Emmanuel Vision
To help rewrite the story of Craigavon, Ireland and the nations with the good news of the Kingdom of God.
Through our vision we seek to create a compelling picture of a preferred future; a dream we are living for, and to which we aspire. This is something that we will spend our whole lives longing to see and give our lives for whether we see it in our lifetime or not.
Emmanuel Core Values
LOVING GOD
LOVING PEOPLE
LOVING THE WORLD
Our values are the core themes that define the DNA of family culture and the underlying beliefs that shape who we are and drive our behaviours. In the early days of our church community, we developed a culture around this simple little phrase – ‘loving God, loving people.’ We found ourselves becoming sold out for a passionate pursuit of the presence of God and an extravagant love for the hurting and broken in our community.
As we have journeyed together and matured in our calling as a church community, we have caught more and more of God’s heart for the nations. His presence that feeds us inwardly also propels us outwardly. Our eyes are constantly turned outward into the world, as we know the heart of the Father more deeply.
The Great Commandment and Great Commission from which we derive the values Loving God, Loving People and Loving the world, remind us we are a family on a mission, surrendered to the leading of the Holy Spirit.
- Family: We believe family is the primary motif for the church in scripture and therefore we understand the church as a ‘covenant community’ built on the sacrificial love of Jesus.
- Mission: We believe the family of God is called to partner with Him in His dream to see the kingdom of heaven established on the earth. The church is primary ‘apostolic’ - a ’sent’ community into the world the power of the Holy Spirit to reflect the beauty of Jesus and the good news of His kingdom.
- Surrendered to the Holy Spirit: As a family on mission we are open and abandoned to the leading of the Spirit and the voice of God.
Following Jesus in all of Life.
The core values above help us summarise our discipleship and apprenticeship to Jesus. Following on from this, our headline definition of discipleship as a community is therefore: FOLLOWING JESUS IN ALL OF LIFE. Our hope is that from the oldest to the youngest in our community, a ‘white-hot love’ for Jesus will foster a radical discipleship to follow Jesus in every aspect of our lives.
Emmanuel Key Practices
The practices below are the holy habits we commit ourselves to as a family. The six key practices below enflesh what ‘Following Jesus in all of life’ really looks like and describe how we 'live out' our core values. These practices encourage us to follow Jesus in our everyday individual environments but also call us to a general shared 'rule of life', and brings shape to our covenanting community.
- Prayer/Worship
- Creativity
- Hospitality and Generosity
- Compassion and Justice
- Mission
- Discipleship
The following graphic incorporates our three core values and six practices.
WHERE WE BELONG
Emmanuel Lurgan is part of the Tobar Network - a growing family of churches spread across Ireland. Tobar was birthed out of Emmanuel Lurgan in 2017 as it became clear God was raising up Emmanuel as a 'Resource Church' in Ireland. A Tobar leadership team was put in place, released by Emmanuel’s local elders, to serve the wider body of Christ in Ireland bringing apostolic input and accountability to churches which have been ‘planted' by Emmanuel or ‘adopted' into the Tobar Family of churches. More globally, Emmanuel Church finds a home in the 24-7 Communities Network – a worldwide family of non-denominational churches and monastic communities linked to the 24-7 prayer movement. This provides us with active and ongoing support and external accountability.