The Heart Beat of
​Christ Church Cottingham

Our Vision and Mission are one, it's what we do and why we do it...​​

1- Our Vision is what we do
As a local church, our existence and the vision for what God is doing and has done here has always been centred on Jesus Christ.
Everything we do flows from the vision that we would be a people who:
"Create environments for people to meet and grow in relationship with Jesus Christ"
You will see that vision happening in our key environments: 
1-9:00am Service 2-Our 10:30am Service 3-6:32pm Evening Service 4-Connect Groups 5-Discipleship & Membership Group 
6-CCCoffee 7-Youth & Childrens Ministry 8-PlayTots 9-Saga
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2- Our Mission is why we do it 
"To go and make disciples of all nations" Matt 28:19
We love celebrating God, we want to connect people to God and then help contribute our gifts to the work of meaningful ministry. 
​Celebrate, Connect & Contribute. 
For us, this is making disciples of nations, to see people equipped to impact our world for Jesus Christ through natural evangelism. 

​Therefore, in all areas of our ministry, we focus and combine our Vision and foundation Mission:
We create environments for people to meet and grow in relationship with Jesus Christ and we do this by celebrating God whenever we are together, we make time to connect people in our sphere of influence to God in authentic and natural ways and we champion each other as we contribute all of our gifts to the work of the ministry.

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Our Strategy and Values are one, it's how we do it and who we are...​
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3- Our Strategy how we do it
“Engage, Plug & Pursue”
We will actively ENGAGE in celebration, 
We are passionately PLUGGING into connect groups, 
We intentionally PURSUE our calling & gifts.
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​4- Our Values who we are 
“We value Relationship, Encouragement, Commitment & Accountability”
-Relationship: Purposefully pursuing authentic interaction, putting others first & loving from a point of grace. Phil 2:3
-Encouragement: Joyfully and enthusiastically encouraging others in their pursuit of God. 1 Thess 5:11
-Commitment: Consistently displaying the life of Christ in sacrificial devotion to God in the service of others. Philippians 2:16-17
-Accountability: Responsibly creating and carrying out meaningful ministry in an excellent & transparent way. 1 Timothy 1:13

​Therefore, in all areas of our ministry, we focus and combine our Strategy and foundation Values:
Engage – how we engage the congregation in ministry
Plugging – how we connect in small groups
Pursue – how we hone our skills to operate in our gifting’s with excellence
Relationship – how we relate to the wider church
Encourage – how we relate to the rest of the team
Commitment – how we understanding of the call to ministry life
Accountability – how we conduct ourselves as disciples of Jesus

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So in a nutshell you could say...
(Vision) We create environments for people to meet and grow in relationship with Jesus Christ. 
(Mission) We will do this by celebrating God whenever we are together, we will make time to connect people in our sphere of influence with God in authentic and natural ways and champion people as they contribute their gifts to the work of the ministry. 
(Strategy) As disciples we will celebrate by purposefully engaging in celebration moments through a variety of styles of service and worship, we will connect by plugging into connect groups choosing to honour each other rather than gossip or pull down, we will contribute our gifts by pursuing our callings through training and mentor based relationships. 
(Values) You will know us by our authentic Relationships, our  culture of Encouragement, our practical Commitment & transparency through Accountability. 
We are Christ Church Cottingham and this is our dream.

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What we believe 
These are our official doctrinal statements. If you have any specific questions about what we believe, please contact us.

• 1. God: There is one God, who exists eternally in three distinct but equal persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God is unchangeable in his holiness, justice, wisdom and love. He is the almighty Creator; Saviour and Judge who sustains and governs all things according to his sovereign will for his own glory.
• 2. The Bible: God has revealed himself in the Bible, which consists of the Old and New Testaments alone. Every word was inspired by God through human authors, so that the Bible as originally given is in its entirety the Word of God, without error and fully reliable in fact and doctrine. The Bible alone speaks with final authority and is always sufficient for all matters of belief and practice.
• 3. The Human Race: All men and women, being created in the image of God, have inherent and equal dignity and worth. Their greatest purpose is to obey, worship and love God. As a result of the fall of our first parents, every aspect of human nature has been corrupted and all men and women are without spiritual life, guilty sinners and hostile to God. Every person is therefore under the just condemnation of God and needs to be born again, forgiven and reconciled to God in order to know and please him.
• 4. The Lord Jesus Christ: The Lord Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of a virgin, and lived a sinless life in obedience to the Father. He taught with authority and all his words are true. On the cross he died in the place of sinners, bearing God’s punishment for their sin, redeeming them by his blood. He rose from the dead and in his resurrection body ascended into heaven where he is exalted as Lord of all. He intercedes for his people in the presence of the Father.
• 5. Salvation: Salvation is entirely a work of God’s grace and cannot be earned or deserved. It has been accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ and is offered to all in the gospel. God in his love forgives sinners whom he calls, granting them repentance and faith. All who believe in Christ are justified by faith alone, adopted into the family of God and receive eternal life.
• 6. The Holy Spirit: The Holy Spirit has been sent from heaven to glorify Christ and to apply his work of salvation. He convicts sinners, imparts spiritual life and gives a true understanding of the Scriptures. He indwells all believers, brings assurance of salvation and produces increasing likeness to Christ. He builds up the Church and empowers its members for worship, service and mission.
• 7. The Church: The universal Church is the body of which Christ is the head and to which all who are saved belong. It is made visible in local churches, which are congregations of believers who are committed to each other for the worship of God, the preaching of the Word, the administering of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper; for pastoral care and discipline, and for evangelism. The unity of the body of Christ is expressed within and between churches by mutual love, care and encouragement. True fellowship between churches exists only where they are faithful to the gospel.
• 8. Baptism and Communion: Baptism and Communion have been given to the churches by Christ as visible signs of the gospel. Baptism is a symbol of union with Christ and entry into his Church but does not impart spiritual life. Communion is a commemoration of Christ’s sacrifice offered once for all and involves no change in the bread and wine. All its blessings are received by faith.
• 9. The Future: Man was created to exist forever. He will either exist eternally separated from God by sin or in union with God through forgiveness and salvation. To be eternally separated from God is hell. To be eternally in union with Him is eternal life. Heaven and hell are places of eternal existence.