Chuck's Column - 05/11/08
When Rick Shaw was with us several months ago for a Renewal Weekend he challenged us to rethink who we are and what we are about as a church. The church leadership met on Saturday morning and identified four key components that the deacons have worked into a new mission statement. After much discussion and revision the following statement will be presented at our next business meeting for church approval:
"Our kingdom mission is to live like Jesus Christ by unconditionally loving all people, compassionately serving God's world, openly discussing issues of faith, and intentionally inviting others to grow with us as followers of Christ, our Lord and Savior."
This will replace our current mission statement that reads: "Our mission is to know and make known God's unconditional love revealed in Christ through our worship, witness, teaching, service, stewardship, fellowship, and personal walk with God."
As mentioned above the new mission statement reflects the four key elements that emerged from the church leadership that met on Saturday morning of our Renewal weekend. The four key elements were:
- Meeting needs and loving unconditionally
- Being instruments of God's kingdom on earth
- Being an inclusive, open, accepting congregation - a safe place to question and discuss issues of faith
- Being invitational and instructional - inviting persons to become authentic disciples of Jesus Christ.
As you can see the new mission statement reflects these four components in a concise, memorable way and reflects the combined input of a number of leaders in the congregation.
This fall I will be teaching and facilitating a discussion on the theology that undergirds the "Left Behind" books. And to prepare for that I began this past Wednesday evening a study of 1 and 2 Thessalonians. Each Wednesday we will take about 20 minutes to read and think about Paul's letters to the church at Thessalonica, letters that contain a great deal of apocalyptic imagery and thought.
Servants together,
Chuck