Ilam Directions Document
admin September 15th, 2011
Ilam Baptist Church’s mission, in common with every Christian church, is to be a
living expression of God’s love. Our mission expresses God’s mission to save a
community of faith that collectively demonstrates God’s love.
Therefore, we commit ourselves to worship God together, to nurture and care for
one another, and to express God’s love to those inside and outside the church.
To that end, for the next three years our specific directions are:
1. To become a more outward facing missional church by
• Sponsoring missional initiatives beyond our Sunday gathering, that
involve Ilamites working and serving together
• Showing hospitality to those on the edges of the Christchurch
community, particularly overseas students
• Establishing a physical presence for Ilam as a context from which to
build relationships with the wider city
• Partnering with overseas mission workers, both locals living in their communities and those living cross culturally
2. To effectively disciple the children who are part of the Ilam Baptist Church,
through childhood and young adulthood, so that they know that they are loved
and they are wanted by
• Including them in all aspects of church life and encouraging their
involvement as participants and servers as well as recipients
• Building a team of skilled youth leaders who will disciple young Ilamites
through their teenage years.
3. To grow a worshipping community that is increasingly characterized by the
following qualities:
• Unselfconscious celebration of God and life in all its goodness
• Healthy lament over our personal and collective losses, while being
held in the hope of the gospel
• Acceptance of God’s call and gifts to all believers to be priests, the
recognize and affirm the gifts given to individuals for the good of all
who are Ilam Baptist church, and to serve one another as God enables
• A sense of belonging and connection and responsibility to one another.
