Our mission & vision
Our mission is to love people and invite them to join us in a growing relationship with Jesus.
Our vision is to be a church that is devoted to lifelong growth, healthy relationships, warm hospitality, walking with the wounded and introducing people to Jesus.
You can read more about our mission and vision here.
Our History
The Lakes Church began meeting as a church in 1969. We have previously been known as Cairns Church of Christ and Centenary Lakes Christian Community. We have always been affiliated with Churches of Christ in Queensland.
We at The Lakes Church acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we meet, and respect their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We pray for God’s peace and love for all our communities.
Churches of Christ
Churches of Christ are a group of churches that grew in the early 19th Century out of a desire to restore the church to the practices and principles of the New Testament Church.
Although Churches of Christ have a national and state wide supportive conference structure, we as a community are autonomous. Churches of Christ across Australia share a commonality in belief and Christian practice, however, we are free to express our relationship with Christ, his church and the world around us in ways appropriate to our local situation.
What We Believe
At The Lakes Church we emphasise what we have in common. We seek to operate by the familiar Churches of Christ saying, “In essentials, unity. In non-essentials, freedom. In all things, love” (Ephesians 4:1-7, John 13:35). Many of us have differing views on how we are to worship, practice the gifts of the Holy Spirit, understand Christ’s return and so on. It is important that these opinions do not divide us. The following points are the essentials of our faith:
God has always existed as three persons; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He is the creator and sustainer of all things. (Genesis 1:1, Matthew 28:19)
As Father, God is absolutely loving and completely holy. He chose to adopt us as his children through Jesus. (1 Peter 1:15-16, 1 John 3:1, Ephesians 1:3-5)
Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He was born of the Virgin Mary, lived a sinless life, was crucified and died on a cross, rose again to new life after three days and later ascended to heaven. Jesus is fully man and fully God. (Philippians 2:6-11)
The Holy Spirit lives within each Christian to guide, comfort and teach us. As we walk in step with the Spirit, he enables us to live out God’s will for our lives and empowers us with spiritual gifts to build up the church and God’s Kingdom. We believe that all of the gifts expressed in the New Testament are for today. (John 16:13-15, Galatians 5:16-26, 1 Corinthians 12:4-7)
The Bible is the Word of God for all people at all times and is essential, authoritative and applicable for our church community. We believe God’s Word to be without error, however we understand that human influence and interpretation will occasionally produce different conclusions on some matters. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
All people are tainted by sin, and reliant on God’s forgiveness to be restored into right relationship with him. Jesus made this possible as he defeated the power of sin and death through his life, death and resurrection. Salvation, forgiveness and relationship with God come only through Jesus Christ as we repent from sin and accept him as Lord and Saviour. Our eternal destination is determined by our response to Jesus, as he will return to judge both the living and the dead. (Galatians 5:6-11, John 3:16-18, Revelation 1:7-8)
We practice baptism and communion to celebrate what God has done for us. Whilst we recognise that there are many forms of baptism in the Christian church, we teach and encourage baptism of believers by immersion. We share the bread and cup in communion as a participation in the death and resurrection of Christ. (Romans 6:1-4, 1 Corinthians 11:23-26)
The call of God’s word to ‘love each other deeply from the heart’ guides how we treat each other. We encourage and expect followers of Jesus to become like him in their attitudes and behaviour, but this must be worked out in an environment of grace. We allow people to grow at God’s pace, not ours, as his Word and his Spirit bring conviction and power to grow. (1 Peter 4:8, Ephesians 2:8-9, Colossians 3:12-17)
Commitment to God is far more than commitment to the local church, however we believe that being in community at The Lakes Church means getting involved by praying, supporting, giving, encouraging and serving as God leads. Every person in the church community should actively minister by gifts and calling. We submit to our appointed leadership and to each other in the church community by mutual accountability. (Hebrews 10:23-24, Ephesians 4:11-13, 5:21)
We hope this gives you a little more insight into who we are as a church. We would love to have you join us at a church service. If you have any questions, please contact us.
