Jesus gave his disciples one Great Commission to make disciples of all nations, and two great commandments, to love God with all their hearts and to love their neighbours as themselves. We seek to fulfil this mission in three steps, by reaching people with the good news of Jesus, building them up in faith and sending them out to love God and neighbour by serving and sharing the good news.
OUR MISSION
To enable all people to know Jesus and enjoy his rule in their lives.
OUR BELIEFS
WE BELIEVE IN GOD.
We believe that the God who created the universe and gave us life, loves each one of us and wants us to know and enjoy his love.
God has revealed himself fully through Jesus Christ his Son, who saved us on the cross from the self-destructive ways that lead to death.
We can know peace with God as we repent of our sins, put our faith in him, and follow Jesus daily. We can get to know God better as we worship him, love and serve one another, study the scriptures and are guided by his Holy Spirit.
FAITH SEEKS UNDERSTANDING.
Christians are always seeking to grow in their understanding of God, His world and ourselves, and every generation asks different questions. We value the minds God has given us (Reason), and the lessons that previous generations have learned (Tradition) and the role of the Bible. This agreed understanding has been expressed in the Ecumenical Creeds, which have marked the limits of Catholicity or Orthodoxy.
The Church of England sees itself in this Catholic or universal tradition, and at the Reformation in the 16th Century sought to correct errors by recovering the supreme authority of the BIble, as God’s word written. PPT sees itself in this Evangelical or Reformed tradition and wholeheartedly affirms Canon A5
“The doctrine of the Church of England is grounded in the Holy Scriptures and in such teachings of the ancient Fathers and Councils of the Church as are agreeable to the said Scriptures. In particular such doctrine is to be found in the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, The Book of Common Prayer, and the Ordinal.”
UNITY IN TRUTH AND LOVE.
In recent years Christians have wrestled with the issues of spiritual gifts, the ministry of women, and human sexuality, and people with different views on all these issues find a home at PPT, because we are saved by grace through faith, not by being right about other things, which do not all have the same order of importance
At PPT we welcome the ministry of women leading and preaching at our services, but we respect the integrity of those who in good conscience find this difficult.
In the continuing debates about Human Sexuality, the leadership team seeks to uphold the traditional understanding that marriage is a life-long union between one man and one woman, as expressed in the Evangelical Alliance statement of faith, and the PCC has subscribed to the Jerusalem Statement produced by the Global Anglican Fellowship (GAFCON).
OUR COMMUNITY
Bovey Tracey is a small market town of about 5000 people on the southern edge of Dartmoor in Devon, but it has a surprisingly rich cultural life, with annual music and craft festivals, an arts centre and whisky distillery. The churches of the town work closely together PPT has a congregation of about 150 adults and 30 children from the town of Bovey Tracey and surrounding villages. It is linked with the smaller rural village of Hennock, 3 miles to the north, and the parish church of St Mary’s Hennock.
