So we’re guessing you’ve been “agaped” and somehow ended up here… or maybe you are simply here to have a look around. Either way, welcome and enjoy your stay.

So what does it mean and why did someone leave you with a card letting you know? This is not a place where we’re going to try and sell you some kind of special set of “Agape” brand steak knives for $39.99 with an extra set thrown in for free… its something very different to that – in fact we’re not trying to sell you anything at all.

Agape (pronounced a-gar-pay) is a Greek word. Actually it’s an ancient Greek word. And it’s not a weird philosophy, or a new way of thinking, but it does have the power to transform your life.

Agape is love. But it’s not love as we so often describe it. We often talk about love as something we are trying to find by pursuing an emotional relationship with someone, but we even use love to describe the way we feel about our favourite sandwich spread, or our most comfortable pair of shoes.

But agape is talking about something much deeper than this. We are so often disappointed by love, because the deepest and most profound kind of love is not one that we experience by getting, but one we experience by giving.

Agape is unconditional. It is not just an emotional feeling, but it is a way of treating people, responding to people, giving to people. It’s not looking for some kind of repayment for the good that is done. It is not even looking for thanks and gratitude. Agape is about the demonstration of an unconditional love that calls to that part of a person which sometimes gets lost in the noise and busyness of this world.

We believe that agape resonates with us because it originates with the one who started all of this. We believe that agape originates with a God who is unconditional in His love for humanity. And we believe that the agape that comes from God shows us the way that we too are called to live. As we encounter agape from God, we find that we are able to show agape to others. And this kind of life is the one that connects with the deepest part of who we are… this kind of life is the one that makes the most sense of all.

You’ve been “agaped”.