During the 2013-2015 ministerial vacancy, the church went through a re:focus programme and as part of that we had an away day hosted at Baptist House, headquarters of the Baptist Union of Great Britain and BMS World Mission in Didcot, Oxfordshire. During the day, we agreed on seven key values that are a good summary of the sort of church ABC should aim to be. They are listed below.
Abingdon Baptist Church is seeking to…
be a church that is centred on Jesus, where we see Jesus on the move
- Through biblical teaching
- Through prayer
- Through being Spirit led
- Through having an expectancy that we will hear Jesus
- Through fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer of faith – Hebrews 12:2
embrace the God-given mission in its ministry to reach out to the lonely, the lost and the least, with the intention of making new disciples of Jesus
- Through and by our Ministries
- Through intentionally living and speaking gospel values
be united in heart and the saving message of the Good News of Jesus Christ, where every person is accepted and matters
turn our everyday meeting places into crossing places
- Through living as whole-life disciples making Jesus known
- Through seeking to bring new people to Christ
- Through equipping people for the work place
- Helping people share faith
- Helping people live out the gospel
become a worshipping community
- We come seeking God, open to receiving from Him
- We offer our whole lives
- We seek to be whole hearted in our corporate worship
- We come expecting to give God our best
- Experiencing His grace
- Through using each person’s gifts
develop our pastoral care in meeting everyone’s needs and encouraging them as disciples
- Through a focus on discipleship and nurture
- Through everyone being involved – care for one another by one another
- Through a focus on spiritual needs, as well as physical
- Through turning away from discouragement or criticism to developing a culture of encouragement – building up the body
- Through creating a ministry of prayer and healing
- Through letting the scriptures speak into our daily living
- Through encouraging people’s personal stories to be heard
grow deeper as a Christ-centred community, in a way which will glorify Him
- Through behaving in the light of the values he taught us
- Through living in the light of the “one another” teaching
- Through developing the fruit of the Spirit – Galations 5:22
- Through focusing on what is excellent – Phillipians 4:8
- Through being challenged to live and grow as disciples