Our Vision

16
Our Vision vision, values and membership

description

Vision, Values and Membership

Transcript of Our Vision

Page 1: Our Vision

Our Visionvision, values and membership

Page 2: Our Vision

2 Our Vision

I am very excited about this new vision statement, as we look forward to where God is going to take us as a church in the next five years. God never called us to a dull life, and no doubt challenging times lie ahead, but I am full of faith that the next season of St Bs will be one of growth and development. This statement represents the refinement of many months’ work by a large number of people in leadership positions within St Barnabas. Even the process of compiling it has been inspiring, so I can’t wait to see what God actually does next.

Henry Kendal

St Barnabas is part of the wider Church of England and this vision statement has also been presented to our Bishop and Archdeacon

In 2010 we were given what we have come to see as a significant prophetic word for the church: “St Barnabas is called to be an Antioch church”. There are some striking similarities between us and the biblical church in Antioch. We are multicultural, we are called to faith-led risk-taking, we are a relatively large church with a vision for growth, we aspire to honour prophecy, and God has led us to become a sending church.

More and more we sense God showing us that we are to manifest these two aspects of being church: continuing to be attractional (come and see), hosting large inspirational meetings to which people are drawn and then subsequently encounter God in a fresh way; but also a missional church, sending out, not just the few

missionaries to the ends of the earth, but in some way all of us into our communities and networks to demonstrate God’s gospel of love to those around us.

We believe that our church should be a visionary community of love, fun and laughter. We are committed to seeing our lives transformed by an experience of the love of God, and then sharing all that we have received with a hurting world desperately in need of Jesus’ love. We are passionate about our faith, about the Bible and about God.

Our Vision is to become a community that transforms the lives of thousands of individuals and then moves outward to see the world changed for Christ.

The Visiontransforming lives • changing the world

Page 3: Our Vision

3Our Vision

Missional CommunitiesOne of the frontlines for realising our vision “transforming lives, changing the world” is through our Missional Communities. These groups meet on average twice a month and are engaged both in reaching out in a huge variety of ways to bring effective change to the world around us, and also in personal discipleship to transform the lives of their members.

For more details see website: www.stbarnabas.co.uk/missionalcommunities

transforming lives through: • Conversion

We long to lead as many people to faith in Christ as possible.

• The Holy Spirit We are utterly dependent on God to empower us with the Holy Spirit and transform our lives.

• The Bible – the Word of God The Bible has everything we need to discover the truth about God, us and the world. Through it we can hear God’s voice.

• Healing Life can be a bruising experience. Our vision is to enable people to be healed and have their lives transformed into Christ-likeness.

• Discipleship We are all life-long learners with the help of accountable relationships with those around us.

• Equipping We plan to equip and train our members in a whole range of ministry and life skills to be effective for the kingdom of God in our world.

• Engaging In order to relate to today’s society we need to keep ourselves relevant to an ever-changing world.

changing the world through:• God’s power

We want the power of God at work in us, by actively seeking to use the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

• Serving It is through serving our local communities that we express Jesus’ love amongst them.

• Reaching out Our vision is to reach across traditional geographic boundaries to a large part of North London.

• Resourcing We feel called to provide encouragement and resources to the wider Christian community.

• Planting From a strong central base, we plan regularly to plant new churches and congregations that will, in turn, reproduce themselves.

• Sending As our part of the Great Commission, our call is to send out workers into church leadership and into every corner of the world.

Page 4: Our Vision

4 Our Vision

Key StrategiesEach year we will set key strategies which we perceive as the most important ministry issues for St Barnabas for that year.

Apart from the business card reminders, we will give a full explanation of these on a separate sheet published each year.

Key Strategies

This year we will focus on:• Encouraging everyone in missional communities

• Preparing structures and finance for the future

• Drawing more of the church into discipleship and service

• Actively stopping, to stir and encourage prayer

• Developing our special needs ministry, in particular through

Our Place at St Bs

St Barnabas

Ken Livingstone, the first Mayor of London, once said: “if you want to change the world start with London”. As a suburban London church we believe that we are called to be not just a local parish church, but a large church that is reaching out in mission to a wide swathe of North London and beyond. The London Borough of Barnet has a population of over 300,000, almost all within a 10 minute drive of St Bs. We believe that this part of London needs a large church and that there are vast opportunities for growth.

