We are building a neighborhood in the Kingdom of God. This is the Vision of the First Presbyterian
Church of Perth Amboy. All the good and
best and wonderful things that come from a neighborhood will be reflected in
this church community. The foundational
Scripture of our Vision is comes from a question asked to Jesus, “Teacher,
which commandment in the law is the greatest?”
Jesus replied with the Great Commandment, “You shall love the Lord your God with all
your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the
greatest and first commandment. And
a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mt. 22:36-40)
Last night, at our Board meeting, we revised and updated our
church’s Anchor Statements to build upon the Great Commandment.
What are our Anchor Statements?
They are statements of practice, of ethics, of core values
and behavior. They are designed to guide
our theory and practice in carrying out our Vision according to the Great
Commandment.
“You shall love the Lord your God…” Three Anchor Statements were adopted last
night as the foundation to carrying out this command.
- We shall devote ourselves to prayer in devotion with the Lord our God.
- We shall read and engage with the Lord’s Word, the Bible.
- We shall return a tithe of all that God gives us for the Lord’s work.
Defining these Anchor Statements will come in the form of
pamphlets to coincide with the start of new sermon series over the next three
months. The pamphlet on prayer was
released at the beginning of the month and is available in the Narthex.
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Our previous Anchor Statements define how we
carry out this commandment.
We shall
take time to
- Pray for our neighbors.
- Get to know our neighbors.
- Serve our neighbors.
- Share our faith with our neighbors.
These are the actions and activities of those in our
congregation who are committed to building our neighborhood in the Kingdom of
God. These Anchor Statements shall
become the basis of joining our church for the new people God has ready to send
to it. They shall become the basis for
the covenant of renewal that we shall set before those presently in our
congregation.
Growth as a healthy church shall depend on a balance between
love of God and love of Neighbor. Love
of God without consideration of Neighbor can lead to a life withdrawn from the
world, tunneled down to spiritual navel-gazing.
Love of Neighbor without God can lead to a life sunk in the quagmire of
the despair that is the human condition.
