Vision & Mission
Our Vision: To make the love of God real in the real world
Our vision is to be part of God’s vision for his Church. It is the purpose of every church, of the Church, to be the body of Christ. Jesus Christ was and is God in the flesh. He is God in a real, flesh and blood human body, showing us what God is like – right here in the real world. When we look at Jesus we see what God is like, and the Bible tells us that God is love. So Jesus is the embodiment of love, making God’s love real and tangible. Jesus is what the love of God looks like. And when he came in human flesh Jesus entered this real, messed up, broken world as a real person, showing us what God was really like right here in the middle of all the mess.
Our understanding is that the Church, as the body of Christ, is to continue to do that. Jesus told his followers ‘as the Father has sent me, so am I sending you’ – sending us right into the middle of the mess to embody God. Sending us right among narky neighbours, difficult colleagues, troubled children; among mental health challenges, fragmented relationships; among broken bodies and bruised souls. Sending us into the real world to continue to embody the love of God. To show the world what God looks like, what love looks like. Our vision, therefore, is to be a church that looks like Jesus, making the love of God real in the real world.
Our Mission: Following Jesus Together
This starts with our personal relationship with Jesus. This is not automatic – we must make a clear decision to become a follower, or disciple, of Jesus.
Like the early disciples, we need to be with Jesus – there are special times when we set aside time to pray and read the Bible, but we also learn to walk with him throughout all aspects of life, whatever we are doing and wherever we are.
Again, like the early disciples, we follow Jesus with others – it is a shared experience in which we can support each other and learn from each other. It is together that we are the “body of Christ”.
Our goal is to become like Jesus, both as individuals and together – in this way we can become better at showing people what God is really like – that he is a God who loves us all very much.
As we spend time with Jesus and become more like him, like apprentices, we learn to continue the work of Jesus.
As the love of God is seen amongst us as we follow Jesus together, people will see that we are his disciples.