Who We Are
Manna House exists to glorify God and make disciples by reaching and discipling sojourners. Our existence as individuals and a community is founded on the truth that “We love because he first loved us” (1John 4:19)
We realised that we are “prone to wander and prone to leave the God” we profess to love in pursuit of other things. Even when we are in pursuit of Him, we are usually in it for the gift he offers. Our true need is not a pursuit of a dream but Jesus, the word of life, the true bread of heaven. For we seek this true bread of heaven, not just what He can give. No doubt, He will give good gifts, however, our focus and our pursuit are not on the gifts but on the gift giver.
God showed this in his voluntary condescension, He stoops down to become one of us, to save us from Himself. Because he has pursued and loved us, we live that out in pursuing and calling others to the fellowship we have in him. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” Matthew 4:19
Why have we named our church Manna House?
The precise meaning of this Hebrew term is unknown; it may mean “What is it?” which is what the Israelites said upon first seeing the food (Exodus 16:15, 31)
God provides manna as “bread from heaven” (Exodus 16:4-Then the Lord said to Moses” behold I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not.
In Psalms 78:24- And he gave them Manna to eat. For the Israelites during their 40 years of wilderness wanderings. Manna is the Israelites’ chief source of food, divinely provided by God until they settle in the promised land, where they can eat the “produce of the land” (Exodus 16:35; Joshua 5:12).
Three passages in the New Testament mention “manna” in a figurative sense to convey the significance of Christ: John 6:1–71; Hebrews 9:4; Revelations 2:17.
After Jesus provides food for the 5,000, the crowd demands that He prove that He is the Messiah through a miraculous sign: “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat ” (John 6:30–31).
The people were not interested in the significance of any such sign but primarily wanted to have their stomachs filled, thus revealing their persistent unbelief. Jesus responds that the true “bread of God” is the “one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world” (John 6:33 ESV). Several verses later, Jesus states plainly, “I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died … I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh” (John 6:48–51 ESV).
Speaking metaphorically, Jesus communicates that God’s ultimate provision for His people is in Himself: He is the true bread sent from heaven, the source and substance of life, our Manna.