FPC’s current statement is 19 years old, and hasn’t been used much in recent years, so not a lot of people know what it is. We have just completed a new Mission Study where we listened to our congregation and our community and tried to discern God’s call to us. This is important, and we want your input. If you have comments, please send them to missionstudy@firstpreshc.org. Your feedback is crucial.
We love like God loves, with Christ as our model.
God loves everyone - of all races and ethnicities, all creeds and colors, all gender and sexual identities.
God loves all Creation - the Church Universal, the natural world and human life from which it flows.
God loves justice - God’s vision for the world is a welcoming table with room and sustenance in abundance for all; we are called to create that welcoming table, and to remove every barrier that impedes access to it.
God loves actively - so our words and good intentions result in tangible actions. We give our time, talents, and resources - sacrificially and in partnership with others - to help realize God’s vision for the world.
God loves with patience and persistence - so we carry ourselves with humility, we listen compassionately, we disagree with love, and we have faith that reason and good will lead to understanding.
What is a mission statement? A mission statement is a declaration of the church’s focus, usually for the next 5 – 7 years. Our new statement will hopefully refresh our vision. Mission statements are typically aspirational – we state something positively, and we’re not there yet, but that’s the direction we feel God calling us. Mission statements also don’t usually express the entire mission of the church, but rather where we feel led to put extra effort. Finally, a good mission statement has a one sentence statement that everyone in the church can memorize. Then there are often bullets that flesh out that statement.
Why a new mission statement now? FPC’s current statement is 19 years old, and hasn’t been used much in recent years, so not a lot of people know what it is. We have just completed a new Mission Study where we listened to our congregation and our community and tried to discern God’s call to us. Next, we are embarking on a pastoral search. What a great time to reclarify God’s call to FPC!
Why are we calling it “proposed?” This is important, and we want your input. If you have comments, please send them to missionstudy@firstpreshc.org Your feedback is crucial.