Our vision recognises the need to:
- accept we are unconditionally loved by God and we love others because we are first loved by Him
- understand pastoral care is the activity which flows out of God’s love for us and our love for one another
- embrace that loving one another is part of cooperating with God’s mission to restore all creation to Himself through Jesus and by His Spirit
- be open to God’s continual guidance in order to cooperate with His work of love which sustains, restores, heals and celebrates relationships
- be open to the wisdom of others in order to keep us humble, learning, vibrant, culturally and contextually relevant and safe to own incomplete expertise in a complex world
- work outside the walls of the church in being good neighbours and good news and inside the church in sustaining the fellowship of believers
- enable all church to develop loving, restorative relationships i.e. ALL are called to ‘love one another’, SOME are called to specifically exercise their pastoral gifting, a FEW are called to uphold the ALL and the SOME
- consider the interface between quality relationships, pastoral care, counselling and the healing ministry
- work respectfully with Christians from all traditions and those from other faiths and of no faith, who are concerned to understand and develop quality relationships and pastoral care and are working to those ends
- be provisional and reflective in thought whilst radical and courageous in action
- invite those who want to be part of the vision to do so because they want to contribute to it as well as receive from it
download PDF mission and vision