Click the link to download a PDF of WDBC’s Vision Document 2019
Our Spiritual Community
“We are a family of faith following Christ to freedom.”
Our community is to be a safe space that embodies the best aspects of family: love, security, acceptance and accountability. Yet our faith is what makes our community distinct. That faith orients us for a life of discipleship in pursuit of Christ, who has secured our freedom for all eternity in His Kingdom, where sin, suffering, shame and death shall cease.
Our Gospel Vision
“To see all people transformed by God’s Word and Spirit for faith in Jesus Christ.”
Our expectation is to see the broken lives of men, women, and children around us renewed through a personal, active, obedient trust in Jesus Christ and his gospel. This good news comes from God, is proclaimed by His people, and applied to our hearts by His Spirit. We believe that as God’s Word is received in faith, lost souls are found and dead spirits are made alive in Jesus.
Our Ministry Values
As stewards under God’s Word, we strive to fulfil our calling through a ministry that is…
1. Gospel-Centred
We want to never lose sight of the good news.
Because the gospel is God’s powerful revelation of His righteousness (Ro 1:16), the message we bring (Ac 20:24), and the saving truth upon which we stand (1Co 15:1), the reach of our ministry ought never to outstrip the gospel but, as though tethered, always be drawn back to it with increasing vigour.
2. God-Glorifying
We want God to get all the credit.
In recognition of our utter dependence upon the one true Creator and holy God (Dt 6:4, Ac 17:24- 25), who sovereignly gives us not only natural life and eternal life in His Son (Eph 2:6), but whose image we bear, whose majesty we worship, and whose grace we enjoy – before Him our Father (Ep 4:6) we minister with the aim that through all we say and do He may be glorified (1Co 10:31), as our Lord Jesus did (Jn 17:4).
3. Christ-Exalting
We want people to remember Jesus.
The effect of our ministry shall be to honour, promote, and uphold Jesus Christ as Lord to one another and to the world (Col 3:17); reflecting the highest station to which he has been raised (Eph 1:20-22) and anticipating the consummation of His Kingdom come (2Pe 1:11, Rev 22:12).
4. Spirit-Led
We want the Holy Spirit to guide us.
Our ministry relies upon the power (Ac 1:8, 1Co 2:4) and provision (Jn 14:26) of the indwelling Holy Spirit for its effectiveness (2Co 1:21-22); bearing righteous fruit (Gal 5:22-25) in accordance with the spiritual gifts God graciously endows (1Co 12:4-7) and following the divine will as God faithfully reveals it to His children (Ro 8:14) by that Spirit (Col 1:9-10).
5. Grace-Filled
We want to treat people better than they deserve.
As ambassadors of Christ (2Co 5:20) we minister truth (Jn 1:16-17) in the humility and meekness of our Master (Mt 12:20); leading through our service and loving others by losing ourselves for the sake of the gospel (Mt 25:40). We want the sweet fragrance of grace should permeate every ministry encounter, relieving any oppressed and restoring any broken ones (Tt 2:11).
6. Mission-Minded
We want to make disciples.
Far from haphazard or aimless (1Co 9:26), our ministry is focused by Christ’s commission to go into all the world making disciples (Mt 28:19-20). As Jesus’ witnesses (Ac 1:8), we regard people from an eternal perspective (2Co 5:16) that is simultaneously compassionate (2Pe 3:9) and concerned (Ro 10:14-15) for those who don’t yet know Christ as Saviour and Lord (Ac 5:31).
7. Cross-Shaped
We want our self-denial to bless others.
As Jesus’ disciples we recognise the transforming power of gospel ministry comes with a cost to our time, resources, and self-interest (Lk 14:25-33). Because the Lord who brings life from death calls His redeemed to daily carry their cross and practice self-denial (2Co 4:12), we embrace a ministry that knows both resurrection power and participation in suffering (Php 3:10).
8. Faith-Building
We want our actions to show God is trustworthy.
Our ministry aims to develop active trust in God (Jas 2:22), through which the righteousness of Christ is credited for salvation (Ro 3:22). Refined through trials, this faith becomes precious (1Pe 1:7) and the means by which we persevere in a life pleasing to God (Heb 11:6).
9. Love-Giving
We want our love to be known and felt.
Above all, our ministry ought to demonstrate our love for God and for each other, as these two requirements encompass God’s commands (Mk 10:31-32). Should we fail to love, our witness (Jn 17:23) and our ministry would be fundamentally compromised (1Co 13:3). As the greatest and most enduring of Christian virtues (1Co 13:13), we put on love to bind all of our service together (Col 3:14).
