10 Statements that describe the type of church that we want to be.

1. That each individual would know Jesus personally; constantly growing in their understanding of Him and His heart for them and the people in their world. (There’s a difference between knowing about someone and actually knowing them. It was said of the Israelites that they knew the acts of God but Moses knew the ways of God. You can know someone by their actions but to really know them, you need to know what’s on their heart.)
2. That we would know how much we are loved by God and from a place of personal security, sacrificially love those who live in our world.
   (Paul prayed that the church at Ephesus would know and experience the love that God had for them. You can obey God because you’re afraid of going to hell or you can obey God because you know that you’re completely and utterly loved by him. Both will impact the way you live but more importantly how you treat others. If you’re afraid of hell you’ll treat others as though they have faults that need to be fixed. If you come from a place of love, you’ll treat others as potential brothers and sisters who will be part of your family.)
3. That we would empower (give people the belief) and equip (teach people practical skills) everyone to live lives that are pleasing to God without burning them out in pointless activity.
4. That we would be focused on the things that really matter to Jesus and that we would invest our corporate talent and treasure in those areas.
5. That we would learn how to better communicate God’s reality and love to a generation of people who have no knowledge of him. Starting from where they are, rather than from our religious framework and understanding of the world.
6. That we would be constantly growing in our faith, not afraid to grapple with the tension of not knowing, whilst we lovingly move toward an ever increasing understanding of who God is. Welcoming questions and not feeling the need to have all the answers. We’d rather have questions that we can’t answer than answers that we can’t question.
7. That we would bring peace, hope, love and reconciliation to the communities we are a part of. Treating everyone everywhere with the dignity and respect that God so freely gives to all of us.
8. That we would engage with our culture in a loving, kind and thought provoking way and in the process be known for fighting for the rights of those who have no voice, rather than our own.
9. That we would be committed to each other through the good times and the bad, and through our faithful and loving treatment of each other show the world the change that being a disciple of Jesus brings to our relationships.
10. That we would be healthy, growing and full of love. Bringing a taste of heaven to earth and bridging the gap between those already in the Kingdom and those yet to enter.