Our vision:
Making and maturing disciples of Jesus Christ
Making
In keeping with Jesus’ great command ‘to make disciples of all nations’ (Matthew 28:19), we aim to go out into his world to proclaim his gospel so that more people will follow Him.
Maturing
As part of making disciples, we seek to grow disciples in Christian maturity, teaching them to obey everything Jesus has commanded (Matt.28:19), so that individually and corporately, we grow in likeness to Him. Together as his followers, we want to grow in unity and maturity as his body, the church. (Ephesians 4:11-16)
Disciples
We aim to grow followers who put Jesus in the driving seat of their lives, making him second to nothing and no one (Matthew 4:20, 22). Our lifelong ambition is to learn and continue learning from Jesus Christ. We know we have not ‘made it’ but rather make it our concern both to speak the truth in love to one another and receive the truth in love from one another.
Jesus Christ
We follow Jesus Christ because of who He is. He is the Saviour (Jesus) and King (Christ). There is no one more powerful, more attractive, more compelling, more loving, more wise or more beneficial to give ourselves to than Him. He is supreme in the universe, in the Church and in our salvation (Colossians 1:15-23).
The way we seek to achieve our vision is...
- By the Word of God (preached & taught) (2 Cor 4:5, Col.3:16, 2 Tim. 3:15-16)
- In prayerful dependence on the Spirit of God (John 15:5, Acts 6:4)
- All and only to the glory of God (1 Tim. 6:14-16)
Our identity
We are Christians
We are people who believe that everything, (life, death and the universe!) revolves around Jesus Christ. We believe in Jesus Christ, in the sense of personally trusting Him as the one true ruler and rescuer of mankind. The Bible helpfully summarises Christian belief as saying, ‘Jesus Christ is Lord.’ Christians are thoroughly committed to who Jesus is, what he came to do and what it means to follow Him and they’re concerned for that in their own lives as well as those around them.
We are evangelical Christians
The adjective ‘evangelical’ has lots of bad press nowadays. It simply refers to those who believe that the Bible takes absolute first place in deciding all matters of belief and behaviour. As you’ll notice if you come along, the Bible therefore takes centre stage in all our main Sunday meetings. Many people make fun of the Bible, but as evangelical Christians, we take it seriously.
We are Anglican, evangelical Christians
We are part of the Church of England (Anglican) and within the diocese of Winchester. We hold to the Reformation teachings contained in the Anglican 39 Articles of Religion and The Book of Common Prayer.
Our beliefs
The Basis of the Faith of the Church is the fundamental truths of Christianity as revealed in Holy Scripture including:
1. The unity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in the Godhead.
2. The sovereignty of God in creation, revelation, redemption, and final judgement.
3. The divine inspiration and infallibility of Holy Scripture as originally given and its supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct.
4. The universal sinfulness and guilt of human nature since the Fall, rendering man subject the God’s wrath and condemnation.
5. The full deity of the Lord Jesus Christ as the incarnate Son of God, his virgin birth, and his real and sinless humanity; his death on the cross, his bodily resurrection and his present reign in heaven and earth.
6. Redemption from the guilt, penalty, and power of sin only though the sacrificial death once and for all time of our representative and substitute Jesus Christ, the only mediator between God and man.
7. Justification as God’s act of undeserved mercy in which the sinner is pardoned all his sins and accepted as righteous in God’s sight only because of the righteousness of Christ imputed to him, this justification being received by faith alone.
8. The need for the Holy Spirit to make the work of Christ effective to the individual sinner, granting him repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ.
9. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit in all those thus regenerated, producing in them an increasing likeness to Christ in character and behaviour, and empowering them from their witness in the world.
10. The only holy universal Church which is the Body of Christ to which all true believers belong.