Our Philosophy continued...

There are two great passages in the Bible that speak to us of what the church is to be and to do. They are known as the great commandment and the great commission.

The ‘great commandment’ is Matthew 22:37-40

Jesus said “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ All the other commandments and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” (NLT)

Jesus is summing up the whole of the Old Testament in a nutshell.

Later in some of his last words to his disciples, Jesus gave the ‘great commission’ to them. The ‘great commission’ is Matthew 28:19-20

Jesus said: Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (NLT)

These are both the rule of life of the individual and the mission statement of the church:

‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart all your mind and all your soul’ – Worship

‘Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you’ - Discipleship

‘Baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit’ – Fellowship

‘Go and make disciples of all the nations’ - Evangelism 

‘Love your neighbour as yourself’ – Ministry