What makes St Barnabas distinctive?
The following values are aspirations for our life together as a church. They don’t describe us perfectly but they’re what we are growing into.
Shaped by the Bible
We want our lives and our life together to be formed and shaped by the Bible story. We believe the Bible to be the reliable, authoritative and sufficient word of God, and are therefore committed to good Bible learning.
Everyday gospeling
We are committed to filling ordinary life with gospel intentionality. We believe that discipleship and evangelism take place in the everyday stuff of life (doing the dishes, going for a walk, gardening together...). Therefore, we want to grow in our knowledge of the gospel and our ability to speak its truth whenever we have opportunity.
Gospel Communities are important to church life
Our Sunday gatherings are really important but they are not sufficient in and of themselves. Gospel Communities are an effective context in which we live out our identity as God's Family of Servant Missionaries and fulfil our call to make disciples. As we build relationships with people and share the gospel message, we look for ways to introduce them to the Christian community. We want people to experience church as a loving community more than a meeting they attend or a place they enter.
Communities of grace
We are committed to growing a culture of honest confession and repentance. We reject self-righteousness and spiritual pretence and want to be defined by a humble confidence in Christ. We are committed to bearing with one another in love and not letting conflict continue unresolved. We want to offer a sense of belonging to broken people and to make church accessible to unbelievers.
Prayer as a missionary activity
Recognising that God is the primary agent and orchestrator of mission, we view prayer as an essential missionary activity. We want prayer to be both a regular community discipline, and an impromptu response to needs and opportunities. We will not rob God of his glory by boasting of our achievements.
Growing churches by starting churches
We want a simple model of church that is reproducible so that multiplication can take place. We are committed to starting new Gospel Communities connected together by Sunday gatherings. The Gospel Communities will have their own shared leadership but will be formed with common values, identities and have oversight by the pastor.