Ethos

Our Identity

St Paul's is an evangelical Anglican church in the Diocese of London.

Individually and as a community we long for renewal through the Holy Spirit, so that we can know and experience more and more of the amazing and unconditional love of God in Jesus, and be channels of that love to others. We seek to know and to share the joy and fullness of life that Jesus came to bring and to be partners with him in the transformation of his world. Our ministry and mission is shaped by an orthodox understanding of Christianity as revealed in the Holy Scriptures, set out in the catholic creeds and to which the historic Anglican formularies bear witness.

Our theological position falls within the open evangelical tradition of the Church of England. In essence this means we are:

Committed to:

• the final authority of the Bible in all matters of belief;
• the uniqueness and finality of Christ, the Son of God;
• the free gift of eternal life for humankind only through his death on the cross and resurrection;
• the need for personal acceptance of Christ;
• the teaching of Scripture as the normative ethical framework and guideline in human relationships, upholding faithfulness in marriage between a man and a woman in lifelong union, and abstinence for those not called to such marriage; and
• the mission-shaped calling of the church.

Open to:

• the insights of biblical scholarship;
• the renewing presence and power of the Holy Spirit;
• new patterns of worship, prayer and liturgy;
• learning from other Christian traditions, including those in the developing world;
• the ordained ministry of women; and
• playing a full part within the structures of the Church of England.

Our Core Values

Worship

We are committed to worship in Word and Sacrament, through the power of the Holy Spirit. We seek to make our corporate worship glorifying to God and authentic and relevant to our cultural setting while remaining faithful to mainstream Anglican tradition (John 4:23-24; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; Acts 17:22-24).

Scripture

We believe in the divine inspiration and supreme authority of the Old and New Testament Scriptures, which are the written Word of God. We seek to make them the standard by which we order our lives, express our faith and function as a community (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

Prayer

We believe that prayer is crucial to our growing relationship with God and to knowing and aligning ourselves with his will. Therefore, we aim to make prayer a priority – to enable God to lead, restore, heal and transform our lives, our church, our community and the world (Luke 11:1-13; Acts 12:1-17).

Community

We are committed to ministry being accomplished in relationships which express the love, intimacy, and unity of God as revealed in the relationships within the Holy Trinity. (John 13:34; 1 John 4:7-21).

Ministry

We believe that every Christian is created, gifted and needed for ministry. We are, therefore, committed to equip, empower and release the faithful to use their spiritual gifts to glorify God and to build up the Body of Christ (Romans 12:1-8; 1 Corinthians 12:1-31).

Mission

We believe that we are called to communicate God’s loving heart for the world by sensitive evangelism - sharing the faith, making disciples and growing the local, national and international Church - and prophetic social action - caring for the needy, challenging evil and promoting justice and a more responsible use of the world's resources (Amos 2:6-8, 5:11-15, 8:4-8; Matthew 9:12-13; Matthew 28:16-20; Luke 4:16-21).

We are committed to maintaining our distinctively Christian ethos by ensuring that Christians, as volunteers and staff, are appointed to those positions, which we have agreed, require Christians to fill them.