Vision and Values
2025 Vision
“To make Jesus known through word and worship, and faith in action.”
Introduction:
Over the next five years, the church will be going through several notable changes, partly in response to growing relationships and partly because of accelerated changes brought on by the COVID 19 pandemic. It has been said that we are entering a new era, and not just a new season. After a year of lockdown and still unable to meet together without some restrictions, and no clear guidance about what future restrictions might be, or mean for the future of our planet, vision has never been more difficult to formulate. However, it has been written – “the opposite of knowledge is not always ignorance, it can be wonder, mystery, possibility.
Transformation comes when we step into the uncertainty that requires faith. This includes relationship with God, putting faith into action and making sure that our uncertainties about the ‘new normal’ become our possibilities of tomorrow. We must transform the way that we serve God, minister to one another and demonstrate faith in action to our community. Our message – the gospel – remains the same, but the way we communicate it must change.
Christianity is all about transformation: From unbelief to faith, from sinner to saint. The heart of God is to see us renewed, transformed and restored. These are all about personal change, to our relationship with God and our character and soul as we live out our transformed values and grow the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
Throughout the Bible the context in which people lived was also constantly transforming from the garden of creation to the world of paradise lost; from Ur through Canaan into Egypt, and slavery to nationhood in the Promised Land. In the New Testament, Jesus’ ministry radically transforms people’s destiny from lost to found, from death to life, from separation from God to being filled with the Holy Spirit. Some of these changes seemed natural and internal, some changes seemed to come from somebody else’s agenda. Yet God was, and is and will always be sovereign.
Change is inevitable, and there are some changes that happen to us, but there are also changes that happen through us. Imagine the Israelites feelings when they hear that God had said to Joshua “Be strong and courageous” (Joshua 1:9) or the readers of Romans 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” God says the same thing today.
Therefore our purpose remains the same:
Our Purpose
“The chief purpose of mankind is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever” (Isaiah 43v7). Jesus explains that this is best understood in terms of love: to love God and to love other people with all that we are and all that we have (Mark 12:29-31). This is passion. We therefore want to be a church of passion. To this end we will be a missional church, eagerly seeking to…
Win
To win the lost through evangelism.
Build
To build people through discipleship and fellowship.
Send
To enable and empower each of us to win people both locally and internationally.
Our Vision
“To make Jesus known through word and worship, and faith in action.”
Numbers 10:29 – “The Lord has promised good things. Come with us, and we will share our blessings with you.”
Strategies – to be reviewed for 2024 onwards
We have recently recognised and called both a new Senior Minister and Associate Minister, following a period of transition and the retirement of our previous Senior Minister.
We are therefore currently praying into the strategy for ministry in this new season.
The whole church fellowship will be involved inthis process and when finalised, a fresh page will be uploaded here.
Our Values
Jesus first!
We’ll put Jesus first! Christ is central to everything that we are, and the Bible will inform everything we do. Therefore, we will present Christian faith in relevant ways to all.
Other people second!
We’ll put people second only to him! We will be a church where every person is listened to, valued and cared for spiritually, emotionally and physically
Ourselves third!
We’ll put ourselves third! We will demonstrate sacrificial love for God and one another.
Worship
We’ll worship with integrity. We will engage in authentic worship, recognising that worship is more than an event in a service, it is a lifestyle that honours God in relationship with Him.
Prayer
We’ll pray faithfully. In our lives we will be faithful and concerned in prayer, regularly, privately and corporately.
Generosity
We’ll be Generous. We will be generous in faith and in community, with our time, finances, gifts and talents. We will manage our finances and personal resources according to Biblical principles in order to empower the church and enhance the Kingdom of God
Servants
We’ll be servants. We will stimulate holistic Christian service to God through our regard for one another both within and without TCC.
Releasing
We’ll enable one another. We will identify and develop talents, gifts and abilities and release people appropriately. People will be able to know and achieve their full potential in Christ.
Discipleship
We’ll encourage learning and growing in discipleship. We will help people grow in biblical knowledge, understanding and application, showing integrity in all aspects of our lives.
Value people
We’ll always value people. We will reach people outside of the Christian faith through love and authentic personal faith, personal relationships, public service, care for the poor and oppressed, through personal, local and global evangelism
Some things have changed, some things remain. There is need for:
- People who care for others; councillors, mentors, Life Group and community leaders.
- Prophets and Intercessors who understand God’s heart, the vision, the community and the times in which we live.
- Teachers and Evangelists who will light fires of God’s gospel in people’s hearts.
- A place of refuge, where people can come to find peace and sanctuary.
- A ‘missional’ mind-set: We will be an evangelistic community, who engage with the community where we live and spread the gospel in every circumstance of life.
- We will continue to recognise that evangelism begins with church families (Jerusalem), local community (Judea), Essex (Samaria) and the world (ends of the earth).
- We will continue to support evangelistic teams both at home and abroad.
- We will continue to strengthen evangelism/outreach from pre-school age groups to the elderly community.
- We will support national and international enterprises with a biblical, Christian foundation.
- We will support one another through our Life Groups and various pastoral ministries.
- We will encourage all those coming into the Christian Family here at TCC, to join fully in the life of the Church, through membership, giving and use of their life skills to achieve the vision.