We aim to show Christ's love in our local surroundings: friendship evangelism through who we are in our community; our love of Christ shown in our actions and in the words we tell. To embrace the community is to accept it for what it is, not what it was 50 years ago. It incorporates aspects of welcome, our attitudes, forgiveness, evangelism and the importance of membership to the body of Christ in the area.
It is the task of the church to encourage the maturation of fatih, emphasising this not just to those who are new but for all who are in the church. One sermon a week is not going to feed their souls to grow to maturity - bible study, prayer, fellowship services, pastoral care need to be incorporated. People will be allowed to grow and barriers to that should be removed. Support will come through other groups, such as nurture groups, marriage and baptism classes, discussion groups and prayer triplets.
We will seek to demonstrate God's love through discipleship: looking out and caring for others. We need to bear in mind that Christians are constantly under attack in their workplace, school and home from all angles, including spiritual attack. The church will actively encourage the use of the full armour of God (Ephesians:10-18), ensuring truthfulness, readiness, faithfulness, forgivefulness and ready use of the Word of God. Regular prayer and meeting together maintains the armour.
This means we will find out about people: find out what they are gifted in and steer them in that direction. It requires us to recognise gifts and ministries and release into service those who are called. Teaching them to teach others is a different task to teaching them to live a Christian life. We also seek to encourage people to see that their service could be within the community of the church, in the wider community of Leicest or in God's community worldwide. That service also includes supporting our missionaries and those called into ministry from our church in prayer and financially. It incorporates aspects of welcome, our attitudes, forgiveness, evangelism and the importance of membership to the body of Christ in the area.
All of the embracing, enabling, equipping and empowering is done to bring praise and glory to God. Worship in church on Sunday will be a summary of all the worship taking place on each day of the previous week, and is an expression of what the people of the church value as they live together. Each person, young or old, needs to be able to express their worship and sense the life of the Spirit in the gathering of the church community. Our hallmarks of worship are celebration, reverence, awe and humility. Our aim is to use the gifts of the whole community in expression of worship and exaltation!