Our Vision: Growing in faith, love and mission.
Our Mission:
To glorify God and fulfill God’s purposes by: bringing people to faith in Christ; deepening our discipleship; being equipped for ministry and mission in the name of Christ.
Our Values:
We are a welcoming Church family that gathers for vibrant and joyful worship, studying God’s word, prayer, and community life in which we experience support and a sense of belonging as we seek to live out our Christian faith in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Our Mission:
To glorify God and fulfill God’s purposes by: bringing people to faith in Christ; deepening our discipleship; being equipped for ministry and mission in the name of Christ.
Our Values:
We are a welcoming Church family that gathers for vibrant and joyful worship, studying God’s word, prayer, and community life in which we experience support and a sense of belonging as we seek to live out our Christian faith in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Growing in faith, love and mission
Where are we going?
It’s a lovely sight, the yachts moored in the still water down at Gulf Harbour. Many of them will spend the greater part of their ‘lives’ there. But is that what they were built for? No, of course not. They were built to sail, to go somewhere. And it is the same with the Church. We are brought together and formed into a local Church for a purpose. The analogy of a ship for the Church is very old - let’s explore some aspects of it.
Helmsman
A ship needs someone to steer her or she will go nowhere. The helmsman must balance the forces acting on the vessel so it goes in the desired direction. There is the wind on the sails, the stabilising of the keel together with effect of currents. In spiritual terms the wind of the Holy Spirit empowers us while the Word of God steadies us. In the list of gifts in 1 Cor 12:28, Paul refers to the gift of administration or leadership. The Greek word literally means “the skill with which a helmsman guides a ship.” We need that leadership of sensing what God is doing and setting the sails and rudder to go with him. I understand that to be my role with advice and prayer from others.
Recruitment
Then a ship needs a crew. They need to be recruited. Our various outreach programmes fit in here - Alpha, mainly music etc.
Watchkeeping
When the ship slips its moorings and heads out to sea, some experienced sailors have to provide the skills while the others learn. Many roles are already being filled and filled competently here at St Stephens. However, there is the need every so often to adjust various functions so that we might excel in what we do. Therefore, we organise some training and encouragement sessions every so often for servers & chalice bearers, readers, intercessors, musicians and pastoral carers.
Basic Training
With a new captain or crew there is the need for a shake-down voyage. The crew need to learn skills, to develop as a team, to form trust and be bound together as a group. This takes time in any setting, but for Christians there is an essential development - learning who we are in Christ. Some people get saved but don’t understand deep down what that has done for them. After the introduction that Alpha provides we run the course Live the Life about every second year to establish those facts but also help deal with hindrances to living the Christian life - a sort of spiritual warrant of fitness.
Specialist Duties
While some sailors continue to fulfil essential deck duties, others learn specialities. We all have areas where we have particular skills, talents and gifts to offer. We have explored our particular giftings and need to see how best to put them to use.
Such a programme would then result in some areas of specialist training:
You may have guessed that this naval metaphor is somewhat influenced by Hornblower, Bolitho and other naval stories. Once the crew is trained, it is ready to do the job. Often a cutter would be sent out for a raid. Perhaps the equivalent is our sending out teams to other churches for faith-sharing weekends, healing conferences, running Alpha weekends etc. These are tremendous opportunities to help others but also to see God at work and learn that he does want to work with and through you.
Fleet Exercises
Naval vessels not only train alone but also with others. Perhaps the equivalent of fleet exercises is going to events like New Wine Conferences when we learn with Christians from other churches - very stimulating and enjoyable and well-worth going.
We cannot do it all at once and there may be the need to make adjustments as we go. Nonetheless, there will be areas of relevance and interest for all of us here.
I look forward to our journey together propelled by the wind of the Spirit.
In Him,
Ian
Helmsman
A ship needs someone to steer her or she will go nowhere. The helmsman must balance the forces acting on the vessel so it goes in the desired direction. There is the wind on the sails, the stabilising of the keel together with effect of currents. In spiritual terms the wind of the Holy Spirit empowers us while the Word of God steadies us. In the list of gifts in 1 Cor 12:28, Paul refers to the gift of administration or leadership. The Greek word literally means “the skill with which a helmsman guides a ship.” We need that leadership of sensing what God is doing and setting the sails and rudder to go with him. I understand that to be my role with advice and prayer from others.
Recruitment
Then a ship needs a crew. They need to be recruited. Our various outreach programmes fit in here - Alpha, mainly music etc.
Watchkeeping
When the ship slips its moorings and heads out to sea, some experienced sailors have to provide the skills while the others learn. Many roles are already being filled and filled competently here at St Stephens. However, there is the need every so often to adjust various functions so that we might excel in what we do. Therefore, we organise some training and encouragement sessions every so often for servers & chalice bearers, readers, intercessors, musicians and pastoral carers.
Basic Training
With a new captain or crew there is the need for a shake-down voyage. The crew need to learn skills, to develop as a team, to form trust and be bound together as a group. This takes time in any setting, but for Christians there is an essential development - learning who we are in Christ. Some people get saved but don’t understand deep down what that has done for them. After the introduction that Alpha provides we run the course Live the Life about every second year to establish those facts but also help deal with hindrances to living the Christian life - a sort of spiritual warrant of fitness.
Specialist Duties
While some sailors continue to fulfil essential deck duties, others learn specialities. We all have areas where we have particular skills, talents and gifts to offer. We have explored our particular giftings and need to see how best to put them to use.
Such a programme would then result in some areas of specialist training:
- a preaching course
- training the healing team (as we have done for seven churches already),
- and spiritual gifts - teaching, training, practising and growing in confidence.
You may have guessed that this naval metaphor is somewhat influenced by Hornblower, Bolitho and other naval stories. Once the crew is trained, it is ready to do the job. Often a cutter would be sent out for a raid. Perhaps the equivalent is our sending out teams to other churches for faith-sharing weekends, healing conferences, running Alpha weekends etc. These are tremendous opportunities to help others but also to see God at work and learn that he does want to work with and through you.
Fleet Exercises
Naval vessels not only train alone but also with others. Perhaps the equivalent of fleet exercises is going to events like New Wine Conferences when we learn with Christians from other churches - very stimulating and enjoyable and well-worth going.
We cannot do it all at once and there may be the need to make adjustments as we go. Nonetheless, there will be areas of relevance and interest for all of us here.
I look forward to our journey together propelled by the wind of the Spirit.
In Him,
Ian