Our Purpose:

Nurture with Love, Serve with Hope

Purpose Statement: We are a faith community called by God to Nurture with Love, Serve with Hope.

Priorities:

To use our energy and resources well, we will focus on the following:

• Providing an increased range of support for people in need by building on the base of the current food pantry.
• Ministering with and to children and their families that encourages increased programmatic and relational connections to congregational life.
• Being attentive to spiritual growth and faith development through creative use of the diverse channels available to journey with people (face to face, social media, emails, blogs, community service, etc.)

Guiding Principles

Building relationships that connect people in meaningful ways

Relationship is at the heart of church—the relationship we have with God and the relationships we have with one another. We can experience the love of God in Christian relationships that share prayer, faith, vulnerability, and common purpose.  Community is also messy. We will disappoint each other. Yet, with patience, persistence, forgiveness, and grace, we can demonstrate God’s love to one another.          Colossians 3:12-17

Growing spiritually through the adventure of the Gospel, then and now

Faith is a gift that needs to be nurtured. Together we share a commitment to grow in our faith, keeping our eyes open to the ways God can surprise and delight us. Whether 13 years old or 95 years young, we are never done learning.  In community and in solitude, we take steps to nurture our faith so that we find our strength and purpose in Jesus Christ.  We also hope to maintain a spirit of adventure and an openness to taking risks for the sake of the Gospel. God calls us to ventures of which we cannot see the ending.          Ephesians 3:16-19

Engaging our community with a servant’s heart

Jesus revealed God’s love to us.  In baptism, we have been claimed and shaped by this love and commissioned to follow Jesus’ example to serve all people.  We listen for our neighbor’s cry and respond with the compassion of Christ without expecting anything in return.   We will put love into action as we care for our neighbors and community.       1 John 3:11, 16-18

Welcoming and offering acceptance to all those we meet

Jesus set a big table and welcomed those most would turn away.  We experience that welcome each week around the communion table and it’s that welcome we seek to extend to others. This love of God surprises and welcomes again and again.                       John 13:34-35

Giving generously out of the abundance of God

God has been generous to us in the abundant life Jesus offers.  This abundant life is not about riches, but about the love and grace we receive in Jesus.  We are inspired by God’s generosity and take what God has given us—our spiritual gifts, resources, time and energy—to care for our church, community, and all of creation.     1 Peter 4:8-11