God's
Humble
Family
Engaging Everyone
in
Multiplying Disciples
of Jesus
God's
Our vision is to be God’s humble family. This means:
God’s Word is Our Authority
- We want to listen to, believe, and do what the Bible tells us.
- We take it as our absolute authority - over both culture and tradition.
- We are always ready to be challenged again to better conform to it.
We Grow to be Like Him
- After God adopts us into His family, we are to become like Jesus, to His glory.
- We’re all still on a journey towards that. No-one has arrived – but we make progress together.
- We pursue transformation with the Spirit’s power, through the Word, in community.
We Live in Dependence
- Prayer reminds us of - and reflects - our dependency on Him in everything.
- God’s empowering Spirit alive within us is critical for our life and our mission.
- We’re committed to being open to God’s supernatural leading.
Humble
Our vision is to be God’s humble family. This means:
We’re Theologically Generous
- We have clear convictions - but hold them humbly in the light of our own fallenness and limitations, and in the light of the diversity of the wider and historic Church.
- Within our church, we keep secondary matters secondary for the sake of the gospel. We treat those holding different positions with gentleness and respect.
We’re Willing to Adapt
- We recognise our ideas and plans might not be best, or even right, so we hold lightly to them, humbly open to others’ insights, embracing improvements and correction.
- We are committed to “ends not means”: Committed to our goal – multiplying disciples – but humbly ready to adapt how we get there.
We Emphasise Teams
- We are team-led, each of our Elders humbly recognising they may be wrong or go off track.
- We are team-centred, humbly accepting that God has distributed the gifts required for His work among His family rather than giving them all to any one individual.
Family
Our vision is to be God’s humble family. This means:
We’re Welcoming
- We practice hospitality, generously prioritising guests in our gatherings and homes. We do this because we were once the stranger, and God welcomed us into his family.
- We make room to welcome and integrate members of God’s family arriving at our church.
We’re Diverse - yet United
- God has brought very different people together in our church but we have one Father - so we’re one family.
- We strive for unity, recognising it can be uncomfortable to be with people who do things differently, like different things, or think different ways.
- We celebrate the beauty and richness that flows out of diversity – unity not uniformity.
We're Connected
- At our size, you can’t know, and be known, by everyone - but each of us should have some deep connections in the family. We prioritise and create opportunities for this.
- Deep connections grow out of being honest when life is going well and when it isn’t so we strive for a church family where we are real with one another.
Deep connection includes supporting our church family practically and pastorally.
Engaging Everyone
By engaging everyone, we mean:
We maximise participation in church life
- We want everyone to play an active part in church - because this has the power to transform our relationship with church.
- Participation transforms Sunday from just a “show” we watch into a family gathering where everyone has an active part to play.
- Participation outside of Sundays reminds us church is a family we’re part of all week. It helps us feel, and be, connected. It makes this our church, together.
We maximise participation in God’s mission
- Jesus has commanded every one of us to make disciples (Mt 28:19-20) but many of us struggle to know how to go about this in real life - or struggle to do what we know.
- We aim to equip everyone to step out in everyday ways that ordinary people can manage – then challenge and support one another to obey Jesus.
We include our next generation
- We treasure children and youth being active participants in church life. This recognises their gifts, and yields ownership and connection.
- We recognise our next generation also share Jesus’ call to make disciples so we equip, challenge and support them in age-appropriate ways.
In Multiplying Disciples of Jesus
Hope City is all about multiplying for God’s glory:
Multiplying Disciples
- This is our “bottom line,” the key thing that matters most: seeing more people following Jesus for God’s glory. Like Paul, we want to “win as many as possible.” (1 Cor 9:19)
- We talk about multiplying disciples because Jesus’ call, and our hope, is to make disciples who will make disciples.
Multiplying Leaders
- As we grow, we believe the key constraint on multiplication will be Godly leaders who can mobilise God’s church into God’s mission for God’s glory.
- As a result, we place a special focus on multiplying leaders of all kinds.
Multiplying Churches
- It will take many faithful and fruitful churches to reach our city so we’re committed to cheering on and generously working with other churches.
- We hope to add to this by planting ourselves, and talk about multiplying churches as our aim is to plant churches which will plant churches.