Our Vision: To be a Growing/Going/Giving Church

Every church should be aiming to fulfil the great commission of Matthew 28. However, on the way to wanting to fulfil this, our aim in the next few years is to plant three churches in four years in the Suffolk area.

This vision of church planting was given to us in prophetic word brought to us by Keith Hazel in February 2009 – where he said that he saw us planting ‘three churches in four years’.

The desire to church plant was already on our minds when he said this and the first of these church plants is due to begin on a monthly Sunday basis in Stowmarket on February 14^th with the aim of starting to meet on a weekly basis from September 2010. (Further details can be obtained by emailing info@kingsgate-church.org

However, having a vision is one thing – it is quite another thing to see that vision become a reality in the long-term.

Having taken seriously Keith’s word (and he does have an excellent track record in this area) we are concentrating on four areas of church life:

Adoration
Prayer
Serving
Evangelism

Adoration. Developing worshippers is our first aim. We grow in strength as we worship and so we want to honour God in everything we have and do – time; money; relationships; work; conversations etc. so that our friends and neighbours are attracted to the power of God’s life in us. No area of our lives should be beyond the reach of the Holy Spirit!

Praying. Praying enables us to develop a personal and corporate relationship with King Jesus. We are aiming to build a people who understand the privilege and power of prayer – and who are growing in boldness in this area whether they are praying for individuals and their situations or when they are praying for the nations.

Serving. Having a servant nature does not come naturally to us, and in the same way, growing into a healthy church does not just happen – we have to be willing to put aside our own likes and dislikes and live to please the One who came to set us the ultimate example in this area.

Without the power of the Holy Spirit we can do nothing that will affect the eternity of people. To that end we are busy training men and women for leadership both with the aim of serving in Bury St. Edmunds and elsewhere. Also we are raising up a leadership team of men around the current elders – so that they or others will be able to take responsibility for the new church plants in the future.

However, living as a servant of Jesus is something we are all called to do – and are being equipped to do by the Holy Spirit – as we give more and more room to Him in our lives.

Evangelism (Going). Going is a thing of the heart. We can have a ‘going mentality’ whether we stay or are sent by the Holy Spirit to another place or nation. We currently have one of our twenties spending time in Latvia, serving the youth out there and we are expecting that opportunities for serving in this way are going to increase. However, we also want to build a church here in Bury St. Edmunds that is willing to send people even though they know that sending them out will mean that their friends will not be around them in the future.

All of the above calls for generosity – in time; effort; finance and faith. If you want to be part of a church that is setting its sights on fulfilling at least part of the great commission in Matthew 28 then we would like to invite you to get in touch with us at www.kingsgate-church.org just visit us on any Sunday morning at King Edward IV school at 10.30 am.