Why do we exist as a church?

The purpose of the Silkstone Baptist Church can be summarised in a single sentence.

 “We Worship, Teach, Reach & Care
To bring God and People together in Christ”

The Great Commandment: “Jesus said, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart… soul… and mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: Love your neighbour as yourself.  All the Law and Prophets hang on these two commandments.’”  Matthew 22:36-40

The Great Commission:  “Jesus said, ‘Go and make disciples of all nations baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.’”  Matthew 28:19-20.

To ‘Love God with all your hear’ is Worship

To ‘Teach them to obey all things’ is to Teach

To ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’ is to Reach & Care

To ‘Go… Make disciples’ is Bringing God & people together

To ‘Baptise them’ is to bring people into Fellowship in Christ

Our Church Exists –

1. We exist to experience and celebrate God’s presence (WORSHIP)

“Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.”  Matthew 4:10

“…the Father seeks worshipper… and His worshippers must worship Him in spirit and truth.” John 4:23-24

Expressions of worship include:

2. We exist to Educate God’s People (TEACH)

“Let us leave the elementary teachings of Christ and go on to maturity..” (Hebrews 6:1)

“Grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18)

This process is pursued via:

3.  We Exist to Demonstrate God’s Love (REACH & CARE)

“By this shall all men know that you are my disciples – that you may have love for one another.” John 13:35

1 John 3:16-17; Matthew 25:34-40; Hebrews 13:16; Romans 12:13

The heartbeat of our church is our ministry to each other.

It is our belief that every members needs to be involved in a ministering group.

“Now God gives us many kinds of special abilities… and there are different kinds of service to God… All of you together form the one body of Christ and each of you is a separate and necessary part of it” 1 Corinthians 12:4-5, 27 (LB)

4.  We Exist to communicate God’s Word  (TO BRING GOD & PEOPLE TOGETHER ‘evangelism’)

“His intent was that through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known…” Ephesians 3:10

“Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.  But how shall they ask him to save them unless they believe in Him? And how can they believe in Him if they have never heard about Him?  And how can they hear about Him unless someone tells them?”  Romans 10:13-14 (LB)

The emphasis is on equipping the members to evangelise.  In addition we hold evangelistic services in which the gospel is presented in clear and concise terms with the sole intent of seeing people make a commitment to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. 

“(God has given)… some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of ministry, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all… become mature… like Christ.” Ephesians 4:11-13

5.  We exist to unite God’s people (Fellowship In Christ)

“so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.”  Romans 12:5

“To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ – Their Lord and ours.” 1 Corinthians 1:2

“God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them.  And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.”  2 Corinthians 5:19.

In Christ we are united in fellowship both with God and with each other.  We are all members of the one family of God.