
Baptism is an act of spiritual worship; laying your life down before God as a living sacrifice. see Romans 12:1.
Therefore, baptism is so much more than simply ‘symbolism’. There is spiritual significance to it. Hence why the early church practice was to baptise people as soon after genuine conversion as possible. Often in the same day (or even hour) as someone declared their faith in Jesus. And also why it was seen as a ‘sacrament’ or vehicle / channel of grace to the believer.
How?
The Greek word ‘baptizo’ means “to plunge, dip or immerse” something in water (or liquid, eg: dye).
Jesus, was baptised by full immersion, see Matthew 3:16: “he went up out of the water”.The practise of the NT church was baptism by full immersion, eg: Acts 8:38 and 39 – they went “down into the water” and “they came up out of the water”.
No example or teaching of ‘sprinkling’ with water is found in the NT.
Conclusion
As Evangelical Christians wanting to be true to Biblical Christianity, believer’s baptism by full immersion is an essential part of our discipleship, membership and practice as a church.
Membership
“Individuals who have never experienced the joy and delight of belonging to a loving and vital Christian body have missed one of the thrills of the Christian life. Mere ‘church-going’ was never in God’s plan for you. He wants you very closely knit with a group of dear friends with whom you can share your life.”
– Terry Virgo
Here at Gateway, we believe the Bible clearly speaks of a body of believers in the New Testament who were committed to worshipping God together and serving one another. We see that God “added” to their number daily (Acts 2:47) and we recognise a consistent biblical metaphor for the church is that of a body – an intimate functioning body that is really connected and interacts. We believe that by committing to the local church, we truly get to build our lives together, reaching out to friends and to the wider world together.
“Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.”
Romans 12:4–5
Gateway’s membership course is called our Vision & Values Course.
Vision & Values course
About three times a year, we run this course for new people to introduce them to Gateway, get to know some of our members and leaders and ask questions.
If you’re new to Gateway Church and are thinking about joining the family these videos will give you a good flavour of who we are and what we’re about:
Part 1 — Why Church? Why Membership?
Part 2 — All about Gateway
To find out when our next Vision and Values course is, email office@gatewayleeds.net.
Eco Team
Eco Team Update
John Davy (volunteer staff team member) recently created a report on Gateway’s progress, outlining the steps with are taking to respond as a church to the environmental crisis and the potential areas for action.
Please take a read here
We are facing a global crisis because of climate change and the degraded state of our environment. In response to this, at our Creation Sunday event on November 15, 2020, we formally recognised a Climate and Ecological Emergency, committing ourselves to responding to it as a church. This will initially be worked out by our participation in A Rocha’s Eco-church program. For more information about this please contact john.davy@gatewayleeds.net
