OUR VISION

There are lots of good things we could do as a church but we believe our priorities are to GATHER, GROW, GIVE, and GO. All our activities belong to one or more of these categories.

GATHER

The word church simply means assembly or gathering. That means gathering together is essential to what church is all about. Although we might do things in smaller groups, everything flows from our main meetings, when the whole church family comes together to worship the Lord, sit under his Word, and to encourage one another. The writer to the Hebrews says, ‘And let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching’. Our whole church gatherings are Sunday mornings and Sunday evenings.

GROW

As a church we want to make deep disciples, not just shallow spectators. Isaiah says of Israel that they will, ‘take root below and bear fruit above’ (Isaiah 37:31). That’s a helpful way of describing the Christian life. As we put our roots downward into Christ we produce fruit upward for Christ. Growing in him is a priority. The main way we do this is through our midweek meeting which is called Central. We meet every Wednesday evening, as a smaller group of around 10 people, where we pray together, seek to understand and apply the Bible to our lives, and encourage one another to real life change in the ordinary moments of life. We also have a men's and women's bible study groups and discipleship breakfasts to provide other opportunities to engage with God through his Word.

GIVE

As Christians we know that God is the greatest giver. He's given us everything in Christ and he calls us to share in the joy of giving. We have a giving God and therefore we want to be giving people. The description of the early church in Acts shows they loved to give - there are lots of ways we can do that as a church. We give our money to support the church and the work of the gospel. We give our time to lovingly serve and care for each other. We give our gifts so we can build others up. We give our homes so we can share our lives and show hospitality to others.

The final priority is to go into our community to share the good news about Jesus. He didn’t tell his followers to wait for people to come to them, he told them to go! We therefore want the whole church to commit to being part of the community and having some way of regularly interacting with with people who don't know Jesus. Mission is something we do all the time in the everyday little moments of life. We want to make time for these relationships, not just fill the week with 'church stuff'. We then provide some opportunities for people to bring their friends along to find out more. We run regular events like Families@4 and The Hub Community Cafe and offer introduction courses to help people find out more about Jesus.

If you have been coming to the church regularly and want to find out more about membership, please contact the senior minister, Matt Guest.