Our purpose

Reality is simply what things really are. We believe reality is ultimately understood in relation to Jesus Christ. Everything was created through him and for him, and God’s purpose is to bring his creation to its fulfilment in him. Christian faith, therefore, isn’t about escaping reality. It is learning to see reality more clearly and to live faithfully within it.

The Bible is God’s inspired and authoritative witness to his self-revelation and purposes, centred and fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Jesus said that the Scriptures bear witness to him. We take the Bible seriously, not simply because we want to know more about it, but because through it we learn who God is, what he has done, what he is doing and what he has promised. The Bible is not the destination of Bible teaching. It points us towards the living God.

We mean the present and active ministry of the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit is not an atmosphere, a feeling or an impersonal spiritual power. Jesus said the Spirit would bear witness to him and glorify him. We depend on the Spirit to open our understanding, make the reality of Jesus known, empower us to live faithfully and form us increasingly into the likeness of Christ.

Truth matters enormously, but knowing something is not the same as being formed by it. We can know theology without really knowing God. We can know the correct moral behaviour whilst desiring something completely different. We can be sincere and sincerely mistaken. We can even be doctrinally precise whilst our lives are shaped by money, status, comfort or ourselves. Knowledge matters, but it is a servant of discipleship, not its destination.

We want people to experience the presence and activity of God. But spiritual experience isn’t the destination either. In Scripture, encounters with God lead somewhere. Isaiah sees God, is changed by what he sees and responds, “Here am I; send me.” We aren’t looking for a succession of spiritual experiences. We want to know God. Real encounter should produce recognition, trust, surrender and Christlike character.

Formation is the lifelong work of becoming more like Jesus. It involves more than changing our behaviour. God wants to shape our understanding, desires, character and actions so that we increasingly love what he loves, recognise what is true and willingly take part in his purposes. The New Testament calls this maturity in Christ. We cannot produce that transformation in anyone. It is God’s work through the Holy Spirit. A teacher can open the Scriptures, point towards Jesus and bear witness to what they have seen. Only God can give life.

We think the Bible teacher’s task is to help people see. John the Baptist pointed towards Jesus and said, “Behold.” Jesus invited people to “come and see”. Those who met him stayed with him, followed him and then invited others to discover him for themselves. That is the kind of teaching we want to offer: opening the Scriptures faithfully, helping people see the reality of Jesus more clearly, and trusting the Holy Spirit to do what no teacher can do.

Not a perfect one. Christian formation isn’t about finding a technique that makes life work. It is learning to live faithfully with God in the middle of an unfinished world. Sometimes we need understanding. Sometimes we need our assumptions challenged, or our desires changed. Sometimes we need to repent. Sometimes we simply need the Holy Spirit’s strength to do what we already know is right. Ultimately, we need a mixture of all of them.

Our hope is bigger than a better life now. God has promised resurrection and the renewal of creation. We don’t yet know everything that will mean, but we believe our future is with Christ in the world God makes new. That future changes how we live now. Christian holiness is not simply keeping arbitrary rules. It is learning to live today in harmony with God’s coming reality.

We have used the same simple statement for more than 30 years: bringing the reality of Jesus Christ by the word of God and the anointing of the Holy Spirit. The language has become richer for us over the years, but the desire behind it hasn’t changed. Come and see.