Journeying Together - A Vision for Transforming Communities

Our Journeying Together Programme has helped us to engage in the act of listening to God, to groups in the church and to groups beyond the church. We are discerning together as a body where He is leading.

We have a rich heritage in Ashtead, of both church community life and of building bridges into the wider community. As a Church we are seeking to build on that good work and go deeper as God leads.

So what have we discovered?

God is clearly and simply leading us out into the community of Ashtead and beyond. As He transforms individuals, so the church community is transformed and God calls us out to be the fragrance of Christ as transforming agents in the communities in which he has placed us.

We go not as finished works but as clay in the potter’s hands. As we explore this vision together let us begin with God and with His call in mind.

Transformed in Community – Knowing Christ

God is the initiator, “we love because He first loved us”. As we are drawn into the community of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we are increasingly transfomed to reflect God’s glory. Worship, prayer, teaching and small groups are therefore vital as they provide environments to encounter the transforming God. He joins us together as one body so that, with us, He can transform the church community and beyond. “It’s not that the church of God has a mission in the world, but rather that the God of mission has a church in the world.” (Mission Shaped Church)

Transformed Community – For Christ

As a church community we seek to become all that God would have us be, becoming a transformed community that can embrace the hurting and welcome the broken, for that is what we are.

By our actions, as well as by our words, we will lovingly demonstrate and facilitate the care and growth of that community. But our actions will also intentionally nurture and equip members of Christ’s Body, releasing them for works of service, both within the church and beyond. As the church community becomes shaped by Christ, so we can resource His mission to be transforming communities.

Transforming Communities – Making Christ Known

In Ashtead God has graciously blessed us with an abundance of good people, good things and a rich heritage. Now He is renewing His call on us to be disciples who transform the communities in which we live and work. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, we are to be Christ's hands, feet and lips to a hurting and broken world.

As Jesus quotes in Luke 4, "the Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to..." and here’s where we play our part. Bringing good news to the poor, proclaiming freedom, healing, releasing and proclaiming the year of the Lord’s favour.

God’s mission to the world included us; our mission includes Ashtead, the nation and the world, transforming communities for Christ with every action, every resource, and every person working together for His kingdom to come.

“Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.” Hebrews 12:1-2