Vision

This is God’s world and we are His people. Together and in teams we serve a living God who has created all things, intervened in human history and is still active. Our mission through prayer and action is to serve our community with care and kindness so that everyone is accepted and welcomed, and to care for the environment and the wider world as we are able.

God calls us to courage in prayer and worship so that we can reach up to Him and He can shine into our church community.

How we see ourselves

What appeals to us about St Augustine’s church family?

17 of our church family gathered for our Sunday evening “Gateway” sevice were asked to make a list of adjectives describing their feelings about the church. The 341 responses were sorted into a list of 123 distinct words or short hyphenated phrases. In the word cloud the apparent size of a word represents the number of times it appeared in the list, giving, we think, rather a good snapshot of how we see ourselves.

Read what the church family say about our worship

Here are some “sound bites” from our church members to give you a flavour of our services:

Our services are thoughtful… Exploring our ways of thinking and living.
They shine God’s light on what I thought I knew and let the Spirit of God challenge, guide and direct.
Sometimes they are challenging but always inclusive and accepting of each other.
Our services are kind, healing, full of peace , and followed by great cakes.
Our services reflect God’s faithful love, accepting us as we are yet loving us enough to draw us closer to Himself.
In our worship we feel the joy of declaring truths about God and sing of our aspirations and prayers. All our worries can be set aside. Not that our problems or worries disappear but that we step more entirely into the eternal worship of God in the heavens.
Our services reopen the holes in our spiritual roof.
They explain God’s love in relevant contexts and help us understand ourselves and the plight of others.
They help us to accept God’s grace in whatever form it takes.
Worship is offered as a structured gathering designed to build a community equipped and committed to sharing the love of God with everyone.
At St Augustine’s Church are some of the kindest people I have ever met.
‘We have attended SASH for 15 years & find the services uplifting, the sermons helpful, even challenging sometimes, & made some very dear friends.’
There is a sense of shared warmth. The mixture of quiet reflection & joyous worship coupled with exploration of the significance of different aspects of faith both for individuals and the church fellowship – keeps us thinking and praying. Also, we are offered many opportunities to contribute.
Sermons at St. Augustine’s don’t tell you what to think – they offer you something to think about!
SASH is a church where we are able to bring our whole selves through the church doors, without leaving our hearts and minds behind, without wearing a mask; this reflects the welcome, inclusion, love and acceptance we have felt there.
Being in a church community that offers the possibility of being able to be yourself, and to be accepted as yourself, is fundamental for us and probably explains why we so quickly felt at home.

For further information about our worship and liturgy, go to this link

The tapestry

“I came that you might have life, and have it abundantly”. This quote from John’s gospel is the theme of the tapestry. It inspires our worship and vision. We have chosen scenes from the tapestry to illuminate our web site.

Ministry and Mission

Our Mission Action Plan and Team Structure are designed to support this vision in accordance with the Five Marks of Mission.