Beliefs
Our Mission is to be a community of believers in Jesus Christ, devoted to loving God, loving others and making disciples.
How does this work out in everyday life?
A Community of believers in Jesus Christ
First, we seek to be a Community. What does that look like?
What is a Community anyway? One definition is ‘a group of people who share common interests, characteristics or culture’.
The early church, as recorded in the book of Acts, “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship.”
At the heart of Community is ‘Fellowship’, a translation of the Greek word ‘koinonia’, which expresses our Christian life: what we share as Christian believers.
The well-known Christian writer John Stott puts it this way:
It bears witness to two complementary truths, namely what we share in and what we share out.
First, koinonia expresses what we share in together, especially the grace of God. Authentic fellowship is trinitarian fellowship, our common participation in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Many factors separate us – ethnicity, nationality, culture, gender and age – but we are united in having the same Heavenly Father, the same Saviour and Lord, and the same indwelling Spirit. It is our common share in Him and in His grace that makes us one.
Secondly, koinonia expresses what we share out together. Koinonia is the word Paul uses to refer to the collection he was organising among the Greek churches for the benefit of the poverty-stricken churches in Judea.
And the adjective koinonikos means ‘generous’.
Loving God, Loving Others
‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength.’ This command, written in Deuteronomy 6, is not specifically one of the Ten Commandments, but it was a verse Jesus quoted when asked ‘Which is the greatest commandment?’
It was a test question posed by the Pharisees in order to catch Him out, but Jesus was more than equal to the question. In fact, He went on to quote another verse, this time from Leviticus 19,- also not one of the Ten Commandments! – to confound them further: ‘The second is like it: Love your neighbour as yourself.’
Jesus then made the triumphant assertion: ‘All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.’
It’s clear from those words of Jesus that loving God and loving others go together.
Making Disciples
Among the last words Jesus said to His disciples were ‘Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.’ (Mark 16:15; Matthew 28:18-20).
Making disciples is not the same as making converts, and the whole church needs to take responsibility for discipling.
Ultimately we will be held accountable for how well we fulfilled that commission; at least in our patch, and on our watch.