This is not just a slogan. It draws attention to the fact that we are " a people ". That means we are a Church. We believe that God has chosen to work through the Church in all generations. That the Church is the Body of Christ and destined to be His Bride. That the crowning glory of Jesus is being " Head of the Church " . We therefore believe in the importance of local Church, and of those Churches sharing in an apostolic and prophetic vision. We find practical expression of that in Newfrontiers.
It is also a statement of what we are called to be, and how we move towards that calling. We will achieve nothing by determination; we will only fulfil God's purpose for us by His grace.
In practice this means three things:
We are dependant in everything on what God gives. It is His grace and His grace only that has saved us and equips us to serve Him; our very dependence on Him glorifies Him.
We are called share His love. We seek to do this by sharing the good news of Jesus in every way we can, and by serving the local community in the name of Jesus. We are looking for ways in which we can care for the lonely, and poor, both children and adults, although we are especially conscious that God has spoken to us prophetically about the needs of children.
We also seek to share this love with each other. The focus of our life together is in Life Groups, which are small groups that meet in homes each week. There we care for one another and express our fellowship together, but also seek reach out to others and to provide a welcoming place for all sorts of people. We are not a " Goodmayes-only " Church but one that seeks to meet and bring the good news about Jesus to people across the boroughs of Redbridge and Barking and Dagenham, Havering and further field.
But our vision is not only local. We believe we have a call to work with the wider family of Newfrontiers to see new Churches planted throughout the United Kingdom and the world. Especially we have significant links with a number of Churches in Ukraine and Latvia.
In order to achieve this vision we place great emphasis on training and developing leadership and on teaching the Bible. This produces a group of people who are equipped and ready to serve God.
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