What do we believe?

All Saints, Kempston stands in the liberal catholic tradition of the Church of England. This means that our faith is based on the Catholic Creeds in which we profess our belief in God, revealed as Father, Son and Holy Spirit and in the Church as the community of those united by our common Baptism into the Body of Christ. This faith finds its focus in the person of Jesus Christ, who is both truly human and fully divine. Because he loves us, God empties himself of his divine attributes to share completely in Jesus our human life with all its joys and sorrows, and through his Resurrection, he holds before us the hope of eternal life and that our lives can be transformed into the glory of God. Our faith is uniquely revealed to us through the Bible and especially in the Gospels but also through the use of our God-given human reason and through the teaching and tradition of the Church.

However, in the modern age, we are increasingly faced by ethical dilemmas that fall outside the experience of the ancient world, such as the place of women in society and scientific developments in medicine, like stem cell research. Here we must be bold and take our courage into our own hands and be prepared to make ethical judgments using the mind that God has given us, informed by the principles of the teaching of Jesus and by the traditions of the Church and guided by the Holy Spirit.

We express our faith in worship through the Sacraments, and especially in Baptism and through the Holy Eucharist, in which we remember the love of Christ poured out for us in his self-offering on the Cross, we discover the presence of Christ among us and we share in his sacramental Body and Blood. But we also express our faith through a life of loving service to our neighbours, at work, as individuals, in family life and through service to the community in our Sunday School, Youth Club, Choir and many other organisations.

 

All Saints, Kempston –  Mission Action Plan

> Three Things we have seen about our Parish and the World

  1. Rapidly changing and growing population over a large area with both urban and rural communities.
  2. Multi-cultural community with a variety of Christian denominations.
  3. Six schools

Three Things we have seen about our Church

  1. Beautiful building offering well-ordered Anglican worship, but not situated in the centre of the community.
  2. Ageing congregation with a less regular younger element, including young people and children.
  3. Plenty of opportunities to make contacts with the community beyond the Church through occasional offices, social events and schools.

Our Vision is

> How we want to be described in five years’ time:

  1. That we are building a caring, worshipping and inclusive Church that is engaging with the community and communicating a faith that is relevant to people’s lives.

Our Priorities are

> Our three key priorities for the next five years:

  1. Engaging the Community.
  2. Communicating with the wider Parish.
  3. The future use of the buildings and resources associated with the Church.

Our goals are

> Our three key SMART goals for the next year or more:

  1. Engaging the Community
    • To enhance the resources available in church for children.
    • To set up Geo-caches.
  2. Communicating with the wider Parish
    • To develop the website emphasizing our strengths and including photos of people, worship and events.
    • To include information about pastoral care, baptisms, weddings and funerals on the website.
  3. The future use of the buildings and resources associated with the Church
    • To integrate the nursery within the mission of the Church.
    • To expand hall publicity for use by the wider community.