BATTLE BAPTIST CHURCH – TOWARDS 2020 VISION Overall Mission Bringing Life to the Heart of 1066 Country and beyond 2020 Vision Between now and 2020 our primary responsibility will be to share the gospel on a regular basis with the inhabitants of Battle and surrounding rural communities, and to see people coming to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, added to His Church and equipped to become faithful witnessing Christians Objectives that underpin the Overall Mission and 2020 Vision By 2020 we aim to: continue to adhere to the BAYEUX principles – ie the 6 core values based on those letters that enable Church members to: pursue their personal walk with Godbe fruitful in seeing God’s purposes worked out in 1066 country be in contact and have some spiritual involvement with 1000 people each week to develop our organisation, resources and structures to meet our overall mission have a significant majority of Church Members living in Battle and surrounding rural communities be taking the gospel to, and working in, areas where there is no apparent evangelical witness.
Keeping to our Overall Mission and 2020 Vision The Church Leadership will ensure that we are keeping to our Overall Mission and 2020 Vision by: · taking forward our Action Plan to meet the objectives that underpin the Overall Mission and 2020 Vision · reviewing specific areas of the action plan on a regular basis, and the entire action plan every 18 months · periodically reporting to the Church meeting on progress and making changes to the Action Plan as required. The Action Plan listing the 86 actions we need to continue with, as well as the 14 new actions we need to progress to fulfil our mission and vision, is available from the Church Office. Be encouraged that, since the vision was introduced in 2001, the Lord has enabled us to complete or start progressing 31 of the original 55 new actions … all at the same time as maintaining our regular church programme. We intend to use a variety of ways to share this updated vision with the church so that together we can “Bring Life to the Heart of 1066 Country and beyond”. Action Plan B BELIEVERS CHURCH We aim to be a growing community where members share a common experience of faith in Christ and baptism into the church. Believing and belonging are important to our understanding of God's purposes for local congregations. Without the wholehearted commitment and active service of its members in every area of church life, any local church would cease to exist. Involved and active Church members are the key to realising our vision to bring "Life to the Heart of 1066 Country - and beyond". (Acts 2: 42 - 47). We will continue to need: Church Membership 1 Elders to review the Membership List as necessary; 2 Elders to regularly review our concept of membership to make it more meaningful, including: · stressing at the initial membership interview, the Believers Church core value and the importance of Housegroup membership · having a pool of appointed interviewers · an annual re-commitment to membership 3 Elders and Deacons to foster an "open doors" policy of welcoming and valuing members' views Church Leadership 4 Pastor, via Elders and Church meetings as appropriate, to appoint at staggered intervals Elders, Deacons and Housegroup leaders from members who meet the Biblical requirements 5 Elders to, as required, consider the leadership structures to enable growth and planned succession in the required areas and appoint those who have gifts linked to areas of growth within the Church and who can directly contribute to the Church’s Overall Mission Housegroup Leaders 6 Elders to be responsible for Housegroup organisation 7 Elders to equip and train Housegroup leaders to carry out their role 8 Elders to encourage and develop Housegroups including Youth Housegroups 9 Elders to increase the number of Housegroups to keep pace with church growth, aiming at a target size of around 12 people per group Pastoral Care 10 Pastoral Care Team to meet monthly to address pastoral care issues 11 Pastors, Elders, and Pastoral Care Team to provide specialist ministry when required (eg with bereavement & marriage issues) 12 Pastors and Elders to train and give support to those who wish to be used in helping others 13 Associate Pastor for Pastoral Care to continually assess the effectiveness and inclusiveness of pastoral care, ensuring good communication and developing links between pastoral care work and prayer ministry 14 Housegroup Leaders to care for, nurture and pastor Housegroup members 15 Elders to pastor Deacons and Housegroup leaders 16 Elders including Pastors to pastor each other 17 Pastor(s), Elders and Pastoral Care Team to visit Church Members as part of the yearly programme of visits 18 Staff to obtain and use information on the availability and skills of Church Members gained via the “Saved to Serve” initiative to assist in the practical care of Church Members No new actions A ADORATION AND PRAISE We are committed to the adoration and worship of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in congregations, small groups and personally. Shared worship is the response of the believer to God's grace, and equips the believer for mission in the world. We seek to: · develop worship “in Spirit and in truth” which expresses both reverence and intimacy and which is participative, life changing and giving glory to God; · be a truly charismatic church in which the gifts, fruits and ministries of the Holy Spirit flourish; · include