Basically, it’s all about Jesus. You may be a sceptic or just undecided about Jesus, so please be assured that we want you to feel completely at ease to come and gather with us and others who are working things out just like you. But if you need a primer, here’s the short story.
Born into a poor family in an obscure village, most onlookers could not have known how much he would change the world. But the story of Jesus begins much further back in the pages of the Hebrew Scriptures, the same scrolls he would have read in synagogue as a boy, that predict his arrival on planet earth to begin a revolution. It sounds like the stuff of comics and legends, but when you read the eye-witness testimonies of his friends and followers, the gospels, you know these are not myths invented by a strange sect. They have the ring of truth.
Jesus captivated and repulsed people. He performed miracles that drew crowds, then he offended them with brutal honesty and drove them away. He could have been forgotten in the annals of history as just another controversial preacher, were it not for one extraordinary event. After Jesus reached his gruesome death by execution, his followers were dejected. The light had gone out, it seemed, and all their hopes had crashed to the ground. But three days later he began appearing to them alive from the dead, and as a result he sparked the movement that has now claimed more followers than any other religion or philosophy. A movement that has shaped the history of the world.
In essence what we believe is this: that Jesus is the eternal Son of God, who was born as a man, to be hope and saviour. He was put to death in seeming defeat, but actually dying according to a greater plan that was designed to deal with the sickness of our sin. His resurrection from the dead marks his ultimate victory over death, and gives us the certain hope that we too can live with him forever.
While many think this is a story that lacks credibility, it has captivated hundreds of millions of people because of the compelling reality of the Bible as a book like no other, and the very real power of Jesus to work in your life today.
The Bible is massively diverse in style and content, but speaks with a single Voice on all kinds of issues that affect your everyday life. We make it our aim to wrestle with and understand the teachings of Jesus and of the Bible,
We welcome you to come along and find out more.
Gospel Centred. We aim to keeps the gospel message of Jesus at the centre of all our ministry, whether to believers or unbelievers. Belief in the gospel is the means by which we enter God's kingdom, marked outwardly by Water Baptism; but the good news of Jesus is also the means by which we make progress as his disciples, in his kingdom.
Disciple Making. Because Jesus himself made disciples and commissioned all believers to make disciples, our goal is for every believer to become a disciple-making disciple. We desire Godfirst Church to actively make disciple-making disciples who know, love and obey Jesus.
Spirit Empowered. We believe that Jesus followers should be in eager and intelligent pursuit of the presence, power, fruit and gifts of God's Spirit, as mentioned in the Bible. We believe that all believers should heed the Biblical call to be filled with the Spirit, and continued to be filled, throughout their lives.
Mission Focused. We are convinced that God intends churches to be outward-focused mission agencies (both locally and globally); and that he intends all believers to be fishers of men. We desire the Godfirst community to be on mission more broadly by way of society-serving initiatives and church planting.
Loving God. We centre ourselves on God. Loving God because he first loved us, we desire to know him in our worship, through the bible, and prayer. Passion fuels action.
Loving Each Other. We value loving, and authentic friendships, believing it's not really church if we are not really friends! Love permeates everything.
Loving our communities. We are caught up together, with all Jesus’ followers, on God’s radical mission to change lives and communities through the good news of Jesus. Disciple Making is our mandate.
Loving the Vulnerable. We embrace Jesus’ call to demonstrate empowering justice, mercy, love and compassion to the lonely, the lost, and the broken around us. People’s lives matter.
Loving the Nations. We welcome people from all backgrounds and desire to train and equip many people to see the nations of the world worship Jesus. Jesus will make all things new.
As contemporary evangelicals, we affirm modern statements such as the Evangelical Alliance statement of faith.
As part of the universal church, we also hold to the orthodox creeds (the Apostles’, Nicene-Constantinopolitan, Chalcedonian and Athanasian Creeds). As Protestant Christians, we affirm that justification is by faith alone, and stand in the tradition of Reformed churches - although we believe water baptism is only for believers, and in the continuing Gifts of the Holy Spirit.