The History of our Vision and Mission in the Last 13 Years:

For some history and context to the focus and direction of our church’s ministry, here is a review of the various statements of who we say that we are.

OUR current Purpose Statement is “to be a Neighborhood in God’s Kingdom”.  It is defined as follows:

Our purpose is defined by our three ships:

Worship: We gather to praise God, to share God’s Word as a community, to lift our hearts on high.

Discipleship: We come together as followers of Jesus, learning as the disciples did to become people of faith and courage.

Apostleship: We seek to be as the apostles, to be sent out in the Holy Spirit to minister, participate in missions, and share the faith of Jesus.

BEING a Neighborhood in God’s Kingdom was a refinement of what came before.  The following Vision Statement was introduced to the church, then developed further with the “Three Ships” outlined above.  This statement was rolled out at Easter in 2004, as a Trinitarian-styled statement of discipleship and apostleship, what the church did for its members that led to what the members then did for the community.  The statement reads:   

“Through God’s ministry in our church, we see people of all ages and ethnicities Worshiping God, Coming to faith in Christ, and Being equipped for service by the Holy Spirit in order to Glorify God, Witness to others about Christ, and Serve the community.”

THAT statement from 2004 was a further refinement of the work of the Mission Study Committee that prepared a Vision and Mission statement for the church using the Presbytery’s contracted Percept Study, work that was finalized in the Fall of 2000.  It was under that statement that the Church Information Form under which I came to the church as the pastor was written:

Our Vision

  >      One Spiritually united church body that works through the Holy Spirit
  >      A church body that draws from the local community to enlarge our church family and that works together, knows and cares for each other and focuses on community needs while proclaiming the word of God.
  >      A church body that is well known and respected in the community as open, helpful and loving.

 Our Mission

  >      Growing spiritually both as a church body AND personally
  >      Improving communications within our  church AND between the church and the community
  >      Fully staffing the church with both paid AND volunteer positions
  >      Creating unity within both our church AND the community

 THE full document from 2000 is 21 pages long in its presentation and explanation of the Vision and Mission, plus another 10-12 pages of Percept addenda.  We’ve known who God wants us to be for over a decade.  We’ve focused it, tweaked it, moved with it.  Now it is time to live it.