the giving of monetary gifts as a meaningful part of our act of worship. Responsibility for: · the overall worship life of the church lies with the full time pastors and elders; · worshipping God within congregations lies with the individual worshipper, and not with the person leading the meeting or worship leader and group. We will continue to need: Worship 19 Elders to enable young and old to use their gifts in music and leading of worship 20 Elders to audit and review the structures of music groups and their leadership to ensure that we are making the best possible use of the many gifts in the fellowship 21 Elders to provide opportunities for training for worship, and music team leaders and musicians, and give them opportunities to participate and serve the Church 22 Elders to train new people to lead congregations and small groups 23 Elders, and worship and music team leaders, to encourage a breadth of expression in music using a broad repertoire of hymns and songs and a variety of styles 24 Elders and housegroup leaders to encourage the development of spiritual gifts in congregations and small groups 25 Elders, and worship and music team leaders, to explore on a weekly congregational or one-off event basis, the use of dance, drama, banners, flags, choral songs, poetry, symbols, photography and multi media presentations to enrich times of corporate worship Prayer Ministry 26 Prayer Ministry Teams to provide personal prayer for individuals 27 Elders to strengthen Prayer Ministry Teams by: · recruiting and training people who wish to be involved · integrating young and old in prayer ministry 28 Elders to deepen and broaden the prayer life of the church in a variety of ways, ensuring that prayer occurs whenever the church meets 29 Elders to encourage members to be involved in prayer privately, in small groups and in the congregational prayer times 30 Elders to motivate all church members so that, on average in any one week, 15% of them attend regular prayer meetings 31 Elders to encourage members to pray for 3 people either side of them on the membership list New actions - Worship 1 Elder for Worship and Church Manager to review and improve the Audio Visual equipment at Zion Chapel and the way in which operators use it – by 31 December 2007. Y YOUTHFUL There are 2 elements to this. First, we are committed to receiving the renewing power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38), and we are prepared to make necessary changes in programme and style to remain fresh and relevant to our approach to ministry and worship. Second, we recognise that believers under 18 are also part of God's church and we will pursue a vigorous policy of evangelism and discipleship of young people. We will continue to need: Spiritual Renewal 32 Pastors, Elders and housegroup leaders to teach and encourage people to receive the renewing power of the Holy Spirit, via Sunday teachings and small groups 33 Elders to make changes in the regular church programme and style to remain fresh and relevant to our approach to ministry and worship Young People’s Ministry (for 0s to 18s) 34 Elders to have overall responsibility for the Young People’s Ministry, delegated to the Young People’s (Children and Youth) leaders 35 Elders and Young People’s Teams to adhere to the agreed aims of the church’s Young People’s Charter 35 Elders, via the Church Manager and the Young People’s leaders, to implement the agreed Child Protection policies 36 Elders and Young People’s leaders to maintain the current activities for young people 37 Elders and Young People’s leaders to develop a curriculum to provide the best possible Christian education to our young people in an increasingly secular society 38 Young People’s leaders to develop yearly plans and programmes, with targets, which seek to fulfil the Church’s mission and vision for young people 39 Young People’s leaders to integrate the various activities and teams more effectively, especially Sunday with midweek, and between Children’s and Youth teams (eg via weekly prayer meetings and training events) 40 Young People’s leaders to strengthen and increase the outreach potential of the youth and children's activities, especially the midweek groups 41 Young People’s leaders to develop a plan for residential activities, holiday experiences (eg camps and trips), including mission and evangelism experience 42 Elders and Young People’s leaders to recruit, and provide appropriate opportunities for training and encouragement of leaders and helpers 43 Elders and Young People’s leaders to improve the support to young people away at college or in training, and give more thought to their involvement in Church life when they are home (eg via the housegroup “adopt a student scheme”, and via regular pastoral visits to students at college) 44 Elders and Young People’s leaders to identify and train young and emerging leaders (especially from young adults in the 20 to 35 age group) 45 Young People’s leaders to encourage young people with regular personal Bible reading 46 Elders and Young People’s leaders to develop effective regular all age services, including the seasonal celebrations 47 Elders and Children’s leaders to enable children to be present for part of the morning congregations on a regular basis New Actions - Young People’s Ministry 2 Elders to develop the worship side of young people’s activities, especially in the Children’s Sunday Clubs, where the support of musicians is always needed (eg by recruiting a