The Neighbourhood Project is underpinned by our 5 values. They shape who we are, what we do and what we are seeking to achieve.
These values will inform our practice and reflection and keep us focused as we move forward.
They are:
Practical Love
Imaginative Practice
Prayerful Discernment
Intentional Community
Lifelong Learning
We offer the following as an overview, but not an exhaustive or all-encompassing definition for each of our values. They show you the direction of our thoughts right now but are also subject to growth and development as we grow and develop.
Practical Love
We are committed to practically and intentionally loving our neighbours wherever we are.
Imaginative Practice
We believe that things don’t only have to be the way they are. Therefore, as a project we are committed to using our imaginations to dream and explore what could be possible, without the limitations of what currently is.
We are committed to experimentation and play. To thinking creatively and exploring new ideas. To being curious in all we do.
We will ask the good questions of ‘why’ and ‘what if’ which will allow us to see beyond where we are and to move into what could be. We will allow ourselves to dream and focus on hope and possibility enabling us to explore and discern the way forward.
Prayerful Discernment
We are committed to prayer! Therefore prayer will underpin all we do together and separately.
We will pray for one another, with one another and for the missional opportunities that present themselves.
We will listen to God and seek to discern what God is saying to us.
We will look for where God is moving and at work in our ‘neighbourhoods’ and look for the ‘good’ within our contexts that we might be able to join in with what God is already doing on our ‘frontlines’.
Intentional Community
We are passionate about community, but we recognise that to grow community we need to be intentional.
Things like fellowship, relationship and hospitality are foundational to our approach, both within the missional community and also for the future worshipping community.
We will open our hearts to one another, commit to each other and share life together.
As a missional community we will pray together, study together, learn together and commit to a share wat of life. We value and encourage honesty, integrity, vulnerability and trust. We will encourage and support one another as we seek to live as ‘whole life disciples’ in our own contexts.
As missionaries our approach is relational, to share our hearts with those on our frontlines, building relationships with those in our ‘neighbourhoods’ offering them hospitality and community.
Lifelong Learning
We love to learn!
We recognise that when doing anything new, learning and reflecting is a big part of the process. Therefore, we are committed to continue to learn and grow throughout our lives as members of the missional community and as a new worshipping community once that develops.
Learning comes in all sorts of shapes and forms and includes learning about ourselves, our communities, each other and mission. As well as exploring new approaches to church, worship and mission.
Learning is also a continual process, it isn’t something we do once and are then done with, so a commitment to learning will continue through the faith community’s lifetime. Enabling faithful relevant approaches to mission and worshipping communities that will continue to grow, develop, multiply and reproduce new missional communities into the future.
