We’re a vibrant growing church on Brisbane’s northside that’s built on values of loving community and clear, Christ centered bible teaching. We’re keen to welcome you on any Sunday – we’ve got plenty of activities for kids, and our services are easy to understand and be part of, even if you don’t have any church background.
While our church services are diverse in style, they’ll all have certain features in common. We want to be a church where you can easily and comfortably invite your friends along to hear the bible taught in a way that is clear, and focused on Jesus Christ. Here are some of the things we’re working on…
Sometimes we don’t do too well at these things, but we’re working on it. In fact, you might like to take a look at our “training manual” for people involved in leading our services. It’s online here. The article “Being Clear,” by Phil Campbell, is also online. Check out all the articles here.
Do you have any questions and would like to contact us? Please use the email below to send a quick email. We would love to hear from you.
A little more information for those who want it
Consider our DNA in detail at our leader training website Crosslink.
In 1517, Martin Luther nailed his famous protest letter to the door of Wittenburg Church, so launching the Protestant Reformation. Like him, and the Reformers who followed, we are convinced that we are saved by grace alone, we respond by faith alone, our leader and mediator is Christ alone, we are guided by Scripture alone and the glory goes to God alone.
Because of the ‘Scripture alone’ thing and because Jesus says “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every Word that comes from the mouth of God,” we structure our church meetings around hearing from the Bible. We’re on about clear, Christ-centred Bible teaching.
God has always been in the business of gathering a people of his own. A key distinctive of church is the way we’ll love one another in very practical ways, without forming comfortable cliques or in-groups. We’ll always be ready to say “welcome.”
Because of God’s generosity to us, we want to be generous to others, and so serving in all kinds of situations. As a church, we love focusing our resources to make a real difference to real needs, with strategic service projects played out around our neighbourhoods, our city and our world. Why not join in – generously?
We’re so pleased to be saved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus that we want other people to turn from their own small gods, trust Jesus, and grow as his followers with us. Our mission is not to be corny, or offensive, or ungracious, or arrogant – but to make the message of Jesus attractive by our gracious words and actions. Each of us will be equipped to clearly explain our hope. We’ll also be open and welcoming as a church community, so anyone can join us, any time, and hear and understand the good news. We’re partners in the gospel; growing followers of Jesus who want to grow more followers of Jesus.
Once, Christianity was a respected part of Australian culture. Christian values were assumed to be right, Christian leaders were revered in the community, and people were pretty much in the church habit. But we realise Australia is no longer like that, so we’re ready to start from the ground up, and show graciously and tell clearly why it’s still worth trusting and following Jesus – without assuming everyone will think we’re right. In other words, we realise we’re living in a post-Christian world – so we’ll do our best not to be corny, offensive, ungracious, or arrogant..
We love change. Especially when it’s change that God is making in our lives by His Spirit. We expect to gradually grow more gracious, more generous, more genuinely good… in short, we expect to be always growing as followers of Jesus. We also expect change in all kinds of other ways too, and welcome it – because we don’t want church to become like a museum piece. We’re always keen to try new stuff.
Because the Bible says ‘the earth and everything in it belongs to the Lord,” and because Jesus took on flesh and became very much part of our world, and because God ‘so loved the world’… we think it’s a mistake to draw a dividing line between ‘church’ and ‘life’, or ‘Sunday’ and ‘the rest of the week’, or ‘being Christian’ and ‘being an office worker.’ Our worship isn’t reserved for Sunday services… God is worth serving full time, all the time. So for us, everywhere is sacred.
We look forward to God’s promised restoration of all creation (otherwise known as Heaven) because we know we’re not there yet. We expect we’ll need to grit our teeth and persevere as we walk through life together. But we’re looking forward with confident hope.
Our motto at mpc is ‘growing as followers of Jesus’… which means we want to be growing as followers of Jesus, while we play our part in growing new followers of Jesus. It’s just another – simpler – way of saying we exist to edify and evangelise, which is what any church should be about. Our simple goal is expanded in a Vision Statement and a series of ‘Core Commitments.’
In prayerful dependence on God, our vision is to impact Brisbane’s northside by nurturing a network of Christ-centred churches, where the Bible is clearly explained, and the transforming impact of God’s Spirit is demonstrated in lives of love.
We will enthusiastically nurture the growth of this network with whatever resources, means and opportunities God provides, and especially by encouraging and equipping God’s people to use their gifts to serve and grow His Church. Through this, our goal is to raise up, train, and support Christian leaders who will model and reproduce our vision around our region and beyond, for God’s glory.
As we nurture this network, our goal is to be a clear and Christ-centred church ourselves. We are committed to growing together as a loving community, devoted to applying God’s word in our lives as we call people to be reconciled to God through his Son Jesus Christ, and so be transformed by his Spirit and united with one another.
Our goal is to always be welcoming, open and flexible, so the good news of Jesus will be made clear through us. We will love our neighbours, work constructively in the wider church, and contribute strategically to the growth of God’s Kingdom around the world.
In many ways, our “network nurturing vision” is long term. Most of the time, you probably won’t even notice it’s there. And yet it’s good to be aware of the bigger picture. In the background, things are happening. We’re committed to training the next generation of full-time ministers – so we’ll employ and support trainees. You’ll hear them learning to preach; your giving will help support them through college.
Sometimes, because “learners” are at work, things won’t run quite as smoothly as they could. But watch their progress! Bigger impacts may well lie ahead. As we work out the best ways to “nurture a network of clear, Christ centred churches,” we may decide to plant new congregations… which will be costly. We may have opportunities to help renew or replant existing churches on Brisbane’s northside… and you might be called on to help by being part of a transplanted core-group. Keep it in mind! (Read more in the online document)
Our “Growing Followers of Jesus” motto unpacks into a series of “Core Commitment statements.” They describe the sort of church we want to grow to be, and the things we count most valuable. We don’t always achieve these goals – but we’re keen to keep working at it. You’ll notice a Core Commitment statement appears on the top of our weekly bulletin each Sunday, with key bible verses for reference. Why not spend some time each week reading the relevant passages and thinking through the implications?
Over the past few years, we’ve been able to help re-establish Clayfield Presbyterian Church and Wilston-Windsor-Newmarket Presbyterian Church, as well as planting Eatons Hill Presbyterian Church. In the second half of 2007 we’re hoping to help out with an initiative called ‘Church4Kids’ – well be providing teams from Latechurch to help run an exciting 10 week kids ministry in each centre.
