St. Marks Church, Gillingham

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St. Marks Church, Gillingham A response to our
Vision Weekend
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Starting where we were
Sharing in the love of Jesus Christ at home and
abroad.
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St. Marks Church Values
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The BIG picture
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Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,
baptising them in the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them
to obey everything I have commanded you. Matthew
28 19-20, The Great Commission
It is necessary for the church to rethink its
stance entirely and to become a missionary church
within the West. Martin Robinson quoted in The
Shaping of Things to Come, Frost Hirsch, 2004
There is or there ought to be a huge impatience
about mission because we really want to see
Jesus lifted high. We really want the
encounter to happen because it is the most
significant and the most life-giving and
transfiguring reality that there could
conceivably be in this world or the world to
come. Absolutely central, an impatience about
getting people to share that joy and that vision
is a perfectly proper impatience. We ought to be
boiling with impatience. Archbishop Rowan
Williams, Keynote address at the Mission Shaped
Church Conference, June 2004
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The Trinity value
The incarnational value
The transformational value
The discipling value
The relational value
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Our church has worship at its heart. To love and
know God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit is our
chief inspiration and primary purpose. This
provides us with the right perspective. All of
our life and activity is rooted in prayer. We
are committed to seeking Gods will for our
church and our lives.
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Our church seeks to shape itself in relation to
the place and culture we are in. We want to
communicate relevantly with the culture we are
in. We desire to make Jesus present in this
place and to be responsive to the activity of the
Spirit in this community. Our church is shaped
for our community not for the preferences of our
members.
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Our church exists for the transformation of the
community that it serves, through the power of
the gospel and the Holy Spirit. Our goal is the
Kingdom of God and for this church to be a sign
of Gods Kingdom in this place. We are concerned
for and act on behalf of our community.
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Our church is active in calling people to faith
in Jesus Christ and is equally committed to
developing a distinctive Christian lifestyle in
those who respond to that call. That way of life
will be relevant to local culture whilst being
counter-cultural in living out gospel values.
God given gifts will be identified and nurtured,
vocations encouraged and pursued and potential
leaders invested in. Individuals will be
transformed.
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Our church is a place where a community of faith
is being formed. Our church is characterised by
warmth, welcome, friendship and hospitality. We
encourage genuine contacts that go beyond the
Sunday encounter. We want to be in the business
of relationship, of knowing and being known. Our
church is a place where people feel they belong.
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Where next?
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Where next?
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Where next?
YOU!
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Taking us to
A Mission Shaped Church