LifeSwitch Values

LifeSwitch shares the central values of any Bible-believing church. We affirm the centrality of worship: all that we do we try to do for the glory of God, and we reserve a special place for our corporate worship. We take seriously the command of Jesus Christ to preach His message to the world. We foster fellowship - the coming together of God’s people for teaching from the Bible, prayer, worship and just being together. We cultivate discipleship: helping people to grow into the likeness of Jesus Christ as we co-operate with the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of believers.

Since we are a church with an Open Brethren heritage, we share the values reflected in that movement. We believe in team leadership: we have a group of Elders who lead the church. We affirm the priesthood of all believers by setting people free in areas of their gifting to do the work of ministry. We affirm the authority of the Bible and encourage every person to know it and study it for themselves. We remember the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ by taking communion most weeks. These are enduring values that we seek to reflect in contemporary ways.

There are also values that we have made our own, that in combination make us distinctive as a church.

• Reality: We don’t pretend that life is other than it is. We acknowledge that life has its deep waters, its griefs and pains. The Christian faith and the Bible can stand for themselves in the real world – we seek to reflect that rugged reality. We don’t want to insulate ourselves from the world around us.
• Community: Just being together is so important we made the morning programme only an hour long so we could stay for lunch afterwards. It’s all church, and community is at the heart of it: in a service, in the cafe, in care groups - wherever. We’re on this journey together and we grow together. We’re not alone and we need each other.
• Freedom: We believe you shouldn’t have to change who you are on Sundays from who you are during the week. We need to respect each other and grow in Christlikeness, but we can also be who God has made us to be. At LifeSwitch you’re free to choose to follow and obey Christ -  it’s not forced on you - because we believe a heartfelt decision made when you might have chosen another way is more pleasing to God than mere outward conformity.
• Change: As a church, LifeSwitch has experienced an incredible amount of change over the last few years and it’s been refreshing. We don’t want to lose that capacity for change. We want to remain at the forefront of what God wants to do. So expect the unexpected and be prepared to go with the flow.

As a brief summary, that’s what we’re about. We hope you sense these values as you experience LifeSwitch for yourself. More than that, we pray they further you along the path of your journey with God.