What We Believe
You have probably seen a page like this before. Usually it is a numbered list — one God in three persons, the authority of the Bible, the return of Christ — written in language that takes a theology degree to unpick, and read by almost nobody except other Christians checking whether we are sound.
We do hold all of that. There is nothing unusual or clever about our doctrine. If you want to know where we stand on something in particular, ask us and we will tell you straight.
But it would not answer the question you are actually asking. That question is more likely to be: what are these people like, and what are they going to want from me?
What We Believe
You have probably seen a page like this before. Usually it is a numbered list — one God in three persons, the authority of the Bible, the return of Christ — written in language that takes a theology degree to unpick, and read by almost nobody except other Christians checking whether we are sound.
We do hold all of that. There is nothing unusual or clever about our doctrine. If you want to know where we stand on something in particular, ask us and we will tell you straight.
But it would not answer the question you are actually asking. That question is more likely to be: what are these people like, and what are they going to want from me?
So here is the honest version.
It all comes back to Jesus
We believe God has not stayed at a distance. He made himself known in person. Jesus was born in an ordinary place to an ordinary family, lived a real life among real people, died a real death, and rose again.
The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:14 (CSB)
Everything this church does comes back to helping people find and follow him. If you ever want to know why we do something, that is the answer underneath it.
We would rather you read the Bible than take our word for it
We teach it every Sunday and we try to do it plainly, without the jargon. But we would far rather you opened it yourself than trusted us to tell you what it says. A faith you have only ever heard second-hand is a thin thing.
Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path.
Psalm 119:105 (CSB)
Bring a Bible if you have one, or use the app on your phone — plenty of people here do. We will always tell you where we are reading from so you can check it for yourself.
We actually pray
Not as a formality at the start of the service. At 9:50 every Sunday, before anything else happens, everyone in the building stops and prays together. It is the foundation the rest of the morning stands on.
We believe God hears and we expect him to answer, though we are honest that the answer is not always the one we wanted, and sometimes it takes years. We pray anyway.
Don't worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Philippians 4:6 (CSB)
Church is a family, not an audience
You cannot really do this on your own, and we are not trying to run a performance you come and watch. We are aiming at something more like a family — where everyone is valued the same, everyone has a part to play, and nobody is left on the edge.
That is why we run small groups called Circles, meeting in homes and cafés and ordinary places. The name is the point. No one on the edge, everyone included.
I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another.
John 13:34 (CSB)
Faith is meant to be useful
We do not think any of this is only for Sundays. Whatever we have — time, ability, money — we hold on loan rather than own outright, and it is meant to be spent on other people.
So we serve, we give, and we try to be useful. In Longton first, because that is where we are, and right across Stoke-on-Trent and beyond, because this is where our people live and work.
Most of it happens quietly, wherever they already are. At work. At the school gate. Next door. We think God cares about ordinary people in ordinary places, and he tends to work through whoever is willing.
Just as each one has received a gift, use it to serve others, as good stewards of the varied grace of God.
1 Peter 4:10 (CSB)
What we don't believe
This is probably the part worth reading.
You do not have to sort your life out before you come. Nobody here managed that, including the people at the front.
You do not have to agree with everything on this page to be welcome. A fair number of people who come on a Sunday are still working out what they think, and that is a perfectly good place to be.
You do not have to be religious, know the songs, or work out when to stand up. Nobody is watching you.
Doubt is not the opposite of faith. Some of the most honest conversations that happen here start with a question someone was afraid to ask out loud.
And church is not the building, or the hour on a Sunday. Those are just where we happen to meet.
Come and See
When Philip wanted his friend Nathanael to meet Jesus, Nathanael was openly sceptical. Philip did not argue with him or try to win the point. He said three words.
“Come and see,” Philip answered.
John 1:46 (CSB)
That is our posture too. We are not going to try to talk you into anything.