Purpose Statement:
“Cookstown Baptist Church exists to glorify God through our LOVE for Him, as we GROW in our faith, as we SERVE in our church, and as we GO into all the world with the gospel”.
LOVE
Jesus taught that the greatest commandment is to “LOVE the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30). In view of this, we want to encourage believers to grow in their love for God. As a church therefore, we meet regularly to study God’s Word, to worship God in song, and to pray to God together as a family of believers.
GROW
The apostle Paul prayed for the church in Colossae, ‘that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasingly in the knowledge of God‘ (Colossians1:9-10).
It’s clear from Scripture that God not only saves us, but that He also wants to sanctify us (to transform us more and more into the image of Christ). To help with this, God has blessed us with His Word and His Spirit. And so as we meet together as a church, we pray that we would GROW in our obedience to God’s Word and in our Christlikeness.
SERVE
Paul tells us in Romans, ‘Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us us them‘ (Romans 12:6). As we grow and mature in Christ, we want to use our time, our energy, and our gifts to SERVE Christ’s Church. We’re a body that consists of many members who all have different gifts. But despite our diversity, we strive to serve in unity to the building up of the body and to the glory of God.
GO
Before Jesus ascended back into heaven, He said – “All authority in heaven and on earth has be given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20).
Believers who love God, who are growing in their faith, and who are serving with their gifts in the church will also be those who are eager to GO and make disciples of all nations wherever the Lord has placed them. As a church, our goal is to introduce people to the Lord Jesus Christ in order that they too might LOVE, GROW, SERVE and GO themselves.