Our Values & Vision
(inwards, upwards, outwards-Peter to write and send to you) At Whaddon Way Church, we attempt to live out our beliefs in the following ways:
Jesus-centred
Because we believe that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life and the only way to God (John 14:8), we also believe that he is the Word of God (John 1). This means that all human existence, purpose, and faith finds fulness through Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, and we are invited to find faith through Him. As individuals, as a faith community, and as a charity, we attempt to centre our identity, purpose, and way of life and operation around the spiritual and physical realities of life in Jesus. We value:
Hospitality
Everyone is welcome at Whaddon Way Church. Come as you are, and we will try and welcome you with a smile, a warm cup of coffee or tea, and an open invitation to become part of our community.
Love
We believe that love is the foundation of all that we do, and all that we are. As love is a core characteristic of God (1 John 4:8) and the motivation behind Jesus’s birth, life, death, and resurrection (John 3:16). We strive to view ourselves and everyone that we meet as people loved by God (1 John 4:7).
Generous Orthodoxy
We don’t believe that any Christian denomination has exclusive knowledge of Jesus and how that should be expressed in church. So, whatever your Christian background, as long as it doesn’t contradict our core Christian beliefs, we will celebrate and try and empower you to grow in it.
Inclusivity and Belonging
We believe that one of the life-filling realities of being a Christian is found in belonging and participating within a mutually empowering community (Acts 2). This means that anyone is welcome, and everyone is invited to become a part of our church family, participating according to your need, capacity, passions, gifts, and abilities. For some, this might mean attending a service for a little while, or joining a parent and toddlers’ group, for others this might mean joining a home group or helping on a Sunday or mid-week. Our hope is that you will find a place to belong, and a community that will help you grow in your relationship with God and figure out your role in His plan.
Discipleship
We are called to be students and followers of Jesus and to allow the reality of his grace to shape the way that we interact with God, each other and the world.
Safeguarding
We ensure that everyone is safe within our church building and community through proactive safeguarding and health and safety practices.
Holy Spirit inspired
Because we believe that the Holy Spirit is active in our lives as individuals, a faith community, and a charity, adding diverse demographics of individuals to our faith family (Acts 2), growing us in our knowledge of and intimacy with God (John 14:26) transforming us more into the likeness of Jesus (Rom. 8:14-17), and empowering us to participate in God’s plan for the world (1 Cor. 12). We value:
Worship
We are created to worship God. We often try to satisfy this innate desire by dedicating our time, resources, attention, and admiration to things such as work, other’s perceptions of us, social media, football teams or hobbies. There is nothing wrong with participating in any of these activities, our members have many different interests. However, if we substitute these things for God we are left feeling dissatisfied with life. This is why worship, the act of giving worth to God by growing in our knowledge of and relationship with him, is such an important part of life at Whaddon Way Church.
Unity
Unity is important to us. We see it as the coming together of people from very different backgrounds, life stages, points in their faith journeys, and life experiences through our shared belief in Jesus. In unity we try to empower each other to know God more and learn from each other so we can be better image bearers of God, and allow the Holy Spirit to use our passions, talents, gifts, weaknesses, stories and influences to represent God’s kingdom here on earth. We celebrate the differences in belief and practice that comes with diversity, and encourage attitudes of listening, understanding and active empowerment over division over disagreement or assimilation.
Healing
As a church community we have, in the past, gone through some challenging times, but we have seen healing and growth in our community. We believe that as a church, we should be a community in which anyone can experience the healing and restoring power of Jesus (Matt. 11:28-30). It is okay not to be okay, but we would also like to empower and support you to eventually get there.
Biblical Study
We study the bible together to empower everyone within our community to know God, Jesus, and our role within God’s plan. Through insightful engagement, prayerful meditation, active contextualisation, and collective discussion, we attempt to ensure that how we navigate faith and life as individuals, as community, and as a charity, is firmly planted in God’s plan, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and in the image of Jesus.
Gospel-Mobilised
Because we believe that God’s purpose for humans is to live in a worshipful relationship with God, mutually empowering community with each other, and nurturing oversight of creation:
Social Justice
We seek to understand how beliefs, systems, power dynamics, and practices in our world contribute towards inequality, discrimination, marginalisation, prejudice, division, oppression, exploitation, and abuse of individuals and different groups. We want to serve our local community by addressing these issues within our faith community and all that we do, to ally with all those in need of liberation.
Mission & Evangelism
We want to empower everyone we encounter to know the life, community and world-transforming power of Jesus. We seek to equip followers of Jesus to be able to communicate their faith confidently and effectively through word and deed and to empower the Global Church by resourcing under resourced church communities, marginalised groups, and charities from around the world.
Care for the Environment
We are mindful of how our individual, communal and institutional actions impact the world that we were created to care for and we are trying to make choices and changes informed by our concern for the environment wherever we can.