St Luke’s mission statement is
“living God’s love”
The church has a focus on community outreach;
to “provide of a safe place for all people to find friendship, support and direction“.
Our Vision
Through the development of our Parish Profile, we described the following vision:
We believe in Jesus’ transformational love. Our vision is to demonstrate this through modern, relevant worship provided by a collaborative leadership team who value and encourage people to use their gifts. We would like people to feel able to be themselves in worship and have authentic relationships with God. St Luke’s invites a wide range of ages and facilitates friendships across generations. We pray in particular for further opportunities to attract and support those in their 20s/30s/40s, including Alpha Courses and Small Groups.
We believe in living out our faith through action. We have a strong focus on outreach and community involvement. We welcome hundreds of schoolchildren into the church each month through the thriving Youth Café. Our hope is this initiative grows even further and we develop ways to encourage the children to strengthen their relationships with God and join our youth groups. We also engage and share our faith with many children at school through our Open the Book and Prayer Spaces initiatives. We desire to have a strong presence in the community and to reach out to our neighbours in the new secondary school and housing development being built in the parish. We endeavour to meet the needs of our community by seeing our church premises utilised even more as a local hub.
We aim to tackle social injustice and be good stewards of God’s creation, loving and reaching out to our global neighbours, and developing our identity as an Eco Church. Our aim is to achieve Silver and Gold Eco Church awards. We want to continue our active support of Christian Aid and local charities through prayer, resources and physical help for those in need.
Our Mission Action Plan
Our Parish Mission Action Plan (pMAP) has the following strategic priorities:
Our objective:
To understand what a disciple is, and to live out that ministry. We will encourage people to be grounded in their faith and help them to express it boldly and confidently to others. To teach sound biblical truths.
Impact in our parish:
- More people coming to faith through a personal encounter
- We will see an increase in membership on Sunday and in weekly groups
- Our faith will be talked about
- Sharing of testimonies
- New ventures will come forward.
Our objective:
We are a modern bible believing church growing faith through modern worship. We reach out, welcoming all and sharing the love of Jesus’.
Allowing Jesus to be the first in our lives we shall continue to develop ways that St Luke’s can be a sanctuary to people in the local and wider communities.
Impact in our parish:
- Develop ways of listening to our community i.e. What hurts?
- Develop a weekday afternoon ‘young (under 5s) church’
- New opportunities created for fellowship between the community and church.
Our objective:
We will make St Luke’s a place of safety, offering acceptance and support, whilst giving a Godly challenge to all. To reach out to those who are most in need in our local community. We will reflect God’s love into the lives of all that we serve.
Impact in our parish:
- We will see people lives being positively changed
- Church members engaging with, and praying for, local and global issues
- St Luke’s will partner with local organisations who improve people’s well-being
- To reinforce the connection between caring for the planet and our responsibility, according to our faith, to improve how we steward God’s creation.
Our objective:
Be active members of the wider Christian community. We will inspire and encourage everyone to be good stewards.
Impact in our parish:
- St Luke’s will engage in conversation and action with other local Churches and organisations
- We will financially support God’s mission in our community and elsewhere
- We shall encourage and resource every member ministry
- People being more mindful of God’s creation.
To find out more about the vision and strategic priorities of the Diocese of Winchester, in which St Luke’s is situated, please visit their website.
Visit the CofE website to find out about the Church of England‘s mission.