Back in 1990, Dundonald Church began to meet as an exciting new church plant of 35 adults and children.
They initially met on Sundays in a local primary school and after a few years of encouraging growth, they formed their own charity. By God’s grace, Dundonald Church continued to flourish and, with the support of other local churches, subsequently planted a number of other new churches across Southwest London. Today, our shared charity, The Co-Mission Churches Trust, is responsible for ten London churches.
Our churches may appear different in many ways, but they are all enthusiastic participants in the Co-Mission church planting network and together share a common faith and mission. God’s Spirit has led and grown us by his Word in the faith summarised by the Co-Mission statement of faith and our churches are united in our doctrinal distinctives.
Given the exciting growth which God has given to our churches, The Co-Mission Churches Trust now employs around 50 staff across Southwest London and, together with hundreds of fantastic volunteers from across our churches, we are committed to serving our local communities and playing our part in seeking to reach London for Christ!
What do our churches believe?
Co-Mission Statement of Faith
God – The Holy Trinity
There is only one God, who exists eternally in three distinct but equal persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. He is immortal, eternal, and perfectly and exhaustively knows the end from the beginning. He is unchangeable in his holiness, justice, wisdom and love. He is the almighty Creator; Saviour and Judge, sovereign in the election, salvation and preservation of his people in Christ. God is sovereign over all things, both good and evil; though, he is not the author of evil, nor does he delight in it.
The Bible
God has revealed himself and his promises in the Bible, which consists of the Old and New Testaments alone. Every word was inspired by God through human authors, so that the Bible as originally given is, in its entirety, the Word of God, without error and fully reliable in fact and doctrine. The Bible is clear to all who seek God’s will and are willing to live by it, though the human mind is finite and fallen in its reading of it. The Bible alone speaks with final authority and is always sufficient for all matters of belief and practice.
The Human Race
All men and women, being created in the image of God, have inherent and equal dignity and worth. This dignity is not annulled by gender role distinction or male headship in marriage and in church leadership. Their greatest purpose is to obey, worship and love God. Adam and Eve, our first parents, rebelled against God and plunged themselves and their offspring into ruin. Because of Adam’s sin, every aspect of human nature has been corrupted and all men and women are without spiritual life, guilty sinners and hostile to God. Every person is therefore under the just condemnation of God and needs to be reborn, justified, forgiven, reconciled to God in Christ in order to know and please him.
The Lord Jesus Christ
The Lord Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of a virgin, and lived a sinless life in obedience to the Father. He taught with authority and all his words are true. On the cross he died in the place of sinners, bearing God’s punishment for their sin, redeeming them by his blood and reconciling to God all those who believe. He rose bodily from the dead and so was vindicated by his Father. He broke the power of death and defeated Satan, and brought everlasting life to all his people. In his resurrection body he ascended into heaven where he is exalted as Lord of all. He intercedes for his people in the presence of the Father. Salvation is in and through the Lord Jesus Christ alone.
Salvation
Salvation is entirely a work of God’s grace and cannot be earned or deserved. From all eternity God determined in grace to save a great multitude of guilty sinners from all peoples, and to this end foreknew them, predestined them and chose them. This plan of salvation has been accomplished in history by the Lord Jesus Christ’s once and for all penal substitutionary death, resurrection and ascension. This salvation now is offered freely and openly to all through the gospel. God in his love sovereignly applies this accomplished salvation to the elect through union with his Son. In Christ he effectually calls, regenerates and grants his elect repentance and faith. The elect are justified through faith alone, in Christ alone, by grace alone. In Christ, God mercifully imputes to believers the righteousness of his Son, so that they are declared righteous in his sight and pardoned of all sin. In Christ they are adopted into the family of God, progressively sanctified by the Holy Spirit for holiness and are preserved for the coming Kingdom and New Creation.
The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Trinity and is fully God. He has been sent by the Father and the Son. In his work He glorifies the Son and applies the work of salvation to God’s people through union with the Son. He regenerates and imparts spiritual life to spiritually dead sinners, so that they are convicted of sin and repent and believe.The Spirit inspired all Scripture and speaks in Scripture today. He indwells all believers, brings assurance of salvation and, while believers still battle personal and corporate sin, the Spirit progressively produces in believers increasing likeness to Christ. He gives gifts to build up the Church and empowers its members for worship, service and mission.
