We Are Kingsgate

Great Yarmouth, UK

Mission, Vision & Beliefs

Following Jesus Together

These three words sum up the wonderful and exciting adventure of what it means to be a Christian!

Following

Jesus gets to set the direction of travel for my life – he leads, we follow! (see Matt 4:18-20; Phil 1:19-26)

Jesus

The God-man, whose death on a Roman cross changed the world forever (see Gal 6:14), is the very centre of my affection. (see Matt 13:44-45; Matt 10:37)

Together

The Christian life is never meant to be something we do on our own (see 1 Cor 12; John 13:34). We’ve been called to live together in church communities which show through our lives and commitment to one another, the radical unifying power of the cross. (see Eph 2:11-22)

As a church, we’ve been praying, talking, preaching, and discussing how this universal reality of “Following Jesus Together” applies specifically to us as a local church here in Great Yarmouth. We’ve pulled together a mission and vision statement (see below) that we hope will help all of us understand what this is going to look like over the coming years:

Mission

This is the unchanging passion and mission of the church:

“WE EXIST TO MAKE MUCH OF JESUS”

“May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” Gal 6:14

“Life is wasted if we do not grasp the glory of the cross, cherish it for the treasure that it is, and cleave to it as the highest price of every pleasure and the deepest comfort in every pain. What was once foolishness to us – a crucified God – must become our wisdom and our power and our only boast in this world”
John Piper

To make much of Jesus is to see his work on the cross and to recognise that nothing else in all of history, and certainly nothing that I can muster, comes anywhere near deserving the fame and praise that he does! As a result, our aim is to help all of us to have one central and all-consuming passion – to glorify and exalt, to magnify and make much of Jesus in every nook and cranny of our lives!

Vision

This is the direction of travel for the next season:

Our vision is to raise a 300-strong church community, that is devoted to gospel-shaped:
Witness
Discipleship
Compassion

It is important that we note the phrase “gospel-shaped”. We’re looking for everything that we are and what we say and do, to be a pointer and reflection of the message of the cross (see 1 Cor 1:18-31). As a result, there may be some good things that we could do, but if it isn’t a stepping stone to people seeing and savouring the work of Jesus on the cross, we may choose not to do it, so that we can invest our time and energy into the things that are more gospel-shaped.

Witness

Together we will pursue the goal of every single person who lives in the borough of Great Yarmouth knowing for themselves that Jesus changes lives.

Discipleship

Together we will encourage and challenge each other to allow the gospel to shape and conform every aspect of our lives into the likeness of Christ.

Compassion

Together we will pursue the power and presence of Christ to change the brokenness and pain we see around us. This will be through prayer and pastoral care and social action.

You can also find a PDF version of the Mission & Vision here

Our Beliefs

What we believe shapes who we are as a church and impacts everything we do. Sources for each footnote are at the bottom of the page.

We are Christian1

This separates us from all other religions, cults, philosophies and worldviews. As an expression of our commitment to the historical Christian faith we believe and hold fast to the Apostles Creed2 and the Nicene Creed3, both of which clearly spell out the core Christian beliefs (or doctrines). 

We are Evangelical

In its simplest form this means that we believe that the Bible is God’s Word and is therefore our final authority in all matters of life and doctrine and that people need to be saved by hearing and responding to the gospel of Jesus Christ. As a church we believe that the Evangelical Alliance’s (UK) Basis of Faith is a helpful summary of the essential beliefs of scripture4

We are Reformed

This means that we believe that scripture emphasises the sovereignty of God5 in all things, man’s inability to do spiritual good before God (apart from saving grace6, salvation is God’s divine initiative 7 from start to finish and the glory of God8 is the highest end of all. 

We are Charismatic

This means that we believe that all spiritual gifts9 and ministries10 are gifts of grace11 given by the Holy Spirit12 and are valid for today. As Christians we are called to live Spirit-empowered13 lives and to eagerly desire Spiritual Gifts14. 

Sources

  1. Acts 11:26 ↩︎
  2. “Creed” – derived from the Latin “credo” meaning ‘I believe’ – is, in its ecclesiastical sense, used to denote a summary or concise statement of doctrines formulated and accepted by a church (Dodds, J.) ↩︎
  3. The Nicene Creed (325AD) ↩︎
  4. http://www.eauk.org/about/basis-of-faith.cfm ↩︎
  5. 1 Chron. 29:12; Ps 103:19; Ps 135:6; Job 9:12; Job 41:11; Rom 9:14-18 ↩︎
  6. Eph 2:1-5 ↩︎
  7. Acts 13:48; Eph 1:3-14; Eph 2:5 ↩︎
  8. Rom 11:36; 1 Cor 10:31; Eph 3:21; 1 Tim 1:17 ↩︎
  9. 1 Cor 12:7-11; Rom 12:6-8 ↩︎
  10. Eph 4:11 ↩︎
  11. Rom 12:6; 1 Cor 12:4-7 ↩︎
  12. 1 Cor 12:11; Heb 2:4; 1 Pet 4:10 ↩︎
  13. Acts 1:4-8 ↩︎
  14. 1 Cor 14:1 ↩︎