A Local Church with a Global Vision
We exist to present God’s love through Jesus Christ, by the power and demonstration of the Holy Spirit, to men, women, young people and children from the neighbourhood to the nations.
Our Distinctives:
There are many different types and styles of church in our world today. All Christian churches share a common mission and key points of doctrine, but from that point on, diversity becomes the order of the day! The following distinctives are our attempt to describe what we believe is God’s unique thumbprint upon New Life Derby.
1. We are to be a large church…
This particular distinctive has been held in the heart of the leadership for many years. When there were only a handful of people gathering in a small hall on a side street there was an overwhelming impression that this church would become a large, multi-faceted church that would impact our city, nation and world. There is a strong awareness today amongst those who call New Life their home, that we have built a platform, a foundation, where the fulfilling of this distinctive will be seen and experienced increasingly in the years to come.
2. We are to be a Pentecostal/Charismatic church…
In the sense that we fully expect the Holy Spirit to equip and empower us as we exercise our Christian ministry – reaching people for Christ and making disciples. We believe and embrace the many gifts of the Holy Spirit whilst being careful to ensure that our primary focus is to reach out to others. Worshipping God in Spirit and in Truth is important to us; expressing our love and gratitude to Him through praise and celebration is vital; hearing God’s voice in corporate worship is essential to our practical Christian living, service and evangelism.
3. We are to be a contemporary church…
Contemporary simply means that we are relevant to our culture. We believe the church should communicate in a way that will reach both saint and sinner. For this to happen the truths of applied Christianity should not be lost in the haze of theological jargon and religious form. This particular distinctive is incredibly refreshing to many who are seeking God and yet have been put off by the bureaucracy, rigidity and legalism found in many expressions of church. We have been referred to as the “Church for people who don’t like church”
4. We are to be an intelligent church…
We have worked over the years to present Christianity in an intelligent and thought-provoking way. The Christian faith is a reasonable faith and the heart cannot embrace what the mind rejects. We therefore encourage thinking people to ask the hard questions, to check things out, to search the Bible as the plumb-line for Truth and then to follow Christ with clear headed intention and hearts full of faith.
5. We are to be a multi-cultural church…
Multi-culturalism is an established pillar of 21st Century Britain. New Life is at the heart of a multi-cultural community. As a local church we want to reflect the diversity of the society in which we live. We want to be accessible to the range of people living in our city and to see the international flavour reflected in our church.
6. We are to be a rescue shop…
C.T.Studd, one of the greatest missiologists (that just means that he studied the church’s mission and the work of its missionaries!) of the 19th and 20th century wrote:- “Some want to live within the sound of a church or chapel bell. I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell.” As an inner-city church, we are surrounded by broken lives, violence, prostitution, drug abuse, alcoholism, divided families, broken marriages, abuse and poverty. Jesus Christ changes lives, that is both our message and our experience.
7. We are to be a church that communicates globally…
We feel very strongly that what God is doing among us will be taken and communicated to as wide a constituency as possible. Our investments into other parts of the world are expressions of this distinctive. We believe that the creativity and intelligibility that God has graced us with will have an increasing impact on lives and churches around our world.