The Church
The universal Church is the body of which Christ is the head and to which all who are saved belong. It is made visible in local churches, which are central to the saving plan of God, and are led by godly, accountable elders. They are congregations of believers who are committed to each other for the worship of God, the preaching of the Word, and the administering of the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. They are to engage in pastoral care and discipline, mutual love and encouragement, to call all people to repentance and faith in the gospel of Christ, and to equip believers for world mission, mercy, and justice. The unity of the body of Christ is expressed within and between churches by mutual love, care and encouragement. True fellowship between churches exists only where they are faithful to the gospel.
The Future
The Lord Jesus Christ will personally and bodily return in glory. He will raise the dead and judge the world in righteousness. Unbelievers will be sent to eternal conscious punishment where they are separated from the benevolent presence of God in Hell. Those who live by faith in Christ will be welcomed into a life of eternal joy in fellowship with God in the promised New Creation. God will make all things new and will be glorified in all things forever.
Statement of Doctrinal Distinctives
Our churches may appear different in many ways, but they are all enthusiastic participants in the Co-Mission church planting network and together share a common faith and mission. God’s Spirit has led and grown us by his Word in the faith summarised by the Co-Mission statement of faith and our churches are united in the following doctrinal distinctives:
We are Reformed Evangelical
We are joyfully convinced of the sovereignty of God in all things. This results in our shared commitment to dependant and expectant prayer. Together, we are committed to proclaiming God’s gospel of grace that Jesus is Christ our Lord, who came as our king, died for our sins, rose to rule and will return to judge and renew all things to the glory of God, bringing peace, hope and life in his kingdom to all who repent of their sins and believe in Jesus.
Our worship issues in mission
We believe Christ calls and commissions his followers to worship Him in all of life, especially in making disciples of all nations. We believe God has delayed the end of the world, extended our lives, and placed us where we live, work and socialise to love people in every way we can, especially with the gospel in our evangelism, cross-cultural mission and church planting.
As God values men and women equally, so do we
Our churches have approved and support the Co-Mission Ethos Statement on Complementarianism:
- God lovingly created human beings, choosing to make each one of us either male or female. He intends our society to consist of both men and women. This is his good and beautiful design, so throughout the Bible a person’s sex or gender is assumed to be God-given, innate, permanent and not interchangeable.
- God values men and women equally, and so should we. We share with each other the unique privilege of being made in God’s image (Genesis 1:26-27) and the task of filling and stewarding the earth on his behalf (1:28). Together we sinned against God, and experience the fallenness of a cursed creation (Gen 3), and together we are offered salvation in Christ, receive his Spirit, and are joint heirs of his gift of life (1 Peter 3:7). In that sense, in Christ there is no distinction between male or female (Galatians 3:28) – we are of gloriously equal worth as his children. Any theology or practice that demeans or devalues women (or indeed men) must be We gladly follow Jesus who valued and dignified both men and women.
- God nevertheless made men and women to be different in various ways. Being equal does not mean being identical. Only a careful study of Scripture can safely teach us what it truly means to be male or female, and help us avoid unbiblical gender stereotypes, which can be harmful.
- God gives differently-shaped roles to men and women in the family and in the church (which is God’s family). Most biblical commands are given to all believers, including a great deal of common ground in parenting (Proverbs 1:8) and ministry (Romans 16; 1 Corinthians 11; Ephesians 4:15). Nevertheless, commands given specifically to husbands are different to those given to wives, and instructions to men in church leadership are different to those given to women.
- Marriage is to reflect the relationship between Christ and the church, and therefore God calls husbands to sacrificial loving leadership, and wives to willing submission. The idea of a wife being called to submission (Eph 5:22; Col 3:18) often raises objections, but we read on to see the husband being called to lay down his life for her (Eph 5:25), valuing her as much as he does himself (5:28), never being harsh or domineering, but respectful and considerate (1 Peter 3:7, Col 3:19, reflecting Jesus’s leadership which is never oppressive or harmful, but liberating and life-giving. The more a husband is Christlike, the more he will seek his wife’s flourishing, and the more joyful and unhesitating her submission can be. Wives are, on the other hand, called to submit to the loving leadership of their husbands. This is done knowing that all believers, male and female, submit to one another and to other authorities. This submission is modelled perfectly by Christ our servant King who submitted freely and happily to his Father, even laying his life down for the church.
