Praxis Church

God

Sometimes we use this word to refer to the whole of the Trinity (Father, Son and Spirit). God made the whole world, sustains it, and is one we should love and follow. We also sometimes use the name 'God' as shorthand to refer to God the Father. The Father sent Jesus into the world to rescue us.

Jesus

Jesus is the Son of God and so at the same time he is God. He is part of the Trinity. Jesus was born 2000 years ago to a young girl called Mary. When he grew up for about 3 years he taught about God, made some incredible claims about himself being God, healed many people and then was executed. After 3 days he was raised to life and now rules as the King over everything. He is the one who invites us to become friends with God and welcomes us into his family to be co-heirs with him. He can do this because he died in our place so we could be forgiven for rejecting God. He also sends his Spirit to change us to become like him so we can love God and love others.

The Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is the 3rd member of the Trinity. He is sent by the Father and Jesus to change hearts so we can follow God and become more like Jesus. He enables us to see who God is.

Household Church

One of our values is that church is family and our life revolves around the home. To differentiate ourselves from the house church movement of the 60's and 70's we refer to what we do as 'household church'.

Church

For us church is not about a building, a particular meeting or day of the week. Church is another word for God's people. They are a family. Sometimes they gather together in larger groups, but 'church' is also about the life they live together as a family through the week. Church is about the people, it is about relationships lived under the lordship of Jesus, it is about community.

Gospel Community

Because church is about community we sometimes don't use the word 'church' to describe these communities. Instead we often call them 'Gospel Communities', because that is exactly what they are - vibrant communities centred on the gospel. This is where 'church' really happens. These Gospel Communities are active in daily, life-on-life discipleship and mission.

Gathering

Some Gospel Communities join together in what we call 'Gatherings'. These Gatherings are a way for Gospel Communities to support each other by sharing teaching, encouraging each other by gathering together, and also developing, training and supporting leaders by having shared eldership.