Our Vision

Our vision at St Michael’s is simple:

To play our part in a move of God’s spirit, seeing His life flow from The Church bringing transformation to our communities, our wider town and beyond.

Our mission is:

To raise a church of prayerful, passionate, missionary disciples of Jesus, empowered to serve God’s plan to renew the whole of creation.

This vision for a move of God is echoed in our history. St Michael’s used to be the ‘barracks church’ – soldiers would march up to worship from what is now Hampton Magna. They were trained and sent out into battle all over the world; we want to recapture that image, training, equipping and sending God’s people. More than that, in the year 2000, an earthquake hit central England with the epicenter of Budbrooke and, more specifically, St Michael’s itself.

Our belief is that something amazing will flow out from the church and have wider impact in the local area.

As we continue to pray for this, we seek to equip the church to live and grow:

  • in our identity as God’s children

  • in our walk as Jesus’ disciples,

  • and in ministering his love to each other, our communities and networks in faith, power and authority.

Set in the middle of a number of communities, we are committed to form patterns of mission together that reach into each area that we serve, as well as the networks many of us share and live within.

Values

  • We shape our ministry to enable each of us to find good rhythms and patterns of life that will release growth in faith and impact as live for God and join his plan to heal and renew the whole of creation. We express this through our Crown disciplining rhythm which expresses some key biblical values.

  • We aspire to grow in our relationships with each other meeting for conversation, coffee or food. As God sets the lonely in families, so we aim to get to know others in our fellowship beyond our existing circle of relationships. We acknowledge the significance of gathered worship, glorifying God together and building one another up.

  • We reject the incessant demands of modern life, and seek to model something better. We recognise the importance of having regular rest each week, to “re-create” by involving God in times when we cease “productive” work.

  • All of our life is worship, an offering back to God of ourselves. We seek to call the treasure out of one another, to discern and use our gifts, in and through church but also in the wider world to bring glimpses of heaven to earth. We acknowledge the part our work can play in the renewal of all things, as we live justly and glorify God in creativity and work for justice.

  • God is Good. He is our loving Father, we come to him through Jesus, the living Word and in the power of the Holy Spirit. We long to sit at his feet in worship. We seek to set time aside for worship, prayer and praise regularly, aiming to keep growing in this area of life. We consider this a priority, even when it is hard, the ancients called this an “oblation”, a sacrifice of praise. We choose to live in the truth that our life flows from him.

  • We love hearing God’s word to us from the Bible and allowing it’s wisdom and truth to shape our lives. We want to live authentic lives, seeking to go deeper in our understanding and to put into practice all we learn. We seek to inspire and urge each other to greater things by applying the truth we have heard.

  • Jesus sends each of us out to bear witness to him. In Luke 10, he gives us his strategy – to search for People of Peace. As we do this together, we value building relationship and regular connection with others in ways appropriate to our personalities / circumstances. Open to the Holy Spirit’s leading, we seek to be good news, helping People of Peace take a ‘next step’ towards Jesus, be that through an act of kindness, hospitality, invitation, conversation etc.