MISSION

To guide those far from God into the new start found in Jesus Christ.

SHARED VALUES

The Gospel - We passionately value the good news about God as revealed to us in Jesus Christ, and are committed to evangelism (the mission of communicating it) and sharing it with others, making disciples who can make more disciples, and so extend the Kingdom of God.

The Scriptures - We value and affirm Jesus Christ and the centrality of the Bible as our authority for Christian belief, identity and practice.

Equal before God - We understand there to be no elite 'priesthood', but instead we value the unique contribution to ministry of each individual believer, and are committed to equipping believers and releasing them to participate in ministry and mission on the basis of their giftedness and capacity.

Servanthood - We value the biblical principles of servanthood and therefore seek to be a servant church committed to responding to human need (physical) and the human condition (spiritual) with love and compassion, and to identify ourselves as, and to release others as, servant leaders.

Justice - We value the dignity, equality and inherent value God places on all people: accepting people as children of God regardless of their gender, race, economic standing or belief system. Therefore, we will work for social justice and equal opportunity for all people, as we offer the love and salvation of Christ.

Collaboration and Unity - We value the close fellowship, community and collaboration of all those who accept Jesus as Lord and Saviour. Therefore, we passionately seek to promote unity in the wider church and are committed to the one church under Christ.

SHARED PRINCIPLES

• Affirming the centrality of the Bible as our authority for Christian belief and practice.
• Commitment to extending the kingdom of God and the making of disciples through a passion for sharing "the good news".
• Understanding there to be no elite 'priesthood', instead placing value in the unique contribution of each individual believer.
• Simplicity, accessibility and vitality of worship.
• Weekly communion.
• Witness to, and practice of believers' baptism by immersion.
• Working for social justice and equality.
• Being a servant church, responding to human need and committed to servant leadership.
• Commitment to the financial principle of giving 10% of offerings to external missions and saving 10% in a future fund.
• Commitment to overseas missions, including the sponsorship of a child for every child in our local congregation through Compassion.
• Recognising as Christians all who accept Jesus as Saviour and Lord and openness to close co-operation with other Christians in worship, witness and service. Promoting unity with all of God's people.
• Our autonomy with a commitment to the other churches of our movement through Churches of Christ conference.

We believe governence is an important key to the successful implementation of the vision for Newstart Church of Christ.

We are a theocracy not a democracy, which means you won't see us voting on anything!
Not even when we disagree in leadership - because we believe Christ is the Head of His Church and calls those whom He chooses to serve in leadership for Him.
We therefore submit ourselves to His will and the appointed leaders He has chosen for us.

We do not believe in 'follow the leader' however, whilst Christ has appointed leaders to steward and serve His Church, Christ is the only man who has ever lived worth following!

Our leadership practices accountability and as such invites a number of people to serve within their giftedness and meet regularly as a ministry team to assist in fulfilling the church's calling.

Newstart is a Bold, Inclusive, Contemporary New Church Plant and as such we only seek servant leaders to join our team in fulfilling our calling.