Core Values

Here at St John’s and Emmanuel we confidently hold to the ‘Historic Formularies’ of the Church of England. Let’s translate that into English! It means we hold to the original founding documents, the Thirty Nine Articles, the Book of Common Prayer (‘BCP’)and the Ordination service within the BCP. You can read the Articles here, with a version in modern English under each!

Our Parochial Church Council (PCC) signed the following ‘Jerusalem Declaration’, a worldwide Anglican affirmation of our historic protestant faith.

The Jerusalem Declaration 
In the name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit: 
We, the participants in the Global Anglican Future Conference, have met in the land of Jesus’ birth. We express our loyalty as disciples to the King of kings, the Lord Jesus. We joyfully embrace his command to proclaim the reality of his kingdom which he first announced in this land. The gospel of the kingdom is the good news of salvation, liberation and transformation for all. In light of the above, we agree to chart a way forward together that promotes and protects the biblical gospel and mission to the world, solemnly declaring the following tenets of orthodoxy which underpin our Anglican identity. 
 
1. We rejoice in the gospel of God through which we have been saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Because God first loved us, we love him and as believers bring forth fruits of love, ongoing repentance, lively hope and thanksgiving to God in all things.
 
2. We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God written and to contain all things necessary for salvation. The Bible is to be translated, read, preached, taught and obeyed in its plain and canonical sense, respectful of the church’s historic and consensual reading.
 
3. We uphold the four Ecumenical Councils and the three historic Creeds as expressing the rule of faith of the one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
 
4. We uphold the Thirty-nine Articles as containing the true doctrine of the Church agreeing with God’s Word and as authoritative for Anglicans today.
 
5. We gladly proclaim and submit to the unique and universal Lordship of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, humanity’s only Saviour from sin, judgement and hell, who lived the life we could not live and died the death that we deserve. By his atoning death and
glorious resurrection, he secured the redemption of all who come to him in repentance and faith.
 
6. We rejoice in our Anglican sacramental and liturgical heritage as an expression of the gospel, and we uphold the 1662 Book of Common Prayer as a true and authoritative standard of worship and prayer, to be translated and locally adapted for each culture.
 
7. We recognise that God has called and gifted bishops, priests and deacons in historic succession to equip all the people of God for their ministry in the world. We uphold the classic Anglican Ordinal as an authoritative standard of clerical orders.
8. We acknowledge God’s creation of humankind as male and female and the unchangeable standard of Christian marriage between one man and one woman as the proper place for sexual intimacy and the basis of the family. We repent of our failures to maintain this standard and call for a renewed commitment to lifelong fidelity in marriage and abstinence for those who are not married.
 
9. We gladly accept the Great Commission of the risen Lord to make disciples of all nations, to seek those who do not know Christ and to baptise, teach and bring new believers to maturity.
 
10. We are mindful of our responsibility to be good stewards of God’s creation, to uphold and advocate justice in society, and to seek relief and empowerment of the poor and needy.
 
11. We are committed to the unity of all those who know and love Christ and to building authentic cumenical relationships. We recognise the orders and jurisdiction of those Anglicans who uphold orthodox faith and practice, and we encourage them to join
us in this declaration.
 
12. We celebrate the God-given diversity among us which enriches our global fellowship, and we acknowledge freedom in secondary matters. We pledge to work together to seek the mind of Christ on issues that divide us.
 
13. We reject the authority of those churches and leaders who have denied the orthodox faith in word or deed. We pray for them and call on them to repent and return to the Lord.
 
14. We rejoice at the prospect of Jesus’ coming again in glory, and while we await this final event of history, we praise him for the way he builds up his church through his Spirit by miraculously changing lives.
 

‘Transforming church; transforming lives’ Our plan to implement the Guildford diocesan vision at St John’s Woking & Emmanuel Mayford

Goal 1: Making disciples

  1. Sunday services to include clear, engaging and faithful Bible teaching, time for prayer, reflection, confession and application
  2. Encourage all to join a small group Bible study with studies linked to Sunday sermons
  3. Grow a culture of personal Bible reading and prayer
  4. Grow a culture of reading the Bible and praying together 1-2-1
  5. Start and keep well-stocked a book stall with biblically faithful varied material; make suggestions for a Book of the term and for summer holiday reading
  6. Hold separate groups for men and women to encourage each other in our discipleship
  7. Hold a monthly mid-week prayer meeting to model and encourage prayer
  8. Hold regular Newcomers’ Lunches for those recently joined and ensure they move into an appropriate evangelistic or discipleship ‘stream’
  9. Take communion regularly to nursing and care homes and individuals’ homes
  10. Mentoring key men and women by reading the Bible 1-2-1 with them
  11. Running regular training programmes
  • ‘Dig Deeper – 20 core Christian doctrines’; Bible overview
  • Christian marriage weekends
  • How to read the Bible and how to lead prayers in church
  • How to lead a small group Bible study group
  • How to explain the gospel to others
  • How to lead Christianity Explored
  • How to lead a Sunday service

