Vision

Following the way of Jesus and seeking his renewal in the region

The vision is, emphatically, Jesus. He is the vision of this church and always will be.

We are committed to not just seeing people come to believe in Jesus but for their whole lives to become increasingly aligned with and surrendered to the Way of Jesus. We want to see people live in and live out the story of God so that their own lives are transformed and the world around them is transformed too. That story we are invited to live in and live out is a story of renewal: of God giving Jesus to us as the great restorer and renovator of peoples’ lives and of the world He loves. The narrative of scripture has an arc, which bends towards justice and beauty and reconciliation; towards the scene described in Revelation 21 where God sits on his throne and proclaims: “Behold, I am making all things new!”. We believe that we’ve been invited to play our part in moving that story forward as “Jesus, continued” – the church.

So our great hopes are that many people in Devon would come to know Jesus for the very first time and for many others to re-awaken their faith and deepen their faith. And it is for Devon to become a more just, healed and peaceful place as a result of this community of Jesus-followers living increasingly Spirit-filled lives every single day.

Why St Basil?

St Basil (the Great) was a Bishop in fourth century Caesarea, which is now in modern day Turkey. He had some buildings just beyond the city walls that he used in a remarkably creative way, fuelled by a life or prayer and heart of compassion.

Having turned the buildings into a place of prayer, there was a terrible famine in the region. In response, St Basil re-purposed the buildings to provide much needed food to the most hungry. However, upon realising that many of those visiting were sick, afflicted by poverty and un-educated or skilled, he used the buildings to provide free healthcare and begin breaking cycles of poverty through teaching trades. The Basiliad, as it became known, is now widely regarded as the one of the first hospitals providing free care for ordinary citizens and St Basil himself as one of the earliest Christian social entrepreneurs.

It is this combination of compassion, courage and creativity in mission that transformed lives in the name of Jesus and made that community at the Basiliad a prophetic sign of the Kingdom of God within the region and beyond. St Gregory – at Basil’s funeral – said of the Basiliad: “go forth a little from the city and you shall find a new city...where people are no longer known by their features (leprosy) but by their names”.

Our hope is that St Basil’s might become a similar place: a place just beyond the city where a culture of compassion, courage and creativity could develop that would restore dignity to the most vulnerable and bless the local area, the city of Exeter and the wider region in the name of Jesus.

Why on a farm?

As more people move to cities, we believe the relevance of the church in rural settings is increasing not decreasing. The more people are shaped by city life, the more important a voice the rural environment acquires. In our vision of the future we see a confident, prophetic church in the rural environment: a creative minority playing its part as a redemptive cultural movement amidst an urban cultural moment.

We see a time coming where the rural environment becomes home to creative centres of cultural renewal: prayerful, entrepreneurial, compassion-centric bases for innovative and bold mission in the region. We see a time coming where the rural environment becomes a “laboratory of the Spirit” for young creatives full of zeal and hope, wanting to make a difference. We see a future with two lungs: one urban and one rural – both breathing together to bring Kingdom life to a region.