OUR MISSION - 'What we do': Bringing the Good News to the Nation

OUR VISION - 'Why we do it'
Initiate, encourage and co-ordinate evangelistic opportunities throughout the UK.
Actively recruit, train and equip evangelists and church planters.
Develop and deploy effective resources to communicate the Christian faith.
Encourage individuals and Churches to fulfil their potential in Christ.
Provide pastoral care, support and fellowship for full-time evangelists and church planters.
Develop the ministry of COUNTIES to be one of the primary evangelistic agencies of choice for the whole church.
Ensure COUNTIES maintains a sound financial base.

OUR 'ETHOS'
COUNTIES believes that our ethos emerges from a desire and motivation to express Christ's love to those whom we serve outside COUNTIES, and to reflect this love internally in our relationships with one another. The motivation for our mission comes from Christ's love compelling believers (2 Corinthians 5:14) and is therefore rooted in our faith in Christ. This faith produces a distinctive heart attitude of love, which expresses and is characterised by the following values and behaviours:

Values of a relational ethos:
Individual Centredness - seeing the image of God in each individual (relationships as important as results)
Inclusivity - facilitating a sense of belonging to the corporate whole (We recognise the value of people's diverse gifts, experience, perspective and contribution.)
Interdependence - understanding the role of self and others in the overall whole (Each member of the COUNTIES family is treated with respect as having different function but equal value)
Integrity - the organisation and the individual being true to their values (by applying God's principles and ethics to internal and external activities and relations)

OUR CORE VALUES
We believe these core values will support, distinguish and guide COUNTIES into the future:
" Dependency on God - We acknowledge our dependency on God, by faith.
" Commitment to the Bible - We are committed to the truth of the Bible, affirming evangelical Christianity. We seek to be obedient to its teaching, evaluating our work and attitudes in its light.
" A Focus on Evangelism - We are committed to the great commission (Matthew 28v 18-20) and the task of evangelism.
" Believing Prayer - We believe that prayer is the basis of our work and underlies everything that we do.
" Church Linked - We recognise the importance of local churches and seek to equip and support them in evangelism, providing appropriate resources.
" Biblical Unity - We value the fact that we comprise Bible believing Christians from different churches seeking to work together in unity.
" Achieving Excellence - We are committed to integrity, honesty, quality and professionalism, encouraging creativity and innovation in all that we do.

These values and behaviours are intrinsically linked to the success and fulfilment of our mission. Therefore, the attitude and motivation of our staff and the way our mission is achieved are as important as the mission itself (John 13:34, Matt 22:36, 1 Corinthians 13:1&2).

OUR BELIEFS
1. One God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - eternally existing in three distinct but equal persons.
2. The sovereignty and grace of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, `in creation, providence, revelation, redemption, sanctification, and final judgement.
3. The divine inspiration of the Bible, and its consequent entire trustworthiness and supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct.
4. The universal sinfulness and guilt of fallen humankind, which is therefore subject to the just condemnation of God.
5. The substitutionary death of the incarnate Son of God as the only ground of redemption from the guilt and power of sin and its eternal consequences, which is obtained by faith alone.
6. The illuminating, regenerating, indwelling and sanctifying work of God the Holy Spirit.
7. The priesthood of all believers, who form the universal church, which is the body of which Christ is the head, and which is committed by his command to proclaim the gospel throughout the whole world.
8. The baptism of believers, and the regular observance of the Lord's Supper, in obedience to the Lord's command.
9. Local churches, composed of professed believers, and led by those with appropriate spiritual gifts; the widespread distribution and exercise of spiritual gifts; regular meetings for worship, prayer, teaching, and fellowship; outreach to the locality; and involvement in world mission.
10. The expectation of the personal, visible return of the Lord Jesus Christ in power and glory.