OUR VISION

A BIG COMMUNITY

We believe that the harvest is plentiful and that Jesus will build His Church, and that the increase of His rule will never stop. This means lots of people being saved and added to the Church. God has called us to be faithful, but also fruitful. So we aim to be big, not for bigness sake but because lots of people need to be saved! But big doesn’t have to mean unfriendly or lacking relationship. So as we grow our vision is to be increasingly marked by deep community.

RADICAL DISCIPLES

We are not content to just ‘do church’ and have a surface level relationship with God. Our longing is that everyone is deeply affected by the gospel and has a growing love and affection for Jesus that leads to radical obedience and acts of faith! We are working to a deadline – Jesus is coming back one day and the present is the only time we have to make Him known!

IMPACTING

"This is what the Lord Almighty says to all those carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses,  settle down, marry, have sons and daughters, increase in number there, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper." (Jeremiah 29: 4)
We believe that God has brought us to Kent to settle down, engage, and work for the health and prosperity of the area, not just for ourselves. Furthermore there is a world to be won and so raising up, equipping and sending our best to other parts of the country and world is central to our vision.

FOR JESUS

Worship is our ultimate goal! We long to see those who are Christians growing and maturing in their devotion, and seeing many worship Jesus for the first time! Our lives should be marked by a growing awareness of our sinfulness and the great grace which we have received which flows out in worship to Jesus!

THE NAME

The City Church was ‘planted’ in Canterbury in September 1989 when about 50 Christians gathered together, both local believers and others from across the UK who moved to Canterbury in response to the prompting of God.

Life as we know it began in the garden of Eden but culminates in the City of God. We read about this city in Revelation 21 and we are told that it is the place where God dwells intimately with his people. It is a place free from the power, pollution and presence of sin where there is no mourning, crying or pain. It is a wonderful place where God rules and He is worshipped as He should be.

We are named THE CITY CHURCH because we long to reflect the culture of the City of God that is to come. Our desire is to see God worshipped as He deserves, to see people enjoy the presence of God as they should, and to see the world increasingly free from the power, presence and pollution of sin. We long to be an outpost of that City, praying constantly that ‘His Kingdom would come on earth as it is in heaven.’ It is a big dream and a deep longing!