Goal 2: Increasing believers

  1. Equip the church family to make disciples by explaining the gospel themselves and inviting folk to come to Christianity Explored with them
  2. Regularly explain and clarify the gospel from the Bible
  3. Provide good resources to help people explain the gospel, e.g. ‘Intentional’ book recently given to all congregation
  4. Aim to provide more regular events to which the church family can invite others to meet the church family with appropriate introduction to Christianity and church (e.g. Ladies Craft Evening; Men’s Curry Night)
  5. Ensure our Sunday services are always ‘newcomer friendly’; that they are welcomed from the front and offered a Welcome Card; that all members ensure new and fairly new folk get spoken to every time they come to church
  6. Ensure that Welcome Cards are quickly followed up by the Vicar and, if applicable, others
  7. Encourage members to pray specifically for non-Christians
  8. Run the ‘Christianity Explored’ course on a regular basis with suitable follow-up

Goal 3: Growing youth, families and children’s ministry

  1. Continue to employ, train & develop and line manage our Children’s & Families worker and our Youth Minister
  2. Put on regular training of our unpaid leaders in both areas of ministry
  3. Run an attractive and Bible-centred children’s programme for 0-14’s during Sunday morning church and 14-18s after evening church
  4. Make all Sunday services child-friendly until they leave for their own programmes
  5. Continue our link with a CYFA Venture (CPAS) camp for 14-18s and develop a link with the Romsey Pathfinders camp for 10-13s, encouraging our children and young people to go and encouraging suitable adults to help with leadership
  6. Invest time in our three primary and one secondary schools - take ‘Open the Book’ assemblies, serve as governors, run an after-school club at our secondary church; lead seasonal and end of year services
  7. Run as needed Christian course for new mums and group for new dads
  8. Develop relationships work with the many uniformed organisations who meet in our Youth Centre

Goal 4: Developing lay leaders

  1. Ensure that we always model good Bible-handling and teaching
  2. Encourage suitable small group Bible study members to try leading, working alongside an experienced and trained leader
  3. Encourage involvement in Sunday services – reading the Bible, leading prayers, giving testimonies, leading Kids’ spots, leading services etc.
  4. Run regular training programmes in all relevant areas

Goal 5: Recruiting more clergy

  1. Identify, encourage and train those suited to small group Bible teaching and lay preaching ministry
  2. Identify, encourage and initially train those suited to pastor-teacher ministry
  3. Consider the need for someone(s) (paid or unpaid; full-time or part-time) to head up evangelistic and discipleship work among women and among men

Goal 6: Cultivating community partnerships

  1. Provide trained, lay pastoral support to those in need in our community
  2. Host and run a weekly coffee morning for Mayford village at Emmanuel church
  3. Host and run a monthly tea for the elderly at The Mount nursing home and sheltered accommodation
  4. Support the local Good Neighbours group
  5. Continue and develop links with our 4 local schools (see Goal 3 above)
  6. Support the Woking Deputy Mayor (PCC member) who intends standing for Mayor
  7. Hold village wide Remembrance services annually
  8. Hold annual service for those who have lost loved one, working with Woking Funeral Services

Goal 7: Reaching beyond our borders

  1. Supporting local churches ‘light party’; working with other evangelical clergy in the area through Deanery, South east Gospel Partnership, Churches Together etc.
  2. Partnering with 5 major and 6 minor mission partners by regularly praying for them and providing significant financial and other (as needed) support
  3. Release our incumbent to speak at the Surrey Gospel Partnership ‘Bible & Ministry Training course’
  4. Release and support our incumbent to serve as Deputy Chair of the DEF and on Diocesan Synod
  5. Release and support our Youth Minister to lead CYFA Venture camp
  6. Support in various ways the work of ‘Engage’ in Woking schools & colleges

Goal 8: Nurturing education

  1. Encourage and support members of the church family to serve as school governors within the parish
  2. Host and lead carol services for 4 local schools
  3. Release and support our Youth Minister and Children’s & Families Worker to work in our local schools, beyond just assemblies & services (see Goal 3 above)
  4. Provide pastoral support to members working in local schools

Goal 9: Encourage generous giving

  1. Teach God’s Word which leads to transformed hearts and then to transformed bank accounts
  2. Keep the PCC and church family up-to-date with our financial situatio
  3. Teach annually on giving, in all its forms, from the Bible’s perspective

Goal 10: Sharing expertise

  1. Continue a ‘can-do’ attitude to supporting, encouraging and training those in Bible ministry outside the parish
  2. Make our training available, where appropriate, to other local churches

Goal 11: Communicating effectively

  1. Regularly update our VP services, Welcome Cards, church signage, event and service invitations, website, Facebook & Twitter etc.
  2. Use weekly newsletter and Round Robin emails to keep folk up-to-date

Goal 12: Improving church buildings

  1. Stop the flat roofs leaking!
  2. Keep the excellent building up-to-date and fit for purpose through the PCC Building Manager, Wardens and the Tuesday Maintenance Men