Croxley Green Baptist Church

If people can't see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves; But when they attend to what he reveals, they are most blessed.
Proverbs 29.17, The Message

Why Vision?
The following is a summary of our church’s vision. We believe in holding to a vision because we believe that God wants us to grow and be more than we are today. We believe ultimately that this is God’s vision for us and we are excited about working with him and with one another to see it realised. We are constantly reviewing and re-visiting this vision because we know that we easily forget what is important and because we believe our experience along the way adds to our understanding of the way we should go.

Foundations:

Our vision is founded on the good news of Jesus Christ, whose life, death and resurrection are the means for the salvation of the world. We believe that we are called to invite people to share in this good news by turning to follow Jesus. We believe that we are called to show that the world is being saved by working together for peace and justice, by offering compassion and learning together to live in celebration of God, by being a community of hope.

Roots:

The vision we have is fundamentally to grow as disciples of Jesus. For us to bear fruit, we will need to be rooted and established in our love for him and his love for us. This will happen through concentrating of deepening relationships, by valuing people and not merely by increasing activity.

We are aware of hindrances to our growth:

1. Prayer…which we see as central to all we do- we would seek to grow in terms of being more open to offer and receive prayer- both within our meetings and in our lives wherever we are as we encounter people’s needs which might be met by the grace of God
2. Learning…where we would seek to be a church that knows God through his word and which is open to learning more, in order to live more faithfully.
3. Fellowship…where we would seek to practise the common life: sharing food, celebrating and mourning together, sharing our material possessions and learning increasingly to embrace our responsibilities for others in need in different parts of the world with whom we share a common humanity and a common Saviour and Lord.
4. ‘Missional’ Discipleship…we remember that ‘…all our actions must reveal the Kingdom of God in our fellowship and in the wider community’
5. Holy Spirit…remembering we are more than a human organisation, looking to move more boldly in the gifts that are poured out on the church and given people to live faithfully and powerfully for Jesus Christ.

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you,
you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
John 15.5

Our vision is founded on Christ, and grows out of our being rooted in him, but it also seeks to bear fruit. This is the vision of what our church will look like to those in our community who experience the fruit of our faith in our ministry…

• We are already a church serving the community in many ways- we will be a church which continually reviews the way we serve the community and looks to develop or prune on a regular basis…
• We will seek to build closer relationships with other churches also serving the community so as to maximize our impact.
• We will seek to equip people to be church wherever they are, offering training, prayer support and a strong sense of being ‘the branches representing the head office’ in whatever circumstance- we will be a church where all are missionaries
• We will look to provide practical support where need occurs in our community- through support for families, for those encountering debt and other issues
• We will develop a team of people, trained and equipped to run a variety of courses exploring Christian faith in different ways and seeking to lead people to Christ
• We will be a church open to hosting outside agencies in kingdom friendly activity in our buildings as our facilities and staffing permit; we will seek to be good hosts offering a warm and Christ-like environment
• We will look to deepen relationship with local schools, council and other public services working together where possible to bless the community.
• We will look towards possibilities for developing our buildings in line with this vision so that we are best able to be the church that God is calling us to be…