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Our vision is set by scripture and can be found in Mark 16:15: Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation! Our mission statement starts not with us but with God and is: God calls ALL to serve.God is the originator of all we do and of all of our efforts. And, while we may not even know what our own needs are, God certainly knows not only our needs, but the needs of all God's creations. And so we are called to discern our call (collectively and individually) and then to serve God faithfully according to that call. In the process, God will use our actions to bring God's kingdom closer and to meet the needs of God's creation. We live that mission statement by: ACCEPTING, LOVING, AND LISTENING. We accept -- both our assignments from God and our uniqueness of call. We make an effort not to assign more value to our work that others. We value all of God's creatures and see that God created us all with a purpose. That creates an atmosphere where diverse persons are accepted into one unique (some might say weird) community. We love -- because that's what God did first. We love, not in the sense of the romantic feeling that sometimes embraces our hearts -- although we are glad when that feeling shows up. Instead we love in word and deed. We show compassion for others. We share God's hope and joy with others. We care for one another and seek to care for those outside our walls. We listen -- this is a powerful and important part of our culture. We listen to God in prayer and we find that prayer is a critical part of our Christian journey. We know that many folks don't know anything about praying so we periodically offer classes on praying. We listen to one another. Our church structure is set up so that when folks feel a nudging by the Spirit there are many places where that nudge can become a reality. And we help one another discern where we are going. In addition to that we have listening ministries -- including Stephen Ministry -- a powerful ministry that trains folks how to listen and care with a Christian ear. |