The Vision of Forestgate Presbyterian Church

By the grace of God, we want our church members to continue to be a Body of Believers that is Worshipping, Giving, Reaching, and Nurturing.  

Worshiping

To Worship God Biblically: Our worship, honor, and respect for God should be for His glory alone, not ours. We believe we are only to worship God according to the principles He has given us in His Word. We also believe all people, whether young or old should participate (Deuteronomy 12:12, Joshua 8:35).Our worship should be both reverent and vital to reflect our deep love for God.

Giving

To Give By Helping One Another: In the process of growing spiritually, we will produce trained, mature people to minister to the Body (2 Timothy 2:2). We are here for one another so that we may grow together (Galatians 6:10, 1 Thessalonians 5:11, Hebrews 10:24-25). We desire a large percentage of our people to be involved in some form of ministry, using their spiritual gifts.

To Extend the Work of the Church through financial giving: We encourage each other to give financially according to Biblical principles taught in the New Testament (1 Corinthians 16:1-2, 2 Corinthians 9:6-7 ).

Reaching

To Reach Out:  Jesus charged His church with making disciples (Matthew 28:19-20). That means we must train our church members so that they can tell the world of the good news of Christ's coming, dying for His people's sins, and rising from the dead. When we receive and rest alone on Christ for our salvation, we are joined to Him and to one another as His Body (John 15). We want the church to grow numerically by attracting not only "those who are well", but "those who are sick" (Matthew 9:12,13). Therefore, we seek to have people equipped to minister to others, in their times of need, with the love and grace of Christ.

With Other Believers:  We will actively participate with other local churches in our Presbytery to further God's Kingdom.

Around the World:  The congregation will regularly encourage, pray for, and give 18% percent of our general budget to support local and worldwide missionary work (Romans 10:14-15, 1 Corinthians 9:9-14).

Nurturing

Knowledge:  We want all our members to continually grow in their knowledge of the Word (Colossians 1:28, 2 Timothy 3:16-17). We also realize we are part of historic Christianity and therefore we want people to learn the historic doctrines of the church as summarized in the Westminster Standards. However, knowledge without application is worthless and dishonest (James 2:14-17), and so what we teach we must also practice (John 14:21). We hope to grow daily so that we may conform our thoughts, words, and actions to the will of God (1 Tim 4:7b,8).

Love:  The more we know about God and His great mercy the more we will love others. We forgive, show mercy, kindness, and love to others because God has first done the same to us (1 John 4:9-11). We want our members to be actively involved in one another's lives (Philippians 2:3-4). We also believe that this love will be demonstrated by unity and mutual submission (Eph 4:1-6, Eph 5:21).

People:  We also want to ensure there will be adequate and qualified leadership to shepherd the flock (1 Timothy 3:1-13, 1 Peter 5:1-3). We are committed to ongoing leadership development.