Affirming Our Mission & Vision
Pastor Jason Our mission is to…
serve Christ through mutually supporting one another & embodying God’s grace and love for all
We envision…
a diverse church led by Christ to open its doors in love and service to all
This coming Sunday, we will have a church-wide conference meeting directly after worship to vote on several items. Among those items is a final vote on our proposed Mission & Vision Statements. As we prepare for that vote on Sunday, I wanted to share a few thoughts on these statements.
Our Mission is to…
- serve Christ – this should be the beginning of every church mission statement! Too often, churches serve themselves. Placing these words at the beginning of our mission statements keeps us focused first and foremost on Christ and grounds us in His service.
- mutually supporting one another – the book of Corinthians talks a good bit about the body of Christ and the importance of every part of the body. Each member of the church is important. In a healthy body and a healthy church, each member works together to support every other member. Support does not come from just one place – such as a committee, a leader or pastor – but from every member of the congregation. And one of the ways we serve Christ is by serving one another in mutual reciprocity.
- embodying God’s grace and love for all – The theme that stands out in the Bible above all others, the theme upon which all others are grounded, is this: the grace and love of God which is offered freely to every human being. If we are to call ourselves Christians – Christ followers – then we must make every effort to embody the grace and love of God. And we must learn daily how to extend that grace and love to all people. And this is all the more important today when so many people have experienced Christians and the church as unwelcoming, judgmental, hypocritical, self-righteous, and materialistic. Grace and love are the most powerful forces in creation and they are the very essence of who God is. So, our church should most certainly focus on embodying them as our witness to and mission within the world.
We envision…
- a diverse church – God created a world that is diverse and called it good. No two things are exactly the same. If diversity was woven into the fabric of a good creation, then the church must also be diverse if it is too be good. If the church is not diverse, then it is a sign that we have become divided, that we have categorized ourselves, that we have split and segmented into factions in such a way that we no longer mirror the goodness of God’s diverse creation. There is much division in the church today. We Christians have, for the most part, separated ourselves into communities that tend to look alike, think alike, and act alike theologically, ideologically, socially, politically, and so on. If God is to look upon the church and call us “good”, then we must learn to embrace one another not because of our sameness, but because we appreciate and value our differences. And through this vision statement we are saying that we believe that such a church is possible!
- led by Christ – Scripture describes the church as the bride of Christ and Christ as the head of the church. Too often the church believes that it is led by Christ when, in fact, its decision are more about the opinions and desires of individuals. Instead, the church must learn to humbly seek to be led by Christ. Can we envision a church that is constantly asking itself, “Is this decision, is this efforts, is this action, is this worship led by our own ego and desires or is it led by Christ?
- to open its doors – A church with its doors closed is a sad church indeed. Open doors is a symbol of welcome. Saying that we envision a church with open doors means that we believe the church should be a places of openness and welcome. This statement helps keep these goals before us both literally and metaphorically.
- in love and service to all – It is significant that we tie love and service together in this phrase. We love people by serving them and we serve people when love them and do things that embody that love. Furthermore, we serve Christ when we serve others in love. This phrase helps to tie our mission and vision statements together. If we can envision a church that is truly about love and service to all people, then it must be our mission to create such a church.
You are cordially invited…
to a Blessing and Dedication of Pretzel Logistics Yoga Studio located on the 3rd Floor of Hood Memorial Christian Church after worship and church conference meeting on Sunday, March 19 (approximately 12:20 pm).
God’s Words for This Week
John 2:1-12 – Everyone serves the good wine first… [But] You kept the good wine until now. (CEB, v.10)
This Week at The Hood
Wednesday, March 15, 3:30 pm – Prayer & Inspiration
Wednesday, March 15, 6:00 pm – Choir Practice
Sunday, March 19, 11:00 am – Worship – Third Sunday of Lent
Sunday, March 19, 12:00 pm – Church-Wide Conference
Sunday, March 19, 12:20 pm – Blessing of Pretzel Logistics Yoga Studio on 3rd Floor