As a church we see and understand our vision as simply being what we’re all about. It’s what propels us forward and what is at the heart of our life together.
For us, three words from a verse in the Bible (Isaiah 61:4) are central to this. These 3 words are…
REBUILD | RESTORE | RENEW
…so that as a church what we’re about is simply playing our part in helping to rebuild lives, restore hope and renew all things.
” Rebuilding lives, restoring hope, renewing all things.”
Rebuilding lives
Our desire is to demonstrate and display God’s heart, being the welcoming hands and feet of Jesus in the local community and beyond. In practice, this means we believe God is in the business of rebuilding people’s lives! He is able – by his love and power – to take what is broken, empty or simply just stuck and bring healing, wholeness and freedom.
In Jesus Christ, we believe therefore that God has poured his love and power into our hearts. As his followers, our desire is to be channels of this love and power to everyone we encounter, everywhere, each and every day.
Restoring hope
As God rebuilds lives, what we’ve discovered is that he doesn’t just stop there!
In the process, he also gives and restores hope … real and lasting hope, not based on our circumstances or on what’s happening in the world around us, but centred instead on the person of Jesus Christ. In Jesus Christ, his Son, God didn’t ignore the mess of this world, but entered into it, embracing our humanity and bringing restoration and hope to all who truly encountered and engaged with him.
We see this in the way Jesus received and accepted, as well as loved and served people unconditionally. It’s also what we see supremely at the cross and in the resurrection as Jesus died and rose again to restore people back to relationship with God, giving them new birth into a living hope as a result.
Renewing all things
God restoring hope and rebuilding people’s lives is not the end of the story; it’s actually just the beginning!
According to the Bible, the story of the world is essentially one of God renewing all things. As far as we are able, individually and collectively, with the resources God has entrusted to us, we want to play our part in this, both in people’s lives and in the places God connects us to. We believe that every person and place has so much potential and beauty that we want to see this potential and beauty released, so that individuals and communities flourish and are empowered to fulfil the destiny God has for them.