We have four passions:
The first is a passion for Jesus, never leaving us, always loving us;
The second is our passion for people, particularly those on the margins, those that are rejected, not quite respectable, who don’t fit in, those who are often dismissed – everyone is completely welcome round our table. We want each of us to grow, to be the people God has called us to be, to reach our full potential, to be true disciples of Jesus;
Our third passion is for the outdoors, particularly the mountains and the sea – We have a deep longing to be on the sea, to feel the spray on our faces, and to see others experience that too;
The fourth is related, and that is a deep concern for nature and the environment, to truly understand a place by getting really close to it and to stay with it.
The four passions described above are the things that drive us — but why?
Why Jesus, why God? It would seem in many eyes to be a crazy and out of date — relying on an imaginary friend in the sky. But the truth is that to follow Jesus’ Way is really not that at all. It is truly life changing and immensely personal. In writing this page part of me feels that what I should be doing is to produce a long theological statement about the existence and character of God. But that is not what I’m going to do. The reality is the reason I believe is because I have a living relationship with God in Jesus and that is something that has carried me through all of my life up to this point, and it’s that relationship that I have seen transform others lives as well. To know and be known by Jesus, to experience God’s Spirit with and in you is transformational. Living together in community in relationship with others means we can see and understand that relationship with God in those around us. After all that is what to be an apprentice (disciple) is all about.
Our ultimate motivation is the Shema and the relationships that flow from it. To love God with all our heart, soul mind and strength and to love neighbour as ourselves. Out of the stories of Jesus life and teaching flows a way of life that is at its root so very different from that expressed by the world and Mamon. To follow Jesus way is to walk a path that is counter cultural, it has always been so. To walk that path is to embody the commandments of Jesus.
We don’t want people to have superficial relationships with God, but to find depth, passion and wonder in their encounters with God. In such a way, that will carry them through life with all its ups and downs and difficulties. We want people to know the certainty of the constant presence of God with them and in them. So we are a place of apprenticeship and learning, a school of the Lord’s service, so that we can all grow together as disciples of Jesus.
We believe in a Church which welcomes and serves all people in the name of Jesus Christ; which is scripturally faithful; which seeks to proclaim the Gospel afresh for each generation; and which, in the power of the Holy Spirit, allows all people to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Jesus Christ.
We also believe that God is to be experienced outside in creation and that offers us an opportunity to create a safe place to ask questions and encounter God both out on the hills and on the sea. To set out into the ocean is to experience the wild beauty of God and have the opportunity to find peace sometimes in the midst of the storm and tumult. There is something about being drawn to the very edge of your endurance to realise who you are and who you are in the presence of the living God.
Care and understanding of creation are core to our values, but not just because this is how we survive, but rather to celebrate the beauty and wonder of what it is to deeply be part of that creation.