Pick up the latest Key Strategies and Mission Aims cards from The Arch at the back of church

Page 5: Our Vision

5Our Vision

Mission Aims 2011-2016

God has called us to bea large missional church committed to:

• Love that is outward-focused, creating vibrant community

• Encountering God in intimacy and passion

• Discipleship that transforms and equips in community for mission

• Serving as a lifestyle for all our members

• Sending out people and resources, including planting churches

Mission AimsSt Barnabas

Love that is outward-focused, creating vibrant community Love must be at the heart of our community. It will be difficult to achieve a high level of cohesiveness in such a large group, but we believe it is by looking outwards that we will build the close bonds of love amongst us.

Encountering God in intimacy and passion Encountering the presence of God in worship and in prayer is an incredibly important part of our life as a church. It is in this place that we find healing and meaning for our lives. We aspire to: “Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour, serving the Lord” (Romans 12:11).

Discipleship that transforms and equips in community for mission Discipleship for us is a journey of personal transformation and preparation for mission. We want to do this at every level of church life from the children’s, youth and adult programmes to the Equip scheme and staff training.

Beneath our vision statement – transforming lives, changing the world – is this statement of what God has called us to be as a church. We have set these five year mission aims as a set of reminders of the main attributes we want to be espousing.

Serving as a lifestyle for all our membersJesus said “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve” (Mark 10:45). We call our main meetings services, because they are places to serve. We want to give everyone an opportunity to grow in living out Christ-like self-giving service.

Sending out people and resources, including planting churchesWe believe God has called us to be a sending church, looking to send and support more people out in mission. This includes looking for opportunities to plant churches and give away resources.

Pick up the latest Key Strategies and Mission Aims cards from The Arch at the back of church

Page 6: Our Vision

6 Our Vision

Love that is outward-focused creating vibrant community

Discipleship that transforms and equips in community for mission

Established host teams, hospitality teams and staffed The Arch for our Sunday welcome.

Publicly launched four Missional Communities.

Reached out into many networks in the area and become known as a church that actively serves the community.

Launched the Equip Trainee Worker Scheme with 11 Trainees.

Run a wide variety of youth groups to enable as many young people as possible to come into contact with the church, no matter what faith background.

Run bi-annual leaders’ weekends and an annual Welcome to Leadership day.

Identified the need for change to occur in our outward-focused Friday night kids group, to make a more vibrant community accessible to the majority of families.

Launched Impact – young leaders training once a month.

Create a pathway of easy and transparent access into the life and community of the church, having a fully worked strategy for welcome and integration, with teams to match.

See the Missional Communities fully established as the centre of the life of the church.

Move further out into the community via existing ministry and by helping to enable missional communities.

Consolidate the Equip Trainee Worker Scheme and explore external accreditation of the vocational elements of the programme.

Develop these groups, and their related cafés, to be a vehicle for young people to invite their friends and so build relationships with the team and other Christians.

Develop and deliver a leadership programme to equip people for leadership in the church and in the world.

Develop our community of volunteers for all our ministries.

Prioritise developing young people to become effective leaders in the whole of their life and in their area of ministry.

BY 2011 WE HAD:

BY 2011 WE HAD:

FIVE YEAR GOALS:

FIVE YEAR GOALS:

Goals and Objectives 2011-2016

Page 7: Our Vision

7Our Vision

Encountering God in intimacy and passion

Discipleship that transforms and equips in community for mission

Established a high level of excellence in our platform music.

Enabled and run a variety of prayer meetings.

Integrated prayer ministry into all our main services.

Nurtured a worshipping environment in Kids Church and among the youth, including seeking the presence of God and experimentation.

Establish intimate encounter with God as the central hallmark of our worship.

Actively stop, to stir and encourage prayer and seek the in-filling of the Holy Spirit.

Encourage new ways for people to step out in spiritual gifts, especially the prophetic.

Further invest in sung worship in kids and youth settings, and build up a worship team of young leaders.

BY 2011 WE HAD: FIVE YEAR GOALS:

Discipleship that transforms and

equips in community for mission

Page 8: Our Vision

8 Our Vision

Sending out people and resources, including church-planting

Sent out 25 mission partners – 17 abroad and 8 UK-based (although all but 2 of UK-based with strong focus overseas).

Planted 5 churches/away congregations/church-grafts in the past decade.

Influenced New Wine in its thinking about Urban Ministry and helped to start build new UPA national networking structures.

Given away resources to other churches for Under 5s ministry.

Build at least one major partnership project overseas with opportunity to send regular teams, including an annual men’s mission and links with our Kids Church.

Plant a church/congregation/graft every 2-3 years.

Host new UPA venue at New Wine summer conference. Host an annual UPA networking day. Host a UPA residential forum.

Support other churches’ development of children’s ministry.

