At Twynham Church, we believe that the values of the church are paramount. More important than our vision or our mission statement. They show us the kind of church we are to be as we seek to meet our vision and mission statement.
They consist of four fundamental values that need to shape everything we do as a church.
1 We are to be Family and Community
Being family and community is central to our existence as a church and must remain in focus whether we are a church of 100 or a church of 10,000. Our church is a church that deals in relationships, not business strategies for growth. If people cannot plug into the life of the church, we cannot be family or community. Whether people are Christians yet or not and whatever their background or struggles we want people to be welcome and capable of making a faith journey with us. Just as Jesus called his community together so we look to do the same, to care for, encourage and help each other on the journey we call discipleship.
2 We are to be Wholehearted in Our Worship
We believe that as a church community we are called to be in a dynamic living relationship with the Lord Jesus and that means our focus should be on him.
This is best carried out through wholehearted spiritual worship. When we put Jesus at the centre, we are making space for him to work both in us and through us.
Worship of course is not just singing, part of our worship may be a reflection on a thought or word or even silence, but we have found that the best way to worship is through singing songs to and about Jesus. We have found that being in a place of worship will often enable the work of God in people’s lives as when Jesus turns up (as in the New Testament) amazing things happen. Worship will be part of our meeting together, but it should also be part of each person’s personal devotion.
Whilst CDs and even cassette tapes may still be relevant for some, we also have a Spotify playlist which is available to all. In your Spotify app just search for ‘Twynham Church’ and click the church logo.
3 The Bible is Central
Everything we do as a church, from belief to social action has to pass through the filter of God’s Word, the Bible. We believe that the Bible (Old and New Testament) is the clearest view we can have of God’s power, personality, character, and nature. The Bible is also the clearest indicator of how we should live our lives and lead our community, our families, relationships, businesses and interactions with the world. Our intention is to properly understand and apply the Bible to these areas every day.
4 We are to be Relevant in our Outreach
In a rapidly shifting culture, we believe that being relevant in our outreach is vital to the future growth of the church. Being the kind of church that attracts Christians is OK but to make a difference in the world we should be able to explain our faith in a way that people can understand and accept.
This means being careful to listen and hear where people are, being careful to place family and community in the midst of our outreach. We need to be inclusive, gentle, kind and patient. To be relevant in our outreach means asking people to journey with us rather than to just make a decision or be ‘converted’.
In the same way Jesus called ordinary people to follow and it was sometimes years before they made a declaration of their faith. We also need to be mindful of our language, that words mean different things to people, or may mean little or nothing at all. Other words may be inflammatory or suggest that the church is uncaring or manipulative. We have to be careful to bring a positive message of hope whilst staying true to the Gospel.
5 We are to be Led by the Spirit of God
We believe it is vital that our faith is not just a philosophy for living better lives or just being good. We are called to be priests and to minister to the world with more than just the gifts we have naturally (important as they are). We are called to partner with God himself and in doing so we need to listen to the Spirit of God and act in his strength to help change the world. The importance of the world seeing God at work through the ordinary people of the church is vital if we are to see change or revival in our nation.
Being led by the Spirit of God is connected to our relationship with God, our need to be open and actively seeking his Spirit to enable His church to work with the authority and power that we need to help people, see people healed and set free.
All Christians have the Spirit of God and the more we move in step with the Spirit of God the more we will want Him. This we believe will release the gift of the Holy Spirit in increasing ways. We long for these things at Twynham.
As with all churches and Christians we are not perfect, but in seeking to implement these values we hope we can shine a brighter light in our community and world than we could without them.