Being part of a church is not like joining a gym, it’s more like being part of a team or even a family.  We want this church to feel like your church.  Like most things in life, we tend to get more out when we put more in – so here’s 5 ways you can engage with us.  How you do this will depend on where you are on this adventure of faith.  If you are in the early stages, pick 1 or 2 to get started, if you are further on in your faith hopefully you will be doing all 5.

We don’t want people to just turn up, we want them to connect in.  That means getting to know some people and allowing yourself to be known.  Coming on a Sunday and hanging around afterwards is a great place to start.  So to is joining one of our small groups.  There’s a whole bunch of them, of different shapes and sizes.  The goal of all of our small groups is to help people connect relationally so they can grow spiritually.  Where are you connected at FBC, with who? 

Standing shoulder to shoulder with other people, serving alongside them to make something happen is a quick way to feel connected.  Volunteering is a big deal for us at FBC because it’s the primary way that things happen around here.  Over 95% of the team are volunteers.  But the reason we put so much emphasis on volunteering isn’t so we can do what we do, it’s because we recognise that a key way in which we can grow in our faith is through helping others.  Being part of what is done will help you feel part of who we are.  We all need a purpose, we all need something to do, that’s where joining a team fits in.

We exist to help people find and follow Jesus.  And like Jesus we give lots of time and attention to the people who are not part of this family.  We want to partner with you, to help you share your faith with the people around you.  It takes tons of courage to invite someone to come and sit with you at church or at an event, we want to honour that courage and step of faith by ensuring that guests feel welcomed, valued and included in what we do.  This is why we think and plan lots of what we do with guests in mind.  When you invite someone to join you at church you see what we do differently.  You view it through the lens of what they see and feel.  Hopefully you are then thankful for the way we structure our service and events, you are thankful for the songs we sing and we don’t sing, and you are thankful for the way we don’t assume knowledge but host people through the experience.  When you invite you become invested in a new way.

Let me be clear, we are not after your money – but God is!  FBC is not supported by government grants or major external funding.  The FBC Centre generates enough income to cover its costs and we get some support from other agencies, but the bulk of our income that supports what we do comes from the generosity of everyday people like you.   Giving is actually a discipline that Jesus expects his followers to do.  We encourage people to be percentage, planned givers – because it does help us to be able to plan and budget more effectively – but more importantly because it we believe it’s a key way in which we grow.  What we do with our time and our money shows what is really important to us – that’s why Jesus talks about it a lot.  He knows that the act of giving away a sensible proportion of our money actually helps be in control of our finances instead of allowing it to control us.

Hopefully if you are engaging with us in the other areas then this is happening automatically.  There’s a bunch of ways you can pray for what’s going on with opportunities to do this on your own or gather with others.  We have regular prayer gatherings and send out regular updates with what’s going on that is full of things to pray for.