God has been at work long before our time and will continue long after we're gone. As Valley Road Church and as followers of Jesus, we have a crucial role in this plan. Our task is to discern God's work and actively participate in it.

We intend to do this by being present, discerning what God is up to, and intentionally and actively loving and serving the people in our lives and our neighbourhoods.

Presence

At Valley Road, we want to find ways to be present with God, each other, and our community.

Present With God: At Valley Road, we see the importance of being in a present and active relationship with our Creator. As we seek to be present with God, we are renewed and begin to see what God is already up to in our world. As we find ourselves in a relationship with Jesus, we take on the characteristics of Jesus and being like Jesus is what we strive for at Valley Road Church.

Present with each other. At Valley Road, we deeply love our time of worshiping together on Sunday mornings, and we don’t want to neglect that, but being present with each other goes far beyond our Sunday morning gatherings. We want to do life together; we go for coffee with one another, become involved in home groups, and help each other in times of need. We celebrate victories together and mourn loss together. We need to gather around the table together. We believe in being present with each other, and when we are present with each other, Jesus is central in those meeting times.

Present With Community: We want to be present in the community around us. We want to be active, loving, and listening to the people of Glenmore and the communities in which we live. The only way we can love our community well is by genuinely being a part of it—no strings attached, just active community members in Glenmore and the other communities that we live in.

Discernment

As we are present with each other and in our neighbourhood, we will start to see that God is up to something new! We will begin to see ourselves, our friends, our neighbours, the people we agree with and disagree with, and yes, even our enemies, with the same love that Jesus has. When we interact with the spirit, we can discern the new things God wants to do in and through us. We will even begin to see how God is teaching us lessons from the people we come in contact with in our communities.

Active, missional and intentional:

We use the words active, missional, and intentional together because we want to indicate that when we aim to fulfill the Great Commission, we need to be active in our communities and prayerfully intentional about how we interact with and care for our neighbours.

We join God in renewing all things by actively participating in what God is already doing.

God is Active! “The spirit is moving like an underground stream” - Allan Roxburgh.

God is stirring relationships and inviting us to discover ways of being God’s people in our community.

As we find ways to be present with people and listen to them, we will discover what God is doing in our community and our relationships. When present, we can begin the journey of being active, intentional and missional in those relationships.

Activity in a community must be rooted in presence and relationship.

When we are present in our community, we can begin intentionally inviting others into our space; we can actively meet the needs of the lonely, hurting, and outcast and find ways to follow the great commission lovingly.

We want to be active in our community, but the challenge is to be active in what God is already doing and not rely on traditional mission methods just because that is what has been done in the past.

God is always moving forward, and we must find what he is doing and partner with Him.