- CLEAR MISSION & PURPOSE
‘Loving God, building his church, serving others’ (Mark 12:29-31).
Committed to an ongoing journey of transformation (Romans 12:1-2) and growing deeper as disciples in three dimensions:
- UP (Loving God)
- IN (Building his church)
- OUT (Serving others: Witnessing; Seeking Justice; Caring for creation)
As our logo implies, St John’s seeks to be a church that grows through the Word and Spirit.
This means being centred around Jesus, by placing Scripture at the heart of all we do, and being empowered and equipped by the Holy Spirit – giving space to encounter and hear from God and by allowing for intimacy as well as awe and mystery in worship.
- VALUES
- Welcoming and generous, building ongoing relationships
- Building healthy relationships with God, with each other, with our ‘neighbour’
- Encouraging each church member to see themselves as part of the welcome
- Being generous in hospitality and in giving our time, skills, resources and money
- Being givers of grace and generous in our attitude to others and their worship preferences – different styles, but one purpose
- Supporting overseas and home mission – at least 10% of our budget
- Engaging with our local context
- Seeking to make a difference e.g. food bank, lunch club, pastoral support for elderly and vulnerable
- Supporting our local traders and working towards the enrichment of our community
- Willing to adapt and change
- Maintaining a ‘both and’ approach to church – honouring the traditions of the past and planning and reordering for the future
- Preaching which is relevant to being a 21st century Christian and those exploring faith
- Actively promoting lay leadership
- Always seeking opportunities to grow and develop the gifts and talents of the congregation
- Leadership that is willing to demonstrate and delegate
- The Jesus model: watch me do it > do it with me > you do it
- Making children and families a priority
- Intentionally investing in a Children and Families Minister
- Developing new and existing patterns of worship accessible for children and families
- Nurturing and caring
- Prayerfully ensuring that all we do is undergirded by individual, home group and congregational prayer including contemplative prayer
- Growing larger and smaller at the same time – putting resources into our home groups and smaller gatherings as well as congregation
- Seeking to create ‘ladders’ of opportunity for exploration and deepening of faith: including ‘Start’, ‘Alpha’, admission to communion, confirmation, etc.
- Caring for the elderly and vulnerable in our church and community
- STRATEGY – How we achieve our purpose and live out our values
We seek to grow in the three dimensions UP, IN & OUT through:
- Prayer – all that we do is undergirded by individual, home group and congregational prayer including contemplative prayer
- Permission-giving leadership – that models appropriate vulnerability (we are all Followers First, Servants Second, Leaders Last) and encourages, enables and actively promotes the ministries of the congregation through equipping and training
- Investing – (not stockpiling) our greatest resources and assets (people, funds, buildings) wisely and actively for growth
- Good communication – ensuring that the congregation and wider community are kept informed and, where appropriate, consulted over significant parish developments
- Enabling structures – developing a framework of existing (home groups, PCC) and new (core groups, prayer triplets and Vision Team) support structures to facilitate numerical and spiritual growth
- Doing a few things but doing them well – we are bold and faithful in what God is calling us to do but are also realistic in our aims and in recognising our total dependence on God
- Developing a common language –that reflects, reinforces and underpins the culture we want to develop
- Building partnerships for growth – we recognise the value of working (where possible) in partnership with others to enrich our community, town and nation. (eg schools, community groups, deanery and ecumenical opportunities)
- Adaptability – recognising the need to adapt as we grow in numbers; having the capacity and flexibility to respond to God’s guiding and prompting.
- Accountability – to God and to each other for our own personal growth and discipleship (via home groups, prayer triplets etc) and for our commitment to fulfil our mission action plan (via PCC and Vision team)