Why Acorn?
The vision of the church is to see God’s work of grace planted (like acorns) all along the coastline, including north and south of Whitley Bay, impacting the lives of individuals, towns and local communities. The desire is that each life or place where his work is planted should grow in:
- Faith - knowing Christ
- Freedom - restored through Christ
- Fruitfulness - living for Christ
We believe that when God plants his work in someone’s life or in an area, even though it might start small, there is incredible potential for growth and for that growth to reproduce itself. Over the years the church has been inspired by the following verse from the Old Testament:
‘They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the Lord
For the display of his splendour’ (Isaiah 61:3)
At Acorn CC we have 5 core values and believe that all 5 should be strongly evident in the life of a believer (and a local church) for a balanced and effective Christian life:
1) MAGNIFY (Worship) – To honour God in all that we do.
This includes honouring God in our work, play, rest, relationships and finances - and by stating our intent to keeping him first by joining the rest of the church in expressing our worship to Jesus each week.
2) MEMBERSHIP (Fellowship) – To benefit from friendship, fun, help and support. We recognise that people do not simply want to go to a church that is welcoming; they want to feel that they belong and to experience friendship. It is impossible for everyone to know everybody well in a church our size - our aim therefore is that every person has the chance to connect with people they find easy to relate to in a Small Group setting, midweek.
3) MATURITY (Growth) – To grow in Christ and all relevant aspects of life.
God’s desire is that his purposes and life grow within us. Growth is also sought in our understanding of what it means to follow him today - and to develop our own relationship with Christ. We want to help people recover from past or current issue(s) that hinder their freedom, development and enjoyment of life.
4) MINISTRY (Serving) – To play our part in making a difference.
It is important that each person develops his/her God given abilities for serving people within the church and local community (Eph 2:10). We want to help people to serve God (by serving others) with growing effectiveness and purity of motivation - for each person to experience the pleasure and fulfilment that comes by serving as part of a team. (Eph 4:16).
5) MISSION (Reaching the lost) – To take and be Good News.
Jesus is not on Planet Earth in physical form at this time – but his body is. We are ‘the body of Christ’ and it is the church’s (every Christian’s) purpose and destiny to be a channel for God to bring healing, restoration and the Good News of Christ to those around us. |
