Description of our Vision

The vision of DCBC is summed up in Isaiah 54:2-3 - Enlarge the site of your tent, and let the curtains of your dwellings be stretched out. Do not hold back - lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes. For you will spread out to the right and to the left, and your descendants will possess the nations and will settle the desolate towns.

For the past 20 years this has shaped the way we view our church life. These verses remind us we exist not just to grow our own church but to grow the kingdom of God beyond our own congregation. Although we adopted these verses formally only in 1989, they reflect the convictions of our church since its foundation in 1863. In the 19th century we sent the first missionaries to go beyond New Zealand and helped establish the Baptist missionary society, as well as planting many other congregations in Dunedin. We want our spiritual children to spread out!

Those verses in Isaiah tell us for this to happen we have to get our “home base” right.

With this in mind we have adopted the statement that our goal is to bring people in, build them up, train them for ministry and mission and send them out for the kingdom of God and the glory of God.

In practice this means:

  • seeking to warmly welcome people, provide pathways for them to find friendship and supportive community among us, provide multiple entry points into our life – including courses like H­2O and mid-sized groups that meet both socially and for teaching and worship. (bring them in)

 

  • providing opportunities for people to grow spiritually, including one-to-one discipleship, alpha, children’s & youth and programs, biblically based preaching and teaching in our mid-sized groups (build them up)

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  • seeking to equip people for ministry and mission through special programs, mid-sized groups, and building teams as the basis for ministry in the church - a key to training (train them for)

       

  • encouraging initiatives to go out beyond our church, partnering with those who have gone from us to serve in other places, challenging each other to live our faith wherever we go. We remind ourselves it is our mission to grow the Kingdom rather than our church (send them out). Hence the dotted line at the end of the cycle – sending them out may not feed directly back into our own life and that is fine. Success for us is defined particularly in people going out for his glory, wherever that may be, not just in bringing them in and building them up, vital though these are.

 

Also, take a look at our philosophy and values- here.