As a church it’s important to have direction - it’s all too easy to be busy doing good things, and lose focus on the most important thing: making disciples. This page is our attempt to apply God’s Word to our particular context. It allows us to make clear planning decisions and promote good stewardship of resources as we take up the responsibilities the Lord has given us. 

What We Believe

The things we believe about God and His dealings with His creation drive the way we think about life and church, and therefore our plans for ministry. St Mark’s is a part of the Armidale Diocese of the Anglican Church. As such, we submit to what God says in His word, the Bible. The 39 Articles of belief is one of the ways these beliefs are traced out for the Anglican Church. 

Some key points are as follows:

  • St Mark’s is all about Jesus. We're a bunch of ordinary people who have been rescued by an extraordinary God. We believe that while our sin is a huge problem, God has an even bigger solution.

    God's plan was to send His son Jesus, who came into our world, died on the cross in our place, and rose again from the grave to offer us eternal life.

  • God has revealed himself by His Word, the Bible. By reading, engaging with and understanding the Bible, we get to know God and his plan for the world, including us. For this reason, the Bible is central to the ministry at St Mark's UNEchurch, and our final authority on all matters of life and faith.

  • As part of the diocese of Armidale, St Mark’s sits firmly within the reformation theology of Christ alone, grounded in grace alone, leading to justification by faith alone, on the authority of Scripture alone, all to the glory of God alone. Although the phrase is sometimes misused, we are evangelical in the classically understood sense: centred on the cross of Christ and rooted in scripture.

  • God has promised to change us and grow us as his disciples by the means of grace: word, prayer and the fellowship of the saints. The life of our church is therefore centred on these things, and our vision and plan seeks to engage everyone with them.

 

Vision

Under God, we prayerfully seek to see a consistently growing number of mature, disciple-making disciples of Jesus Christ across UNE and Armidale

We break this vision down into five areas of ministry: Magnification, Mission, Membership, Maturity and Ministry. The statements below help us understand what we’re aiming at in the various teams. Together, they form a picture of a really healthy church.

  • Focus areas for the Magnification team:

    • Ensuring all elements of our Sunday services help achieve this vision

    • Organising special events of prayer and praise

  • Focus areas for the Mission team:

    • Encouraging a culture of mission among St Mark’s members

    • Organising regular mission events (e.g. Christianity Explored)

  • Focus areas for the Membership team:

    • Encouraging a culture of welcoming and hospitality

    • Helping people join church well

  • Focus areas for the Maturity team:

    • Training and supporting Growth Group leaders

    • Encouraging St Mark’s members to join and be active members of a Growth Group

    • Encouraging and supporting 1-to-1 discipleship

  • Focus areas for the Ministry team:

    • Training and equipping St Mark’s members for areas of service

    • Support those who serve to continue to serve well

    • Helping people work out where they can use their gifts to serve