our ethos
It is clear from the New Testament that:
- Church is not a building to which you ‘go’ once or twice a week – but a community to which you belong and in which you have a part to play – 24/7
- Church is not boring and irrelevant, but vibrant, dynamic and empowering, addressing real life situations and transforming people’s lives.
We came into existence as a Church during January 2005 with the determination from the start to ‘be’ and ‘do’ Church in accordance with its original intention as revealed in the Bible.
our logo
This expresses who we are:
- Many of us have found life to be like a jigsaw puzzle, where the pieces don’t quite fit together. icc is made up of people for whom the Christian faith has proved to be the missing piece which draws all the other pieces together.
- Christianity centres on Jesus Christ and so the jigsaw piece that forms our logo bears the image of a crown which is partly a crown of thorns (reminding us of Jesus’ death for us) and partly a crown of majesty (declaring our belief that Jesus rose from the dead and is alive and reigning in the earth today through the activity of the Holy Spirit).
- In the words of Psalm 18:20 (MSG) ‘God made my life complete when I placed all the pieces before Him.’
our basis of faith
We subscribe to the Evangelical Alliance basis of faith.
our vision
We exist to please God and to transform our world by becoming ourselves, and making of others, mature, whole-life disciples (apprentices) of Jesus Christ.
our goals
To please God by fulfilling:
- the greatest commandments – to love:
- God with all our heart, soul and mind (Matt 22:37);
- one another as Jesus has loved us (John 15:12); and
- our neighbours as ourselves (Matt 22:39);
- the great commission – to make disciples of all nations (Matt 28:18-20)
our values
- God – centred – devoted to Jesus (2 Cor 11:3)
- Holy Spirit – energised (John 15:5; Luke 24:49; Acts 1:8; 1 Cor 2:4-5; 4:20;Col 1:29)
- Purpose – driven (pursuing our vision & goals)
- People – empowering (A committed membership equipped for the functional involvement of all (1 Cor 12:27; Ephes 4:16)
- In partnership with other churches (working towards the unity of the whole Church in Ipswich (John 17:20-23; Ephes 4:3)
Process
We’ve discovered that achieving our vision and goals in accordance with our values basically involves cultivating friendship:
- with God
- with one another &
- with those outside the church.
So we’re seeking to build everything we do around the pursuit of friendship in all 3 of those 3 directions.
leadership
We believe that the primary role of church leadership is to equip and release every individual church member into their God-given potential and roles.
The Founding Pastor of the church is Rod Stone.
Rod is a Southampton University Law Graduate who was a partner in a firm of solicitors before entering into full-time church leadership in 1994. Rod oversaw the planting of icc in January 2005 and remains senior leader of the church. He is married to Mandy and they have four adult children. Mandy manages a local community shop. She co-ordinates the children’s ministry team in icc.
Rod retired in April 2022 and passed on the immediate leadership of the church to a transition leadership team.
our affiliations
icc are members of the Evangelical Alliance and The Ground Level Network
Church United
icc works closely with the 3 other churches in the locality, Burlington, Ipswich International Church and St Matthews under the banner ‘Church United – one purpose, one place.’
The leaders of the 4 churches get togrether monthly to share and pray and currently the churches cancel their Sunday services twice a year to get together for joint celebrations. We also meet together on Maundy Thursday as a launch into Easter.