Mission and Values
Our mission is to follow the way of Jesus Christ and become a creative Christ-centred group of people that use all our resources to develop disciples of Jesus Christ in Peppard and Sonning Common and surrounding area and around the world who love God and love their neighbours.
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:10
So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors, and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.
Ephesians 4: 11, 12
Our desire is to become a vibrant group of people who seek to live out the life of Christ and the principles of the Kingdom of God and to express that love relevantly to the society we live in and to those with whom we are connected. We seek to do this by working towards God’s mission of “Loving God and loving our neighbour as ourselves” in all aspects of our life.
To enable this to become a reality our vision is to seek to be true to Christ, kind to others and loyal to the message of Jesus through:
Sharing the story of Jesus
We are committed to teaching the story of Jesus, learning and allowing the Bible to transform and renew our minds in a manner that enables us to live out Jesus teaching in the Bible; make disciples and train others in the way of Jesus.(See our statement of faith)
Missional Life Together
Our desire is to be a missional community witnessing and sharing the message of Jesus because the gospel brings new abundant and eternal life to all people.
Prayer, Intercession & Listening
We seek to be a house of prayer for all, acknowledge the reality of spiritual warfare and affirming the power of God. We believe that human beings are designed to walk and talk with God and we seek to grow in all aspects of prayer, both individually and collectively. We also desire to hear from God and create reflective places where everyone is open to hear and be restored by the word and presence of God.
Creative Worship
We seek to worship in spirit and truth supporting all ages to glorify the Father, Son and Holy Spirit with sincerity, creativity, and variety. Celebrating the imagination and melody He has given us.
Creative Ministry
By the power of the Holy Spirit, we seek to provide space for the arts and use our resources to share the Gospel message that Jesus brought both in word and deed through colourful creative, relevant and appropriate action. We desire to be led by the Spirit, exercise our God-given gifting; and use, but not be bound by, human tradition in any place God leads us.
Deliberate Discipleship & Witness
We seek to develop and release people to use their practical, spiritual, creative God-given gifts and talents for personal growth and to help build a church of love, justice and mercy that will influence the local communities we are each part of in a manner that would help witness and advance the Kingdom of God.
Loving Relationships
We seek to have an open table offering radical hospitality and sacrificially making space for people in our hearts and homes. We are determined to be a friendly people: loving one another and ourselves as God intended and welcoming the stranger.
Cheerful Giving
We seek to be extravagantly generous with our time, finance, friendship, and talents and to give them away in a manner that reflects the extravagant generosity of God.
WE BELIEVE
In God as a Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit in intimate relationship.
Jesus Christ is the Son of God, was born onto the earth and was fully man and fully God and has uniquely revealed to humanity the practical and supernatural love and grace of God and the reality of the Kingdom of God.
Jesus died on the cross to fully reveal the length to which the love of God goes and that he rose from the tomb on the third day after his crucifixion and death and ascended into heaven.
That by His death on the cross, the sins/transgressions of men and women are forgiven and that God accepts this sacrifice and is willing to forgive everyone who would personally seek forgiveness and redemption.
The counsel, gift and actions of the Holy Spirit is freely available to those who place their trust in God.
God is wonderfully present in a profound way as we practically live out the way of Jesus in our daily life; regularly gather together in a myriad of different places; remember Jesus; seek the heart of God; and love God with all we are and love our neighbor as ourselves.
The Church Community (The people) exists to worship and glorify God as well as to be a distinctive practical community of holiness, compassion and justice in todays world following the mandate of Jesus
‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me.
He has sent me to preach good news to the poor,
to proclaim release to the prisoners
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to liberate the oppressed,
and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Therefore, the Church is commissioned and empowered by the Father, Son & the Holy Spirit to participate in the transforming, integrated mission of God by sharing and living out the amazing creative reality of Jesus Christ of Nazareth and the wholistic nature of Kingdom of God.