Pastor’s Thoughts – February 2017

Pastor's Thoughts

Dear friends,

I thought that it might be helpful to share with you some of the thoughts that I brought on our Covenant Sunday Service.

Our annual Covenant service on the second Sunday in January is a good time to remind ourselves what we are called to be and what we are called to do.

What is BSBC?

Vision is about what we want to be. Our vision is to become a community of believers living according to the Bible’s teaching so that Christ’s redemptive purposes can be accomplished in the world.

Mission is about what we want to do. Our mission is to enable people to become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Purposes are about how we mean to do these things. From Acts 2:42-47 we understand the purposes of the church to be:

  • Worship
  • Discipleship
  • Fellowship
  • Outreach
  • Service

Because these three ideas are not especially memorable we have summarised them in these three words:

Deeper – Closer – Wider

Our vision is to grow:

  • Deeper in our relationship with God
  • Closer in fellowship with one another
  • Wider in influence in our neighbourhoods

What are our priorities?

We have five priorities for 2017.

Building a purpose-driven church

In other words, continuing to live out the five purposes and ensuring that everything we do, we do for a purpose that helps us grow as individuals and as a church.

Phase Two of our development

We believe that we are called to stand in the gap and be there for others who are in need. For the marginalised, the forgotten, the lonely and the lost. Our plans for Phase Two are slowly taking shape but at their heart is this principle: transformation through Christ-centred community. What we offer may involve different programmes but this is to be a place where we draw people into relationship with Christ through the quality of the life that we share with each other and with Him.

Growing missionary disciples

We will be introducing ways in which mission becomes central to our discipleship. We will seek to encourage each other to grow in faith as we put our faith into action.

Rwanda

We will be seeking to set up arrangements for the successful establishment of a sustainable project to bless and encourage the ministry of L’Eglise Vivante; making the best use of the funds that we have been given and have set aside for this purpose.

Associate Minister

We will be seeking the appointment of an Associate Minister to join the ministry team with special responsibility for youth, young adults, safeguarding and development.

Please join me in praying for these priorities and in getting involved wherever you are able. Exciting things are happening among us and we give thanks to God for all his blessings to us.

Yours in Christ,
John