Our Highest Value

It’s been a delight to hear back from so many of you by email about what you consider to be the values of our church, and for me to praise God for how he’s used our church to encourage and equip you to love others.

As I’ve read your responses, it’s been clear that there is one value that stands head and shoulders above the rest: that our church is deeply Bible-based.

You said we’re “Bible-based in a real and well-articulated way that does not shy away from why we are like that,” and that we have “faithful teaching of God’s word by people of real conviction and gifted by God for that ministry,” with preaching where “the main focus is God.”

It’s a genuine delight to know that the labour of our preachers is not in vain, as we seek to humbly sit under God’s word ourselves, and as we are lead by his Spirit to know more of him and ourselves, which we then bring to you.

I often think of teaching God’s word like serving up food for friends: the greatest compliment is when our guests finish all the food on their plate, and they are deeply satisfied in a way that brought real change and comfort, by God’s strength.

Sadly, this is not something that all Christians embrace, with some feeling that being too Bible-based somehow quenches the Holy Spirit or dampens our experience of God.

Yet, in my experience over the years, the churches that have been most profoundly impacted by God are those that humbly receive his word… especially as it challenges us to stand firm in a world that wants to own us as its own.

Praise God for his glorious word, and for the passion his Spirit has brought upon us to devour it and live for Jesus in every way.

JODIE McNEILL