severn values
Our values drive everything we do. Which means that the best way to get a grasp on what's important to us is just to come and hang out! To give you an idea of what to expect, here are a few of the things we believe in, aspire to and hope to achieve...
RESPONSIVENESS
Together we aspire to respond to what the Holy Spirit is doing day by day, month by month, year by year in the life of Severn. Just like Jesus, we try and watch what God is doing amongst us and respond to that, rather than just doing as we please. It’s just more of an adventure!
Changed lives
We’re totally subscribed to the idea that life is full of potential, and the key to fulfilling that potential is putting the first foot forwards, and then the second and so on… We celebrate the transforming power of Jesus in our lives and the ongoing effect that he has on our lives, enabling us to fulfill our potential.
Reality
You create a safe place to be yourself when you think the best of each other, keep short accounts and tell the truth – it’s a liberating experience! So, as we experience the ups and downs of life together, we try and keep it real; not pretending, but openly grappling with the challenges we all face. We acknowledge that faith and doubt are two sides of the same coin, but that they are not equal. Faith is more than the absence of doubt.
Responsibility
We seek to dignify one another by taking responsibility for who we are and what we do. We recognise that for all of us, this is a journey towards maturity and we seek to help one another become mature in our character. It’s important to us to take responsibility for living sustainable lives that don’t exploit our neighbour or damage our world.
SERVING
We want to be a church with a heart to serve; a heart that does the mucky jobs no one else wants to do, with little expectation of reward. We celebrate and reward hard work and service, but this is never our reason for serving.
Generosity
Generosity is such a life-enhancing attitude that we aspire to be generous in every possible way – whether that's with our time, our energy or our money. We believe the most sustainable generosity is an overflow of our appreciation of God’s incredible generosity towards us, so we remind ourselves of this often.
Community
We aspire to be an incredibly open, humble and caring community that welcomes people without prejudice. With a self-esteem built on a peace and security in God, we aspire to engage with one another without viewing anyone as threat to our status or security. Seeking one another’s welfare we aspire to build one another up, think the best of one another and take responsibility for our actions.
Excellence
Whatever we do, we aspire to do it well. That means that as a growing church we won’t be doing everything that we’d probably like to right away. But we know that if something is worth doing, it’s worth doing well. It’s about a sense of faithfulness and fulfillment – a bit like life in general really.
Creativity
Life’s an adventure and being responsive to God means being endlessly creative. Around every corner, a new challenge (or opportunity depending on your view of life) requires creativity to keep up with God. Our creativity depends on having a child-like faith and open-eyed wonder at the incredible universe that we live in. We aspire to use our creative instincts to bring peace, faith, joy and hope to our city.