I’ve got 400 words in which to sum up Christ Church. Perhaps some of our catchphrases will do the trick:

• A conventional church in an unconventional venue. We meet in an art gallery in Heaton and a cafeteria in Fenham. I think they’re great venues. Most people who visit us think so too. Yet in every other respect we’re entirely normal. We sing, pray, read the Bible, have it explained, and encourage each other to live in the light of what we’ve learnt. That is, we’re bog standard church.

• People not projects. When people ask, ‘What can I do?’ I say, ‘Get involved in the lives of people’. So there are a number of events or groups we run (although mercifully not that many) and of course jobs to be done. But really we’re about people. Both within Christ Church and outside it. And we want Christ Church to genuinely reflect that priority.

• The 95 not the 5. We’re about reaching out to our city with the gospel of the Lord Jesus – the 95% who don’t go to church rather than the 5% who do. So if you are exploring Christianity we will give you the space to do so. If you’re a follower of Jesus we want you to be part of God’s mission to share Him with others.

• Planting for Christ. We have grown over the past five years from a core group of 13 people to around 100. We would like to grow some more. But we don’t want to be a big church. Rather, God willing, we’d love to plant out smaller churches. It’s not that we think big churches are a bad thing, but we like the family feel of smaller ones with the many opportunities they bring.

• Reach, build, send. This is our ultimate catchphrase. It means we want to reach out with the Gospel, build up in the Gospel then send on with the Gospel. And we want to send on well. Not holding on to people as if we’re the most important thing (we’re really not) but positively sending out those we’ve come to love to take the gospel elsewhere.

And finally we are driven by principle rather than pragmatics. By what we believe rather than what simply works. So if you are thinking of joining us do read our statement of faith. You don’t have to agree with us, but it’s as well you know where we’re coming from.