Our Purpose

A few years ago we took a fresh look together at God’s vision for his Church as expressed in the Bible and as a result of this work adopted the following purpose statement that sums up everything we are and everything we do as a people of God in CLBC.

God wants us in CLBC to:

• Worship Him.
• Commit ourselves to his family and build His church in this community.
• Grow to be like Jesus.
• Use our gifts and talents in the service of God.
• Be active in mission.

Statement of Faith

We accept the revelation of the triune God given in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments and we confess the historic faith of the gospel set forth in these.  We subscribe to the following basis of faith which we believe expresses the fundamental truths of Christianity and should result in mutual love, practical Christian service and evangelical concern:

• The sovereignty, unity and grace of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in creation, revelation, redemption and final judgment.
• The divine inspiration of the Bible and its trustworthiness and supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct.
• The universal sinfulness and guilt of fallen mankind, making him subject to God’s righteous judgement.
• The deity and incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ and His death on the Cross and bodily resurrection which has secured freedom from the guilt and power of sin, and from its eternal consequences and given us victory over Satan.
• The justification of the sinner solely by the grace of God through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ crucified and risen from the dead.
• The illuminating, regeneration and indwelling work of the Holy Spirit to bring about faith, to produce in us an increasing likeness to Christ, and to equip The Church for service.
• The Church, the body of Christ of which He is the Head, which is committed by His command to show and proclaim the Gospel throughout the world.
• The expectation of the personal, visible return of the Lord Jesus Christ in power and glory.

Our Calling

In the coming years, we at CLBC believe that God wants us to grow in faith and maturity in our relationship with Him, through a greater commitment to prayer and increasing intimacy in our relationship with His son Jesus Christ, through sound biblical teaching and through the outworking of our faith in acts of service.

As a people we have a heart for God and a desire to see Him move in the power of His Holy Spirit as we are open to Him and willing to exercise the gifts of the Spirit.

From this foundation we believe God is calling us to be more outward looking, to increasingly become a ‘church beyond walls’, as we concentrate our time and energies on evangelism and outreach, building bridges with those in the local community and expressing God’s love in practical ways. We long for people to see and recognise the love of God for them personally, and to respond in faith to that love.

Our youth work in its various forms is already an effective bridge into the community and it has been exciting to see changed lives arising from that.  We have also established a team called Bridgebuilders to help develop new ideas for outreach using the "Sowing, Reaping, Keeping" model (Laurence Singlehurst). Our challenge therefore is to increasingly step out of the comfort of our church buildings and find creative and effective ways to respond to God’s calling – to be Jesus in the locality.

Central to this is our responsibility to nurture and disciple those who come to faith, and we believe that God is calling us to strengthen this aspect of our ministry.  We have a shared desire to see people find salvation and faith in Jesus Christ and to experience His grace and mercy in their lives.

We want to play our part in seeing "His kingdom come, His will be done."

Senior Pastor & Elders

Church Deacons