It's always a good thing to highlight local church vision at the beginning of a new year. People tend to be somewhat over individualistic about their goals or new year resolutions and as Christians it can become a little self obsessed as we consider how we could do better (for Jesus) this year than we did last year. Most of this fades away by February as self effort is not enough.

So, it is so good to look at our corporate goals for 2010 as a church. Our over riding passion for this year is that NCC becomes more visible than ever. Looking at Matthew 5 we declared the promise of Jesus that we are to be the salt of the earth and

the light of the world and that as a church we are to be a city on a hill that cannot be hidden!

For us it means expressing this together in five ways:

1) By Growing. That means everyone volunteering to serve in whatever capacity they feel able to do.

2) Social action. As a church, 2010 is time for action in this area. Lots of opportunities are available for us to serve our wider community and January 30th is our launch date for this.

3) Diversity. We are poised to become more and more diverse in 2010 and our longing it to be a multi-racial church. We have Owen Hylton with us in June to help us on this journey.

4) The Nations. As a church we have had contact to the nations for a number of years, but now is the time for us to be more engaged than ever. As we continue to work into several European nations plus South Africa, Zimbabwe and Dubai we will be involved as a church in planting a church into " The Hague ", Holland and will enjoy partnering with "Church on the rock", Guernsey.

5) The Building... it's time for our building to represent who we are and to be seen to be "alive"! To that extent we are going to embark on a very exciting building project that will transform our building into something new and more relevant.

Vision is great !! Now let us make it a reality.

Matthew 5

13"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.

14"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.