BY 2011 WE HAD: FIVE YEAR GOALS:

Sending out people and resources

Page 9: Our Vision

9Our Vision

Serving as a lifestyle for all our members

Placed most of our members into teams. We already have a large volunteer team of leaders and helpers in a diverse group of ministries.

Begun thinking about an initiative where children and youth are given the chance to serve in the community.

Established key volunteers in strategic leadership positions.

Encouraged young leaders – all Year 5 and 6 children serve in various areas of the Kids Church service on Sunday.

Draw more of church into discipleship through service by an exhaustive integration programme for all our members, including creating opportunities for people to serve in existing ministries (eg Besom and Hope House) as well as in new emerging ministries.

Develop this ‘called-out’ ministry into practical expressions of mission in the community.

Continue to build leadership in depth by establishing core teams of volunteers within youth and kids departments who will hold an overview of the vision of the youth and children’s work.

Develop areas in which our children can serve within the Church, especially prayer ministry.

BY 2011 WE HAD: FIVE YEAR GOALS:

Preparing and adapting the infrastructure for “a large missional church”

Got church commissioners’ permission partially to demolish and redevelop the existing church.

Established September-August management accounts and set a cashflow policy.

Developed a good website.

Finance and build an entirely new church building and centre to provide for the ministry of St Barnabas for the next generation.

Structure our finances to cope with growth through broadening and strengthening our giving base, and building our cash reserves.

Use social media as a means of communicating with our members.

BY 2011 WE HAD: FIVE YEAR GOALS:

Page 10: Our Vision

10 Our Vision

One GodAt St Bs we do not have our own new statement of faith,

but we fully subscribe to the historic catholic creeds of the church (which can be viewed at www.london.anglican.org/Beliefs) that expound the truth that God is one revealed to us in three persons.

And we also agree with the statement of faith of the Evangelical Alliance (which can be viewed at www.eauk.org/about/basis-of-faith.cfm). These are the fundamentals of our faith which have been eloquently elucidated by others for us, whose tradition we share.

Two emphasesWe want to emphasise both word and spirit.

Jesus, when criticising the Sadducees, said “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God” (Matthew 22:29). Over the years we have seen a false dichotomy between those who think of themselves as evangelical (Bible) Christians and charismatic (spirit-filled) Christians. We see no conflict between these two but aim to emphasise both word and spirit fully.

We trust in the Bible as the word of God revealing the truth to us, so that we are not blown around by every new wind of teaching. It is important to us that we are made in God’s image, rather than God being made in our image, dreamed up from our own imagination. So, it is essential to have an objective benchmark of truth that remains unchanged and independent to the circumstances of the age in which we live.

We also know our inadequacy to live out the life God calls us to and so urgently pursue an outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit to empower us. We long to see all the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5) grow in our lives. And we also seek to experience the power of God through the operation of all the gifts of the Holy Spirit, both in our church meetings and in our daily lives.

Three orientations

Values

1 2What is important to us?

Page 11: Our Vision

11Our Vision

UP

IN OUT

Upwards towards GodThe first and greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength (Matthew 22:37). Our ministry to God is our highest calling. Each of us is called to a personal relationship with God as Father and our own personal devotions and our corporate worship should form the linchpins of our lives.

Inwards towards each otherThe new command that Jesus gave us is to love each other as he loved us (John 13:34). This is expressed in close, open and accountable relationships within our community as a church.

Outwards into the worldThe second great command of Jesus is to love our neighbours as ourselves (Matthew 22:39), and the final great commission of Jesus is to go into all the world (Matthew 28:19). As a church we long to be constantly going out both to serve our local community and to spread the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ across the globe.

Three orientationsWe understand that thechurch needs to be facing

in three directions at all times and these orientations are expressed in our mission aims:

3

Page 12: Our Vision

12 Our Vision

What belonging to St St Barnabas meansAt St Bs we welcome all who want to make the journey of discovering God in their lives. We enjoy informal non-hierarchical structures that are inclusive and welcoming. As such we do not have a strict membership roll (we of course do have a formal electoral roll but this does not limit what anyone can partake of in the church). Instead we have articulated four marks of membership that describe what it means to be fully part of St Bs.

Four Marks of Membership:

ServingWe believe in the church, not as an institution, but a community, a family, a body, where everyone has an essential part to play. God gives each of us gifts and talents to serve one another and our wider community. And it is through serving that we grow more like Jesus and share his love with others. So we ask all our members to commit to serving in a ministry of St Barnabas.

GivingThe giving of our money is the most tangible evidence of our commitment. If we think of ourselves as a member of St Barnabas we will consider it an obligation and a joy to contribute financially to our shared ministry and mission. So we ask all our members to commit to regular, planned, faithful and generous giving to St Barnabas.