Children’s Worship leader) – by 31 December 2007 E EXTENSION We are committed to extending God's Kingdom at home and abroad: · by equipping and training members; · through praying, giving and releasing people, and using other resources; · by upgrading our premises in Battle as a base for local mission. As a Church, we will continue to: Local Mission 48 explore ways to mobilise the whole Church to fulfil its mission 49 identify outreach needs and opportunities, and explore resources and methods that can be used 50 promote our Church, activities and faith in new ways using all available methods – in particular using the church website 51 explore ways of sharing the gospel with all ages and socio-economic groups in new ways 52 keep under review the need to develop further congregations at suitable venues Local and national initiatives 53 ensure that the church is involved in regional and national missions, which are relevant to the church’s mission 54 allow the church to work in local partnerships with other Christian believers and churches in our area to see God’s kingdom extended (where this does not compromise our beliefs and practices) 55 ask God to alert us to those He is going to work with. New actions - Local Mission Note: the following new actions were done for Mission 2006 but need to be revisited: 2 The Outreach Co-ordinator, with the elders & deacons sub group on Outreach, to identify and enable those in the congregation who are gifted in sharing their faith – by 31 December 2007 3 The Outreach Co-ordinator, with the elders & deacons sub group on Outreach, to train and build individuals and teams in the church into effective mission – by 31 December 2007 4 The Outreach Co-ordinator, with the elders & deacons sub group on Outreach, to encourage members whose Christian calling involves spreading the Gospel outside Battle – by 31 December 2007 5 The Outreach co-ordinator, with the elders & deacons sub group on Outreach, to develop prayer for mission so that God reveals His strategies for effectively bringing life to those living at the heart of 1066 Country – by 31 December 2007 Overseas Mission – Dennis & Elders’ sub-group on Overseas Mission to rewrite this section. Meanwhile …. As a church, we will continue to need: General 56 to: · make people aware of the breadth of the Kingdom of God and their responsibility towards the overseas church with active contacts on every continent · develop our programme of overseas links, trips and aid, so that church members can be fruitfully involved in at least one of our links 57 to review our giving to overseas and home mission to ensure it retains the right weighting in our budget 58 to look at how world mission relates to small groups, and encourage groups to pray and be linked with an overseas situation 59 to raise up church members to be trained for overseas mission 60 to invite church members to suggest overseas projects for consideration 61 to hold a minimum of one overseas missionary weekend a year at the church Romania 62 to foster links with believers in Romania – eg with Mihai and Elena Gherlit’s church at Ghimbav (sending aid and financial support as appropriate) 63 to allow church to sponsor visits by church members to our Romanian links Nigeria 64 to continue our existing links with Assemblies of God churches in Nigeria, especially with the ministry of Gabriel and Gracefilled Uche 65 to enable visits by church members to our Nigerian links Hong Kong 66 to maintain and develop links with the Spiers family and the Home of Loving Faithfulness Baptist Missionary Society (BMS) 67 to regularly inform our church of the work of the BMS 68 to allow the church to regularly pray for BMS and its work Operation Mobilisation 69 to enable the church to support Mike and Anne Hey’s ministry New actions - Overseas Mission France 7 As a Church to explore sending a party of our young people to a French-speaking church on an outreach venture Spain 8 As a Church to support the Spanish group in the church and to help them organise an outreach venture in a Spanish speaking church. Israel & Gaza Strip 9 As a Church to support the weekly Middle East prayer group and encourage church members to go on organised visits to Israel Church buildings We will continue to need the: 70 Elders to use the Manna House catering and Bayeux Centre Children’s Room as bridges between the church and the local community 71 Elders to keep under review options to use other facilities to fulfil the Church’s overall mission Church Administration and Communications We will continue to need the: 72 Church to employ a Church Manager to upkeep the Church buildings, and release the Senior Pastor from day to day responsibility for Church administration and communications 73 Church to employ an Office Manager with additional voluntary support for clerical work when and where required 74 Staff to keep the Church Office open during the week, using both paid staff and church member volunteers in the day and the answer-phone outside office hours 75 Elders to encourage members not to conduct regular administrative matters on a Sunday 76 Staff to develop effective communications and make our publications available to Church members and the wider community using the most appropriate methods U UNDERSTANDING We are committed to growing in an understanding of the Old and New Testaments and to incorporating Biblical principles into daily living (including personal prayer and Bible study, and high standards of personal integrity, honesty and purity). We will continue to need: 77 Senior Pastor to be responsibility for the overall teaching programme, including the training and releasing of others 78 Senior Pastor to develop the gifts of other preachers and teachers in the church 79 Senior Pastor and Elders to teach “Building Your Faith”, “Believe it or Not” and “ALPHA” several times a year 80 Senior Pastor and Elders to explore the value of retreats, pilgrimages and silence in the life of the believer New actions - Understanding 10 Elders, via the Outreach Co-ordinator, to set up appropriate teams to recruit and develop members to lead and teach discipleship courses (set out in 79 above) – by 31 December 2007. 