Over the last few months our church leadership team has worked together to seek God’s guidance and will for our parish.  After a fair bit of talking and praying we’re now in a position where we’re able to articulate what our parish vision and mission is in the form of two statements:

Vision Statement – To be a vibrant, life-changing, Christ-centred community

Mission Statement – Helping people to meet God, make friends, and grow in faith

Mission should be at the heart of everything we do.  So to help us understand what this means in practice we might explain our mission statement like this:

Meeting God:

At St Paul’s our mission is to always help others, wherever we may find them, to meet the God of the Bible and bring them to a full knowledge of his saving grace in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. We realise that we cannot do this on our own or in our own strength, but only through the transforming power of God’s Holy Spirit working in our lives.

Making Friends:

In doing this together, we are building a vibrant community of believers, linked in genuine love and fellowship, with Jesus Christ at the centre of all we do.

Growing in Faith:

As we come to know what it means to call God our Father, and make friends with those who seek to know God, we are helping each other to grow in our faith.  This happens through faithful Bible teaching, in our services, in our homegroups and other activities, and as we care for and encourage each other in our daily lives.

The heart of mission, then, is to be focussed on drawing people we know from elsewhere into the faith we share in Jesus Christ.  Let 2018 be the year in which we put that mission into practice!