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A. Mission: 

Unite Church is a home built on Christ where people meet Jesus, are transformed together, and who shine as God’s family. 

B. Values:

We are Devoted Worshippers. First and foremost, we are devoted to Christ (Deut 6:4-5). We are dead to our sins and alive in Christ. We are all students of the Word of God.

We are Loving Families. A Church of Churches. We choose to love one another (John 15:1-17) We practice selfless love. We choose to bear with one another in love.

We are equipped Disciple-Makers. We exist in relationships where we disciple and are discipled, are equipped by our leaders and each of us brings our gifts.

We are Spirit-filled Missionaries. We are called to pray for, serve, and ultimately love our neighbours, love our enemies, and welcome home the sons and daughters of God.

We are passing through. We understand that our home is in Heaven, not here on Earth. Therefore, we find joy in our suffering and seek a higher purpose than what we see here on Earth.

C. Strategic Priorities:

 1. Devotion: Discipleship (This is who we are as followers of Christ). 

First and foremost we seek to be Church the way we see in the New Testament. Devotion to Christ and to each other is key. We believe that the gifts of every believer, not just a few, are there to mature, grow and shine. We believe that followers are called to love one another in a way that can only be done in up-close, deep relationships. As such we prioritise smaller groups where we can live out Christ’s commands for His Church. We call these Neighbourhood Churches. Each Neighbourhood  Church is led by a Pastor or Pastors who are overseen by Elders with a heart for life-on-life discipleship. We call this a Church of Churches as each Neighbourhood Church is connected to the whole through the network of relationships in the Elders, Pastors and people. 

2/ Embrace: Outreach (This is an expression of our purpose as the Church). 

We see this as the face of God’s love for the wider community; love with no strings attached. We believe that God has called the Church to practically love the world. We believe being missionaries is part of our DNA as Neighbourhood Churches. What Embrace allows us to do, beyond the mission to our neighbourhoods, is to pool resources, be a beacon of hope, and be an undeniable sound and sight in our city and beyond - that God loves the world!

In many ways we are wanting to bring clarity around our focus as Unite, a representative of The Global Church. We have Neighbourhood Churches that are focused on devotion and Embrace is enacted using a not-for-profit entity focused on outreach.

These two strategic priorities are held together by the Unite leadership. This core team forms the foundation of our Neighbourhood Churches and non-for-profit entity. From this leadership we have an Equipping Team of key leaders whose role is to equip the saints for the works of the ministry. The Pastor and Elder roles will not be staffed but these equipping roles will be. This team is not only made up of some Pastors and Elders, but supports the Pastors and Elders of Unite in direction and framework while also overseeing the not-for-profit arm of Unite. A key component of this is the creation of pathways from our not-for-profit entity to our Neighbourhood Churches, and the content we create to equip our Neighbourhood Churches in line with our five values. 

D. Practices going forward: 

(Our practices are designed to serve our mission, values, and priorities. They may need to change over time according to the season)

1. Devotion to Scripture. 

We desire to be people who are lovers of Jesus. The best tool we have for this is the Bible so we want to structure Neighbourhood Churches around reading the Word every day and sharing together from the Word regularly, including in our Sunday gatherings where we ask two simple questions: what did God stir in your heart as you read His Word this week? And what are you going to do about it?

2. We Meet in Homes. 

The Bible is clear that we are to deeply love one another as the body of Christ. We believe that smaller groups are more effective at enabling us to be devoted to one another. We can’t possibly deeply love 100 or even 50 people, so why would we structure our faith around a large service? Because of this, we feel that smaller gatherings need to take priority over larger gatherings. As long as we see smaller midweek groups as an add-on to a large weekly service, we’ve lost the point of what Church is about. When we love up-close from a place of devotion to Christ and each other, we open our lives to divine miracles of unity and devotion that smaller gatherings are best suited for. This doesn’t mean that we think larger services are bad or wrong, we just believe that smaller gatherings are a more effective vessel to carry what we see God wanting to pour into us. We will therefore meet in groups of around 10-20 in homes, and meet all-in once a month as a celebration of what God is doing, and to worship Him corporately. 

3. Everyone discipled and discipling. 

Everyone in the Church is called to make disciples of Jesus. We are all called to share the Gospel with non-believers in hope that they would follow Jesus. We are all called to take responsibility for the spiritual care of other believers. Many times we have put courses in place of life-on-life discipleship. Meeting in smaller groups gives us the scope to really walk the journey of faith with one another. This means that instead of ministries within the Church, we have Neighbourhood Churches where we all build each other up. The Pastor’s role is not to disciple everyone, but just a few. They then disciple a few, and so on and so on. In a smaller group, discipleship is more effective as everyone is noticed and needed. Our lives bump into one another and we become accountable for each other’s faith.

4. Everyone exercises their Gifts. 

Yet again, a focus on smaller gatherings allows us to call out and practice the gifts of the Church more effectively. We have intentionally structured space for everyone in the body to contribute in the gatherings and in everyday life. The Pastors have an important calling to lead and shepherd, but this doesn’t mean that they are the only voice that needs to be heard. Our Pastors lead the Scripture discussion in gatherings, and a big task for them is to draw people into utilising their gifts. A smaller group gives the space for those quieter people to share and bring themselves to the group.

5. Regular Multiplication of Churches.

We believe that the Lord wants to add to our number those being saved. How? By the Neighbourhood Churches being on mission together and supporting one another as we pray, connect, and share with those in our worlds. How do we hold this growth? Multiplication. As we grow, the Pastors of each Neighbourhood Church will be raising up Apprentice Pastors who will then take half of the Church when it grows to a number at which intimacy becomes difficult . Each Pastor will have an Elder overseeing and supporting them in a close relationship. We multiply to preserve the healthy number of 10-20 people in each Neighbourhood Church, and to prioritise the mission of God over our own comfort. 

6. Simple Gatherings. 

Our mission is to draw people to God. The Bible mentions over and over about people seeing the love between believers and therefore experiencing God (1 John 4:12). We want to structure our gatherings in a way that gives the Holy Spirit the most room to move in our midst. We want the love of God Himself to be made complete in our interactions with one another. The best way to do this is to focus on what God commands us to do: be devoted to fellowship, the Word, prayer, and the Lord’s supper (Acts 2:42). We want to ensure that every believer is seen and heard. Each Church will be different with its own unique characteristics. The question we are asking is “how can we disciple seniors/children/families/young adults/teenagers within our Neighbourhood Churches?”The role of the Equipping Team will be to help resource and oversee each Neighbourhood Church with this. 

So… Where to from here?: 

Neighbourhood Churches will meet every Sunday from 10am-12pm in homes/cafes/halls across the region. The focus will be around fellowship, prayer and worship, each person sharing from the Word, and the Lord’s supper. Each Neighbourhood Church will look and feel different as shaped by the people in the Church. At this point we will focus on gathering as the seven neighbourhoods that we are. 

Unite Ministries as we have known them are changing. Kids, Youth, YA, Seniors, Men, Women will all be discipled within Neighbourhood Churches. Life groups also will be dissolved into Neighbourhood Churches.

We will continue to have a short online service as a way of connecting us together and to aid in the facilitation of our Neighbourhood Churches.

Once a month we will all gather together to celebrate what God is doing in and through Unite. Someone will share, we will pray and worship corporately, and enjoy being a part of something bigger than ourselves. 

Unite leadership will focus solely on Neighbourhood Churches and Embrace outreach, stewarding funds to equip the saints through giving direction and framework to our Neighbourhood Churches, and overseeing our mission work through Embrace and beyond.