In the Outback, there are two ways of keeping sheep: fences or wells.

We prefer wells.

Belonging at Southpoint isn’t about being in or out. It’s about movement toward the centre. At Southpoint, we are seeking to foster the widest possible sense of belonging and participation while maintaining a strong identity in Jesus.

Visitors and regulars alike are welcome to participate in our conversations. Everyone, including children, are welcome to take part in the celebration of the Lord’s Table (the bread and juice) as an act of remembrance and thanksgiving.

Belonging at Southpoint isn’t about having a static membership status. It’s about journeying together toward a common centre.

“Come you who are thirsty . . .”

At Southpoint, we have moved from an attractional (build it and they will come) understanding of church life to a missional (sent) approach. We have come to understand that success in the church is not measured by having the largest number of people together in one room at the same time. We do not exist to run a Sunday morning worship service.

Instead, we believe that the church finds “success” as we are sent into the community and world to love our neighbours.

As a result, we have very few (sometimes no) midweek programs. We don’t want our church life to become a vortex that sucks us out of our neighbourhoods. We encourage people to find meaningful ways to volunteer in the community and to be attentive to the needs around them.

Ancient fishermen would spend much (if not most) of their time mending their nets. This activity speaks to us of the need to cultivate relational networks for mission in our community and beyond.

To date, we have worked with many organizations in our expanding missional network, including: Initiatives of Change; the Semiahmoo House Society; the City of Surrey; the BC Muslim Association; other area churches; Emanuel Baptist, San Salvador; MANY local businesses and more.

“As you are going into the world, make disciples of all nations . . .”

Trapeza is Greek for table. In the Christian writings, it often stands for the whole meal and is associated closely with the act of hospitality. The Table is a foundational ministry image at Southpoint. We gather midweek around a shared meal. We welcome people to our table with coffee and refreshments when they enter our gathering on Sunday mornings just as Jesus welcomes us to his table.

We practice hospitality with our neighbours. Both giving and receiving. We are prayerfully seeking ways to extend our table to include the stranger, the poor and the forgotten of our society.

“Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.”

At Southpoint, we are drawn together by our common thirst. We find our thirst quenched at the well of Jesus, who calls, “Come, all you who are thirsty.” Mirroring the wideness of Christ’s invitation, we welcome people of all cultures and ethnicities, sexual orientations and gender identities to join us in our rhythms of worship, connection, and care.

Having experienced the radical hospitality of God, we are delighted when anyone, drawn by the Spirit to our doors, enters and joins us at God’s table. We welcome people into membership based on a profession of faith in Jesus*, and we welcome people into leadership based on a recognition of their gifting, calling, and orientation toward Christ, regardless of ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, and gender identity.

Jesus said that the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. Seeds are small, full of potential and can flourish when placed in the right environment. We seek to cultivate safe spaces that nurture life and growth, paying particular attention to the needs of our children. We bless and support marriage covenants made between two adults, regardless of sexual orientation and gender, and seek to support individuals and families of all shapes and sizes as part of our family of faith.

We seek to be menders of the net, working for the reconciliation and wholeness that is God’s desire for creation. We recognize that the church has participated in the exclusion and abuse of the Earth and her children, particularly those on the margins: queer** people, women, people of colour, Indigenous communities, people journeying with addictions, grief, mental and physical illness, and others feeling marginalized from power structures within society. We desire to be a refuge where people can be congruent with whom God created them to be and is freeing them to be, participating as whole and embodied people in the whole body of Christ.

*Faithful people can and will come to different conclusions. We honour the soul freedom of one another and believe that our community can include diverse understandings AND be whole. We choose to value empathy over agreement and certainty, and seek to find unity in the midst of our diversity.

**Queer—We humbly, at the suggestion of an LGBTQ member of our Task Force which drafted this statement, use the reclaimed, inclusive term “queer” in place of LGBTQ+ to respectfully acknowledge the God-given spectrum of diversity of sexual orientations and gender identities within humankind.