Belonging To grow in our faith we need to live in open and accountable relationships. This level of commitment to each other cannot practically be done in our corporate Sunday worship, but in a place where we can have close friendships. It is in this context that we learn to love each other, love God and grow in wholeness. So we ask all our members to commit to maintaining open and accountable relationships by joining a Missional Community.

1

3

2

412 Our Vision

WorshippingOur relationship with God is one of our highest values, but we pursue this not on our own but in community. At St Barnabas this means being committed to joining together in worship and study of the Word. So we ask all our members to commit to making Sunday worship at St Barnabas a priority in their lives.

Page 13: Our Vision

13Our Vision

What are our hopes for all our members?The four marks of membership of course account for what our involvement at church looks like. However we believe it is far more than that. Most of the really important things happen beneath the surface in our personal lives.

Four Attributes of Members:

1

3

2

4

Acknowledged Jesus Christ as their Lord and SaviourJesus said “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again” (John 3:3). So it follows that each of us needs to make a personal step of faith and be spiritually born through asking for the forgiveness of our sins and submitting to the Lordship of Christ over our lives. He then promises to fill us with his Holy Spirit to empower us to live for him.

Devoted to worship, prayer and reading the BibleOur faith is integral to our entire lives, not a mere leisure activity for Sundays. We choose to make it our ambition to reach out to God every day and allow his Word to mould our lives.

Committed to a journey of personal transformation Each of us has arrived at St Bs because in some way God is at work in our lives; we are on a journey. We long to walk that journey together. We desire to see personal transformation, healing and growth of each individual to become more like Jesus. And it is only when this happens that we start to fulfil the vision that we believe that God has given us.

Enthusiastic participant in the mission of Jesus Christ to the worldWe have been left on this earth for a purpose; Jesus has given us a commission to fulfil. We consider it our duty to play our part in the implementation of this God-given assignment to reach out to our lost world with the gospel.

Page 14: Our Vision

14 Our Vision

The Story so far:

1886St Barnabas church planted into a temporary mission hall in Gainsborough Road, Woodside Park.

1914The large new church building completed and consecrated by the Bishop of London near the new Northern Line station in anticipation of more housing being built in the area.

1940s – 70sPost-war trends in church-going and a general spiritual malaise affect St Barnabas and the church declines to the point of threatened closure.

1994The so-called “Toronto Blessing” hits St Barnabas with a powerful outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

1990sSt Barnabas’ first missionaries are sent out, partly in response to God’s call during the Toronto outpouring. This is the start of a missionary move of God at St Bs that would see many others being sent out.

1995Team of church-planters sent to Mill Hill East church.

2001John Coles becomes leader of New Wine and hands over de facto leadership of St Barnabas to Henry Kendal. Oakleigh Community Church is planted.

2002Continued growth results in the starting of a second main morning service. The bungalow next door to the church is bought.

2004The vision statement “Transforming lives • changing the world” is adopted.

2008A house is bought on Strawberry Vale and Helen Shannon (St Bs former Children’s Worker who is by that time training for ordination) moves in with her family.

2009All the offices at St Bs are refurbished and rearranged to accommodate the growing staff.

2010Equip Training Programme and School of Theology is started.

Page 15: Our Vision

15Our Vision

1982John Coles becomes Vicar aged 32 and seeks to bring the gospel message back to the centre of church life.

1984John comes into an experience of the Holy Spirit and starts to pray for key couples to join him to build the church.

1980sAfter initial sticky times, the church grows and experiences spiritual renewal.

1998The charity Hope House is founded.

1999Henry Kendal joins the church staff (first as Associate Vicar and later to become Vicar).

2000New temporary ‘classroom’ halls are built around the back of church.

2005The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams visits St Barnabas. The Youth Hall is built around the back of the church to accommodate a new vision for youth ministry.

2006Emmanuel Network Church is planted.

Henry Kendal is officially inducted as Vicar of St Barnabas.

2007A team is sent from St Bs to revitalise Golders Green Parish Church.

Brother Andrew’s visit to the church breaks attendance record.

2011Church@five is planted on Strawberry Vale. John and Anne Coles are sent out as church-planters.

Missional Communities are launched.

2012New five-year Mission Action Plan is launched.

The first Go Deeper weekend conference is held.

Page 16: Our Vision

St BarnabasHolden Road

Woodside ParkLondon

N12 7DN

Tel: 020 8343 5770Email: [email protected]

www.stbarnabas.co.uk

Our Vision Published April 2012