11 Congregational Elders to identify and arrange residential events for congregations within the church – by 31 December 2009 X GOING THE EXTRA MILE We are committed to going the extra mile in love and care of one another, and of those to whom God leads us. This applies to every area of life - family, home, work and church. General care We will continue to need: 81 Elders to encourage and develop servant heart attitudes to stress the importance of routine work in the life of the Church 82 Elders to work to avoid stereo typed and discriminatory attitudes within the church (especially in relation to age, gender, race and disability) 83 Elders, via Church Manager, to provide facilities and support for people of all ages with disabilities, and enable them to play as active a part in the programme of the Church as they desire and are able New actions – General care 12 Elders, via Church Manager, to monitor our provision for people of all ages with special needs Newcomers We will continue to need: 84 Congregational Elders and teams to ensure existing members make newcomers feel especially welcome when they attend services or other Church events 85 Congregational Elders and teams, and housegroup leaders, to develop the regular Sunday lunches for welcoming newcomers to the church New actions – Newcomers 13 Elders to introduce an induction programme, which includes arrangements for receiving new members, a system of appointing people to: · befriend new members (and visitors to the congregations) · take a special responsibility for them up to a year after reception into membership – by 31 December 2007 Community We will continue to need: 86 Elders to ensure the church serves our wider community whenever possible, especially in the immediate locality New actions – Community 14 Elders to encourage church members to be actively involved in community life (eg in schools, politics and local organisations) – by 31 December 2008 Selection criteria for Elders, Deacons and Housegroup leaders Elders · are people of example (2 Timothy 4:2) · have a broad view of church life · can play a high profile role within the congregation · deputise for the full-time ministers · play an active part in leading worship · are mature Christians, committed to being part of a team · are approachable, showing a combination of sensitivity and strength Deacons · are regular at meetings for worship and prayer · have demonstrated a willingness to serve · will be committed to implementing the 2020 Vision · can manage finances · will notice and help others with practical needs · show initiative, yet work within guidelines · will be hospitable and known across the whole congregation · look after the day to day running of our church buildings · take all responsibilities for the maintenance of the building and fabric, as well as health and safety issues · ensure that the buildings are well maintained and safe and that the buildings are attractive and well equipped to provide spiritual and recreational development for their users Housegroup leaders · are regular at meetings for worship and prayer, and are good examples in personal behaviour and hospitality · give effective pastoral care · show initiative · teach · are capable of envisioning others · are loyal to other leaders · work in partnership with an Elder Young people and children Aims of Young People's Work The aims listed below: · give our Young People dignity and go beyond them simply knowing Bible facts and being good · enable Young People to be somebody and do something Young people: · need salvation. We will encourage them to get to know Jesus personally and not just know about Him. · should learn to understand and apply God’s Word. Therefore they need systematic Bible teaching. · should have their own Bibles, learn how to use them and be encouraged to bring them to Christian meetings. · will be fully integrated in the life of the church and cared for personally. · need a growing awareness and experience of the Holy Spirit. · should learn to minister to others that which they receive from God. Battle Baptist Church Young People's Charter 1. Young People are equal in the sight of God. 2. Our behaviour should show that young people are of equal worth as adults in the life of the church. 3. Christian worship is for young people as well as adults. 4. Learning is for young people as well as adults. 5. Fellowship is for all regardless of age. 6. Service is for young people to give as well as adults. 7. God's call to evangelise is for all ages. 8. The Holy Spirit works through young people as well as adults. 9. We must discover and develop the young peoples gifts both naturally and spiritually. 10. The church should not divide into separate age groups more than necessary. 11. We must separate only for those things that are best done apart | 
