1. We will focus on outcomes not practices. So we will look at what we want to see happen, not just what we’re doing or have always done.
2. We will be people-focused not programme-driven. Our goal is always to grow people to become more like Jesus Christ. Our programmes must serve people and therefore be always up for revision and change.
3. We will invest in people. It will take time (and therefore often money) to invest in people’s lives, but we’ll prioritise that even though it looks more risky than building structures.
4. We will build a culture of training. This includes all involved in leading of any sort (home group leaders, Sunday Club teachers, Elders, music group), but also a culture for every member of wanting and expecting to be taught and to work into their lives what they’ve learned. Training therefore includes the idea working things out in practice, not just listening and ‘being taught’.
5. We want to live out the gospel first in our homes, workplaces and everyday life. It is in the context of these relationships that the reality of the gospel is actively demonstrated, seen and experienced (or, tellingly, is not evident).
6. We will ‘go’ rather than ‘bring’. We want to live and speak for Jesus wherever he has placed us. We therefore want to equip every church member to take the aroma of Christ into every corner of their lives, not feel they are just about inviting friends into a Christian sub-culture.
7. We will seek to not add to the busyness of people’s lives whilst recognising that our cultural assumptions always need to be challenged. We will be intentional about making space for members to spend time with their families and non-Christians.
8. We will aim for excellence and depth in fewer activities rather than mediocrity in too many, recognising that the good can be the enemy of the best.
9. So we will have courage to stop things that no longer help us fulfil our vision or that prevent us from doing what most needs to be done.
10. We seek to work in teams so that we help share the load and are protected by the wisdom of others, rather than to appoint lone-rangers.
11. We will be contemporary in culture. We want to be clear and confident at the core of what we believe in the gospel and who we are as God’s people. This will allow us to be flexible culturally so that we are speaking and worshipping in 21st century language and in ways that are accessible to outsiders.
12. We will try things that might fail. We’re a family of God’s people and safe in him.