New Church Hemel

values

Below are just some of the values that guide us as we seek to lay the right foundation for the church we believe the Lord is calling us to build  here in Hemel Hempstead.

People are the treasure of the church

'By wisdom a house is built and through understanding it is established. Through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare & beautiful treasures.'
Pr 24v3,4

During the dissolution of the monasteries in 1539, the Abbot of Reading, Hugh Faringdon was commanded by the king's henchmen to bring out all the treasures in the Abbey. He brought the people out before the king's soldiers and replied, "Here is the treasure of the Abbey." He was arrested, hanged, drawn & quartered but not before declaring this crucial and enduring truth.

People are the treasure of the church and how we treat people is a reflection of how we steward what we believe God has given us in ministry. We value people at New Church Hemel. That means we make a decision to care, to listen, to release, to grow people into spiritual maturity. And we aim to treat people with the utmost care and respect.  

Worship is a content-rich experience

Worship is so much more than just singing: it involves thanksgiving, prayer, proclamation, scripture, giving, sharing and the ministry of the Spirit. It is ALL about honouring God the Father, the creator of heaven & earth; God the Son, the Lord Jesus who loved us and died for our sins on the cross; & God the Holy Spirit, the life, presence, power, & person of God poured out on us.

So at New Church Hemel, our worship will be intimate at times; God is a loving Father. But we never want to be over-familiar with an awesome, holy, righteous God.

Worship is also declarative. So declaring the truth through the public reading of scripture is for us an act of worship. Praying prayers of thanks in the midst of the congregation to build one another up is worship.

Worship is upwards, yes, but it is also outward. It is a proclamation to the community. So as well as the best content-rich choruses, we also take the best of the traditional hymns and sing the content of their words as a declaration of truth - as a witness to the world.

Worship is a purposeful interaction with God. We seek to draw closer to God by coming into His presence in worship. Therefore in good order, we like to give time & space to allow people to share as they are moved by the Holy Spirit.

We are a Word-based church

Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love the Lord with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind and with all our strength (Mk 12vv28-34).

One way we show we love the Lord is by engaging our minds in the pursuit of the truth of His Word & of the witness of our Lord Jesus Christ as revealed through the holy scriptures.

So at New Church Hemel we think deeply about what we believe, listen intently to the truth of the Bible and through deep reflection and active engagement, seek to become mature and reasoned in our faith, so that our lives are built on the solid enduring principles that God always intended for His created people.

We are a prophetic church

When God speaks we want to listen. So from the first we made a decision to chronicle everything we sense God might be saying to us. This is a reflection of the value we place on hearing God's voice. If God speaks prophetically then the right thing to do is pay close attention by setting down in writing what we believe He is saying.

So in the members area (available to members only) there is a record of every service, every message given and a sense of the trajectory of what God has been doing or saying week by week in our midst.

There is a wealth of gifting & ministries within the church

We need all of each other's skills, ministries & giftings to come forth in the church if we are ever going to grow into the strong, vibrant and mature body of Christ that God intends. So it is important to us that we create a safe, nurturing environment where emerging gifting is encouraged to grow, where mistakes are not the end of the world, where people can show the unique colours that God has given only to them, where the leaders can guide, cajole and encourage the best of everyone to come out.

Already, members are discovering the joy of using gifts they never knew they had to bring glory & honour to the One who is the Giver of all good things.  

We have an accountable leadership

An accountable leadership is a healthy leadership. Either accountability takes place downwards (the leadership makes itself accountable to the congregation) or upwards (the leadership have a form of oversight to whom they are regularly accountable). There is safety within the church when there is a built-in accountability.

At New Church Hemel, the leadership will be voluntarily accountable to a council of reference who will call them annually to give a report on the status & progress of the church and any issues arising. The council will be available as a point of contact to church members if a situation remains unresolved.

It is our heart to lead relationally and to fulfil the pastoral call as the Lord Jesus, the Chief Shepherd, intended by not neglecting what has traditionally been called 'the cure of souls' or what we might term today, good old-fashioned pastoral care.

Children are an important part of church

We love having the children participate in the main services by joining in the prayers and worship at the beginning; likewise there will also be times when they stay in for the whole of the service. In that respect, we believe every service is a family service.

Most weeks we have a Sunday Club where we seek to give the children the best time learning all the basic truths of the Christian faith at a level they will enjoy and understand.

We are called to minister healing to hurting and broken people

We feel very strongly that the Lord is calling us to welcome the hurting and broken, that the Lord has given us a command to bind the wounds of the bleeding, to engage in a ministry of compassion and to be willing to release people to go in peace when they are ready to move on.

To that end we will commit as a church to practise hospitality in our services, to give a warm & discreet welcome to any visitors, and to love on people unconditionally. Although you come into 'our house' on our terms, we invite you to deal with God on His.

Our hope

Our hope is that the above gives you just a flavour of what we value and where we are coming from. It is by no means an exhaustive list, just a beginning of what we sense is the Lord's leading.

No words can fully describe the life of any church but it is with the above values we extend our welcome to you to join us at one of our services.

Bless you.

 

about the pastor & his wife

Vaughan & Marie Allen are a husband & wife partnership in life & ministry. They both bring a wealth of full-time international ministry, preaching & pastoral experience as they now pursue God's call on their lives together. Vaughan turned down a senior pastorate at a large church in the Malvern Hills in order to heed the call to plant a church in Hemel where they live.

They met at the London School of Theology. Vaughan graduated with a BA (Hons) Theology in 2004 and Marie with a BTh (Hons) in Applied Theology in 2005. Marie has completed further training as an ESOL teacher, teaching English as a foreign language.

They both enjoy walking around the countryside with an Ordnance Survey map; and their favourite TV programme is Grey's Anatomy.

what we believe

New Church Hemel is a mainstream, Christian Community Church.

We heartily affirm the Statement of Faith of the Evangelical Alliance as listed below.

We believe in...

The one true God who lives eternally in three persons—the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

The love, grace and sovereignty of God in creating, sustaining, ruling, redeeming and judging the world.

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.

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.

The incarnation of God’s eternal Son, the Lord Jesus Christ—born of the virgin Mary; truly divine and truly human, yet without sin.

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.

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.

The justification of sinners solely by the grace of God through faith in Christ.

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.

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.

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.