What Anchors Us In The Great Commandment

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.

1. We shall devote ourselves to prayer in devotion with the Lord our God.
2. We shall read and engage with the Lord’s Word, the Bible.
3. 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

1. Pray for our neighbors.
2. Get to know our neighbors.
3. Serve our neighbors.
4. 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  Love of God without consideration of Neighbor can lead to a life withdrawn from the world, tunneled down to spiritual navel-gazing.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.