Following Jesus Together

Our vision is to show the world what God is like. God is love and the people who show the same kind of love with which Jesus loved us are his disciples (John 13:34-35). We are therefore seeking to embed deep in the culture of our church the primary value of discipleship, of following Jesus, and of following Jesus together. The early church understood themselves as followers of Christ, seeking to build an harmonious community of followers (Romans 15:5).

Therefore, we are not interested in being just consumers of church, we want to be a community of disciples. It helps if we understand that being a community is at the heart of God’s purpose. God himself is a community and he made us in his image to fill the earth with communities that demonstrate divine love (Gen.1:26-28). It is not just about being united to follow a vision – community is at the very heart of the vision.

And so we are not just following Jesus as individuals; we are following Jesus together. We will take time over the next few months and years to consider what that might mean in practice, but here are some things to start us off. If we are following Jesus together I suggest:

1. We worship together: we value and steward well the times and spaces where we can come together and worship together. We know that something special happens when God’s people come together in God’s presence, bringing our sacrifices of praise to him. Just consider what happens when that first community of 120 followers worshipped and prayed together (Acts 1:15, 2:1-4)
2. We walk together: we are on the journey of life together. To be a church does not mean just meeting together, it means sharing life together. We take an interest in one another, we support one another, we help those who stumble on the path, we weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice. We come out of our little familiar circles and get to know people from different generations, different social, cultural and ethnic backgrounds.
3. We work together: to do many of the things involved in following Jesus together and making God’s love real to people, there is work to be done. Whether it is enabling times and spaces for corporate worship, helping our children learn about following Jesus, hosting people in our homes or reaching out to our local community, there are needs and opportunities to serve. It is one of the best ways to be knit together.

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