At the heart of our church lies the unwavering belief that the gospel transforms lives and that the Bible is God’s living Word, guiding us today. Our vision and values are rooted in these truths, shaping everything we do as a community of faith in the Borders.
Vision
Rooted in Jesus. Reaching the Borders.
Jesus has given his church a mission: to make disciples. Jesus further explains that making disciples is two-fold: The church multiplies as people hear the gospel and are saved, and Christians mature as they are taught from the Bible how to walk in obedience to Jesus as they grow in love and knowledge of him (Matthew 28:18-20). We have rephrased maturity and multiplication as rooted in Jesus and reaching the Borders. We want to be a church that always has church planting in mind, seeking to plant a church that will go on to plant a presbytery in the Borders. The way we want to do this is in the same spirit as the Free Church’s first Moderator, Thomas Chalmers, who said, ‘Who cares for the Free Church compared with the Christian good of Scotland?’ Our great desire is not to grow an institution for its own sake but to go out with the gospel and so we also want to partner with other like minded churches in reaching the Borders.
Mission
We seek to be a worshipping community of grace, that is gathered by the gospel of Jesus, that makes and matures disciples of Jesus, to the glory of Jesus, in Gala, the Borders and beyond.
Values
To the glory of God we seek to:
Pray recognising our total dependence upon the Lord in all things.
We want to be a people who are dependent upon the Lord knowing that ‘without him we can do nothing’ and that begins in prayer.
Reach out to people with speaking the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Although there will be formal events, we believe that the gospel best reaches people through people we know. Therefore the main way will be reaching people is through equipping the church to share the gospel within their current networks and thinking through how to reach those with no connection to the church.
Build people up through teaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We are not called to simply be converts but disciples. Growing in love and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ is essential for the Christian, and this comes primarily through God’s word doing God’s work by the Spirit of God.
Train gospel workers for serving Christ’s church.
The greatest need in Scotland is to hear and respond to the gospel. We want to partner with others in helping train gospel workers and also create a culture of teaching and evangelism.
Send people out into the world as workers for the Lord Jesus Christ.
We want to not simply be equipped in our daily lives to live for Jesus and speak for Jesus but also send out people we have helped train to serve in Christ’s church elsewhere. Within the next two decades, we also want to help plant three more churches in the Borders.