Our VISION and Values
Multiplying disciples,
Establishing churches,
Releasing ministries,
Supporting leaders.
Our vision
All around the world we are building a family where disciples of Jesus are multiplied, healthy churches and healthy leaders are established, ministries are released and empowered, and leaders are supported and mentored.
We have a conviction to do all this with a deep passion to “remember the poor” (Galatians 2:10) and to be catalysts for unity in the wider Body of Christ.
Our Core values
In Go Global we share the same five core values listed below. These values represent what we believe, what we want to achieve and how we want to journey together into all that God has for us. The statements serve as a good reminder of our common ground and are helpful for others who are thinking of joining our family and journeying in the same direction with us.
We are committed to the great commission
Jesus commissioned us to “go and make disciples” (Matthew 28:19). In Go Global our leaders and their churches take responsibility for making disciples in their locality and region. We believe every church member should be involved in making disciples and every congregation play its part in multiplying new churches.
We passionately believe
in the local church
We are convinced that the Church is God’s ‘plan A’ for the world, and the vehicle through which His Kingdom is advancing. God values the church so much that He refers to it as His House, His Bride, His Body, “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession.” We are committed to valuing what God values by valuing The Church in its various forms around the world.
In the Go Global family our leaders and churches love and care for the ‘Capital-C’ Church (not just our own churches), and desire to be catalysts for unity on the ground wherever we are working.
We resolve to “remember the poor”
In the book of Galatians Paul refers to a meeting he had with the key apostles in Jerusalem, he said that they encouraged him to continue his apostolic work of of 3 6 preaching and planting churches, but then adds: “All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I had been eager to do all along.” (Galatians 2:10, NIV)
In the Go Global family our leaders and churches, like Paul, are eager to demonstrate God’s love by giving practical support to the poor in the church, the community, and further afield.
We believe in self-sustained
financially empowered ministry
As Paul travelled from place to place establishing churches, alongside preaching he had a trade, working as a tentmaker (see Acts 18:3). By selling tents he brought in an income to sustain himself and his ministry team.
“You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions.”
Acts 20:34, NIV
Paul encouraged church leaders and members to follow his example - adopting a good work ethic and not living on hand-outs (see 2 Thessalonians 3:8-10).
In the early stages of a church it might be necessary for the church leader to work in order to provide for themselves and their family. As churches in the New Testament became established with believers participating in financial giving at this point we would see those in ministry being supported. Indeed Paul taught that this was appropriate and a good thing:
“…the Lord ordered that those who preach the Good News should be supported by those who benefit from it.”
1 Corinthians 9:14, NLT)
In Go Global we are committed to each church being self-sustained and financially empowered. In some cases this will happen because the congregation is large enough to financially sustain ministry staff. In other situations the pastor will have a job alongside ministry, like Paul did, in order to sustain themselves and their family. In some cases entrepreneurs and those with the gift of giving (see Romans 12:8) in the church will help cover the ministry costs.
In today’s world we see examples of churches and entire networks of churches living with an ongoing dependence on the generosity and support of others from outside. While generous support is a wonderful expression of God’s heart in the short term, ongoing support can actually hinder the work of the ministry for three reasons: 1) The leaders and the church become dependent on people rather than God, 2) It limits the number and growth of churches, 3) It demeans the churches hindering them from being autonomous and self-sustained.
We are convinced that modern international ministry across many varied cultures, economies and local contexts requires our leaders and churches to be self-sustaining. Just as a father’s ultimate goal would be for his son to no longer live on his hand-outs, but to earn his own money and indeed to start to support his own family. In the same way at Go Global our passion is to see churches standing on their own two feet, covering their costs and indeed able to now support the poor and others on mission.
We will endeavour to achieve this goal through training, raising up entrepreneurs around the world, strategic investments and micro-finance initiatives.
We are dedicated to
building healthy organisations.
Every family has a culture and way of doing things, and within our family healthy leadership and healthy organisational culture are central to our building ethos. From this foundation will flow healthy, mature family relationships that allow us all to flourish.
a. Healthy leadership
In the Go Global family we recognise that spiritual and emotional health is vital for healthy leadership. We recognise healthy leaders are vital for healthy leadership teams, and that this in turn provides a cornerstone for establishing healthy churches.
In the Go Global family, we lead and build with honesty, transparency and accountability. We actively create an environment of psychological safety for our leaders and church members.
In the Go Global family, leaders lead themselves and their teams in a sustainable way, not burning themselves, their families or their leaders out in their pursuit of ministry goals.
In the Go Global family, leaders will aspire to be: “Empowering, not overpowering; Serving, not domineering; Strong, but not harsh; Directive, but not controlling or dominating; Driven by love and not ego; Confident, but not arrogant; Visible, but always pointing to Jesus”
“The authority by which the Christian leader leads is not power but love, not force but example, not coercion but reasoned persuasion. Leaders have power, but power is safe only in the hands of those who humble themselves to serve.”
John Stott
b. Healthy organisations (Governance and safeguarding)
In the Go Global family we commit to building our organisations to the highest of biblical and regional governance and safeguarding standards with regards to finances, sexual integrity, organisational operations, working with children, young people and protected adults, complaints and whistleblowing.
In the Go Global family, we want to operate as close to the New Testament example as possible, where churches are autonomous (in leadership, finances and governance) yet not independent (inward looking, isolated and unsupported).
Our theology
As a family of churches we are committed to a shared theology. It is our biblical convictions that unite us and fuel our mission in the world. Our shared theology is outlined in the Foundations course, which also serves as our membership course in each of our churches.
The theology outlined in Foundations would be described as evangelical and charismatic.
‘Evangelical’ simply means we are Bible-believing. In Go Global we believe that the Bible is God’s inspired word, and as such is both infallible and inerrant. We seek to build our lives, our churches and our mission on the Bible.
‘Charismatic’ means that we believe in the active power of the Holy Spirit in the church today. You could equally describe us as ‘Pentecostal’ in our theology. We believe in the importance of people being baptised with the Holy Spirit, we encourage churches when they gather to operate in the spiritual gifts, and we expect miracles, signs and wonders to follow the preaching of the gospel.
We believe God still gives apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers to His church to equip God’s people.
Our conviction is that book of Acts was given to us as an example of what normal Christianity should look like in every generation, where miracles, church growth, care for the poor and Kingdom advance are expected. Our passion is to build churches inline with the New Testament model that God gave us.
We encourage people who are joining our churches and becoming members to go through the Foundations course. This will mean that in all our churches we are all building on the same biblical foundations and moving together in unity.
We would also encourage leaders of churches which are considering joining the Go Global Family to thoroughly engage with material in the Foundations course. To order your copy of Foundations, click here.