Vision
Made for more
Every person on this island was made for more than the life they're living.
It's a claim about what people are for. We were made for relationship with the God who gives life, and we were made to live with Jesus as king, which is the only place life to the full is ever found.
The name
Fount Church
"I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."
John 10:10
The trouble is we keep looking for that life in places that can't hold it. Jeremiah puts it bluntly: God's people walked away from him, the fount of living water, and dug their own cisterns instead, broken ones that couldn't hold any water at all. It's a picture of enormous, well-meaning effort that never fills anything up. Anyone who has tried to build a life on career, comfort, family or approval knows the feeling.
Then Jesus meets a woman at a well and tells her something extraordinary. Anyone who drinks the water she came for will be thirsty again. But the water he gives becomes a fount inside a person, springing up to eternal life.
That's the name. A fount is a source, a spring, the place life comes from. Jesus is the fount, and the life he gives doesn't just fill you up, it overflows. So Fount Church is what we're asking God to do here: to make his life spring up in Newport, right in the middle of this island, and run out into every corner of it.
There are around 140,000 people on the Isle of Wight. God is already at work here, and our prayer is that more and more people would look at this island and ask what he is doing.
Jeremiah 2:13 · John 4:13-14
We believe the people of this island were made for something more, and that the more they're looking for is Jesus.
What we're building
In many ways Fount won't look radically different from other gospel churches. But God has called us to a particular place at a particular time, so it matters that we're clear about what we're aiming for.
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A gospel church
We exist to proclaim the good news of Jesus' death and resurrection, and to help people live as fully devoted disciples of him in the power of the Holy Spirit.
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Every generation
We're a multigenerational church and we want to represent the full diversity of the island. Children and teenagers are part of the church family now, and families should feel welcome the moment they walk in.
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The Bible, taught well
Preaching will mostly work through books of the Bible, letting the text say what it says, including the parts we'd never have picked ourselves. We want it brilliantly communicated and applied to real life.
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Prayer from the first week
We'll pray together whenever we gather, from the very first week, for this island and for the people we're longing to see come to faith.
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Contemporary worship
Modern songs with a live band, well rehearsed and led by gifted people, engaging both head and heart.
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Around a table
Much of this church will begin, and keep happening, around a table. We want midweek groups built around a meal, where people eat together, read the scriptures, share news and pray for each other.
These are plans rather than convictions, and some of them will change as we learn.
Our values
'Made for more' is for us as well as the people we're trying to reach. It shapes how we expect to be with each other, and these are the values we hold to fulfil the vision God has given us.
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It's not about us
We're here for a bigger purpose, to make Jesus famous. That means caring about more than our own name, and cheering on every other gospel church on this island.
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Prayer is our go-to
We get on our knees in success and in failure, in joy and in suffering. We'd far rather start as we mean to go on than add prayer in once we're busy.
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Taking risks is in our nature
We boldly step out in faith so God can do more. We're all in on this: everything we've got, sacrificing rather than consuming, expressing radical generosity.
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We make disciples
Wherever someone is on the journey, the trajectory is growth, because there is always more of Jesus to know. This isn't a Sunday club, it's a community vulnerably sharing in togetherness and grace.
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We reach out
Everyone on this island was made for more. Life in Jesus is shared in our words and our actions, as we long to see people go from death to life.
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We hold our nerve
We don't change our message according to the things around us, but we do change our practices so we're not doing things badly. We know Fount won't be everyone's cup of tea, and we're okay with that. When we speak truth, we do it in a radically loving way that welcomes people.
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We strive for excellence
We keep things simple and we do them well, in every possible detail, so that nothing unnecessary gets in the way of someone meeting God.
What we believe
We align with the Evangelical Alliance's Basis of Faith. It says what we'd want to say, and it puts us alongside thousands of other evangelical churches across the UK.
We believe in
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The one true God who lives eternally in three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
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The love, grace and sovereignty of God in creating, sustaining, ruling, redeeming and judging the world.
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The divine inspiration and supreme authority of the Old and New Testament Scriptures, which are the written Word of God, fully trustworthy for faith and conduct.
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The dignity of all people, made male and female in God's image to love, be holy and care for creation, yet corrupted by sin, which incurs divine wrath and judgement.
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The incarnation of God's eternal Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, born of the virgin Mary, truly divine and truly human, yet without sin.
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The atoning sacrifice of Christ on the cross, dying in our place, paying the price of sin and defeating evil, so reconciling us with God.
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The bodily resurrection of Christ, the first fruits of our resurrection, his ascension to the Father, and his reign and mediation as the only Saviour of the world.
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The justification of sinners solely by the grace of God through faith in Christ.
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The ministry of God the Holy Spirit, who leads us to repentance, unites us with Christ through new birth, empowers our discipleship and enables our witness.
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The church, the body of Christ both local and universal, the priesthood of all believers, given life by the Spirit and endowed with the Spirit's gifts to worship God and proclaim the gospel, promoting justice and love.
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The personal and visible return of Jesus Christ to fulfil the purposes of God, who will raise all people to judgement, bring eternal life to the redeemed and eternal condemnation to the lost, and establish a new heaven and new earth.
156 days until our first Sunday
Keep me posted
We'll email you news and things to pray for as Fount gets going, and tell you as soon as the venue is confirmed.