Our Values

Cornerstone St Andrews exists for the glory of God.  To His glory and by His grace, we seek to encourage and build one another up as disciples of Jesus, living out the Gospel in every sphere of life, demonstrating God’s character in the way we love and care for our neighbours, our community and our world. We believe that the Gospel of Jesus is the only hope for the world and that on a daily basis we desperately need to put ourselves under the authority of God’s Word and seek the empowering presence of His Spirit in order to carry out the Great Commission of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Our values have a profound bearing on what we do practically as a church. They mean, for example:

• that the Sunday gathering, though important, is not the be-all and end-all;
  
• there is a large emphasis in Cornerstone on being part of a home expression of church, an environment where we can learn and grow and from which we can be reaching out to our neighbours, colleagues and friends;
  
• the idea that the people of God collectively are God’s means of carrying out His mission to the world dictates our financial priorities. All money given to the church will be stewarded in a way that reflects the priority of mission.

To read more about our values and their biblical basis, click on the links below:

1. Existing for God’s Glory
2. Making Disciples
3. Living by Grace - Union with Christ
4. Outward focus - Blessed to be a Blessing
5. A Growing and Learning Community
6. Centrality of God's Word
7. Dependence on God’s Spirit
8. Priority of Prayer
9. Lordship of Jesus Christ over the Whole of Life
10. Every Member Contribution
11. Leaders who Serve and Equip Others

Ephesians 4:11 gives a vision for leadership in the body of Christ that is about equipping each member to be what they are made to be and do what they are made to do. Only by making this 'disciple-making' a priority can the body of Christ, the church, function as it is meant to and carry out God’s mission of reaching and blessing the nations. In addition, Jesus’ example of foot-washing in John 13 (and Paul’s meditation on the theology of using power for humble service in Philippians 2), sets a pattern for leaders of humble service rather than any kind of domineering, manipulation or coercion. In fact, Paul explicitly renounces all of these approaches to leadership in 1 Thessalonians 2:3-8.

What does this all mean practically? It means that those involved in leadership in Cornerstone understand that their primary role is to serve God’s purposes in the lives of the members of the church, seeking to equip them to be who God has made them to be. This means that we really don’t want to pull people into what we are doing, getting people serving the church organisation and structures. Rather, we want to resource and equip you to do what God is calling you to do, where God has planted you. We might summarise that this means that we understand the church to be 'Go to' rather than 'come to' - the focus is outwards on people living the lives God has called them to live in their own context, showing and telling the Gospel in every aspect of life, rather than the inwards focus of church members being seen primarily as the man-power to maintain the organisation. Of course, there will always be some jobs that need to be done in order for the church to function as it is intended to. However, the leadership of Cornerstone is making a commitment to all those involved in the church - we will not use you; we are here to serve you! We don’t want to get you involved in church; we want to get church involved in you. This in turn will mean that the shape Cornerstone takes will be determined by the people God brings with their various gifts and contributions, rather than being imposed by the agenda of a leadership team that seeks to shape people to its agenda.

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