Ethos Statement

· Cosham Baptist Church believes that our ethos emerges from a desire and motivation to express Christ's love to those whom we serve outside the church, and to reflect this love internally in our relationships with one another.

· The motivation for our mission comes from Christ's love compelling believers (1) and is therefore rooted in our faith in Christ. This faith produces a distinctive heart attitude of love, which expresses and is characterised by the following values and behaviours:

Individual Centredness - seeing the image of God in each individual

Inclusivity  - facilitating a sense of belonging to the corporate whole

Interdependence  - understanding the role of self and others in the overall whole

Integrity  - the church and the individual being true to their values (2)

· These values and behaviours are intrinsically linked to the success and fulfilment of our mission. Therefore, the attitude and motivation of our staff and the way our mission is achieved are as important as the mission itself (3).

· As this attitude and motivation come only from a relationship with Christ, it becomes a genuine occupational requirement: that many of our staff are committed Christians. Roles that have significant leadership, or that are central to fulfilling our aims and purposes or developing and maintaining our Christian ethos, will always be held by committed Christians. There are other roles that have key spiritual elements to them, which can only be carried out by a committed Christian. It is also essential that these attitudes and behaviours continue, and so we expect our staff to act in good faith and with loyalty to that relational ethos and to evangelical Christian standards of behaviour. Failure to do so may result in disciplinary action.

 

· Notwithstanding this, the church is committed to diversity amongst its staff, and volunteers and will not discriminate on other grounds that are unrelated to our ethos. We believe that defining our occupational requirements does not restrict, but actually enhances our commitment to diversity.