- In the church, God calls both men and women to learn and teach, but reserves some leadership roles for men. Both men and women are to exercise a wide range of ministries and gifts in church, but certain leadership roles are restricted to suitably qualified men, including authoritative teaching over men (1 Tim 2:11-14) and the authoritative weighing of prophecy (1 Cor 14:34-35). These verses are not a temporary concession to a patriarchal culture, but are grounded in the permanent order of creation (1 Tim 2:13-14).
- Co-Mission churches are committed to applying these principles, with appropriate flexibility where Scripture allows. The big picture is clear: our churches will have male eldership for governance and authoritative teaching, while actively integrating women’s voices, wisdom, and ministry contributions. Regular preaching in the gathered church family should be done by men who are trained, or who are training, to be elders. But there will be differing views on what constitutes prophecy and/or authoritative teaching in practice, and there is freedom for churches to set their own policy.
We submit to the Bible’s teaching on singleness, marriage and sex
Our churches have approved and support the Co-Mission Ethos Statement on singleness, marriage and sex:
- God has made the world good, and human beings with dignity in his image. Because he is the Creator, he reveals what is right and good for us (Genesis 1:1-2:25).
- God has made marriage an exclusive covenant for one man and one woman (Gen 2:23-24, Matt19:5-6), and it is designed to be for life (1 Cor 7:39). Sexual intimacy is God’s gift, and part of the relationship between the man and the woman before the Fall.
- God commends both singleness (1 Cor 7:7) and marriage (Matt 19:4-5) as ways of life to be honoured by all and within which we can honour him and flourish. Singleness honours the ultimate worth of Jesus in single-minded devotion (1 Cor 7:32), and the value of God’s eternal family (Mark 10: 29-31). Marriage depicts the love-relationship between Christ and the Church (Eph 5:22-33) and the closeness of our ultimate relationship with him in the new creation (Rev 21:2).
- God gave sex as a way to express and enjoy loving union within marriage, and for the building of families. On the deepest level, it is a sign pointing to our ultimate union with him (1 Corinthians 6:15-17). Sex is not given for self-gratification but for serving each other within a secure marriage, the only partnership approved by God for sexual relations. Sex is too precious for any relationship other than marriage.
- God has set boundaries for our good, happiness and ultimate flourishing – whether married or single (Deut 10:13, Rom 7:12). They are neither harmful, nor homophobic. Whether single or married, whether we desire marriage and sex or not, we are called to pursue ultimate contentment in Jesus Christ. Because of this, we believe that a celibate, single life can be what the Bible calls a blessed life – as much as married life.
- God makes clear through the whole Bible that sexual activity outside of marriage, as defined above, goes against his good, loving will and is sin. This is the witness of the whole Bible – from Old Testament (Ex 20:14, Ex 22:16, Lev 18:22, 20:13) through to New Testament (Matt 5:28, Rom 1:18-32, 1 Cor 6:9-11). Spiritual leaders who promote sin, and lead others into it, will be held accountable by God (Matt 18:6-7).
- God, wonderfully, offers a new start through Jesus Christ for all of us, whatever our sexual sins and brokenness. As we repent and believe in Christ, we can receive forgiveness, freedom, and the power of the Holy Spirit to pursue a life of holiness (1 Cor 6:11, Rom 8:12-13). Our battle with sin continues in this life, but God’s grace is sufficient for those who love him (2 Cor 12:9, Phil 1:6).
- God establishes our identity in Christ, and not in our sexual desires or attractions. While some may experience persistent same-sex temptation, or other sexual temptations, these experiences do not define them (1 Cor 6:9-11, 2 Cor 5:17). Believers are first and foremost children of God (John 1:12, 1 John 3:1-3) and are not labelled by their struggles.
Cultural diversity is our intention and joy
Cultural diversity is our heaven-inspired, cross-empowered, mission-required, church-enriching, Christ-exalting joy! We are delighted and challenged by the growing ethnic and cultural diversity given to us by God and are committed to humbly listening and changing, genuinely apologising and forgiving, enjoying our different backgrounds and experience of God’s grace, and to celebrating our uniting primary identity in Christ.
We seek to glorify God
Our churches are united in our desire to worship Jesus Christ as our loving Saviour and living Lord, in the power of the Holy Spirit and to the glory of our heavenly Father!
How to find out more?
The best way to find out more about our churches and about our Lord Jesus Christ is to visit one of our churches. Full details of each of our churches and where they meet can be found on their websites.
As a charitable company, CMCT is regulated by both the Charity Commission for England and Wales and by Companies House.
