The world has changed, the needs of the community have changed. How can our church align with these changing needs? What does it mean to be “church” in today’s world and what might that look like? Where is God leading us?
On this Page You will find
Our Journey
Where is God leading us and who is God calling us to be today?
We are following an intentional process to clarify our Core Values, Beliefs, God’s Vision for us, and our Mission. The process is a collective spiritual practice of listening deeply for God’s Spirit and Wisdom bubbling up in the conversations we have with one another.
Our Emerging Vision
Since March of this year, we have prayerfully opened our hearts to discover God’s vision for us today. During this time, we have received many ideas, which we explored and shared with the congregation. You can review these in the following document:
2024.06.09 Vision Retreat Notes 2024.06.09 Vision Retreat Notes
As we listen to the hopes and prayers of the congregation, we identified four concepts that encompass the images and themes you are sharing:
- Tree of Life
- Beacon of Light
- Garden
- Tapestry
Perhaps one of these is God’s vision for the congregation, or perhaps these themes are a step in the process and will inspire you to listen for and receive God’s vision for us.
Please review the four concepts/ possible visions. What sparks your interest? What speaks to you? Is something missing? Does one inspire you more than the others, which one and why? Do these images and words inspire a different vision?
You can email the Vision Team or post your comments in the Vision Gallery in Harrison Hall.
Note: the images are initial ways to try to express the concept beyond mere words.
Tree of Life
Rooted in our love of God. Bearing fruit in every season. Growing to meet the needs of the present. Reaching out in love to help heal our community.
Beacon of Light
A bright and visible signal in the darkness and a warm welcome for those in our community who come from many different paths. A guiding light for all who seek a closer walk with God.
Garden
A peaceful sanctuary where planting, watering, and tending helps nourish, renew, and restore our community of faith. The variety contributes to the overall beauty of the garden.
Tapestry
A vibrant and diverse work of art radiating love of God. Intertwining grace, compassion, and service to our community. Every color and texture is valued, every pattern tells a story, and every strand strengthens the whole.
A vision is aspirational. It is a metaphor or image that communicates in shorthand where we believe God is calling us in the future. Vision focuses our efforts and energies, inspires hope, and speaks to the kind of transformation we desire to see as we use our gifts to further Christ’s ministry.
Helpful guidelines about vision,
- Vision is not constructed by people; it is revealed to a person and people by God.
- Vision is grounded in our history, aligns with who we are, and links to the gospel in and through the person, presence, works and words of God in Christ.
- Vision elicits extraordinary courage, challenges the status quo, and brings joy and fulfillment.
- Vision leads to greater generosity, compassion and community as we reach beyond the congregation.
- Vision can never be fully expressed in words.
- Vision reveals broadly how lives, the community, society, or the world will be different because of our congregation.
The discovering God’s vision is perhaps the most difficult challenge that a congregation can undertake and requires prayer and patience, creativity and openness and risk-taking.
In Moving Off the Map, Thomas Bandy explains the challenge this way, “Unlike our previous work in core values and bedrock beliefs, this effort requires us to transcend mere words to express the raw enthusiasm or emotional power that leads us to take real risks.”
Some biblical examples of visions include:
- salt of the earth
- city on a hill
- light for the world
- people of God
- Land of Milk and Honey
- a house of prayer for all people
- New Heaven and New Earth
- Jesus’s many parables in which he describes what God’s kingdom of heaven is like, e.g., a Mustard See, Yeast, etc.
The following are five examples of visions from other congregations. To see a large version, click on each image:
A Church Without Walls
Bridges that Transform Lives and the World
All God’s Children
Unleashing the Rainbow of God’s Love
Phoenix Rising
Bedrock Beliefs
In the Spring of 2023, the congregation engaged in a series of conversations and activities to intentionally describe our shared Beliefs.
The following is our shared statement of Beliefs adopted in January of 2024:
Belief Statements_ V&V Team 1_11_24.docx
The following is a alphabetized list of the many beliefs that congregants shared through the process. These beliefs helped us arrive at the above statement.
Bedrock Beliefs are the principles or symbols of faith that matter most to individuals in their daily lives. Our beliefs reflect what we presume about ourselves, others, the world, and the divine and shape our attitudes and behaviors as individuals and a community.
One of the beauties of our congregation is that we see a diversity of individual beliefs as a strength, giving depth, dimension and a richness to our understanding of God in Christ. As we explore – and celebrate – the breadth of our beliefs, we are also seeking to identify the shared beliefs that are most important to us.
Core Values
In the Spring of 2022, we began exploring our Core Values and Competing priories as the first step to better understand who we are as a congregation today and who God is calling us to be.
In January of 2023, we adopted the following statements of our Core Values and Competing Priorities.
Core Values – Edited on 1_11_24
Competing Priorities_with Addendum 11_10_23
The following is an alphabetical list of the many values that individuals named through the many conversations that occurred as part of this process. Our Core Values, are based on this list.
Core Values establish the priorities, preferences, and consistent choices made individually and collectively in our congregation. Core values intentionally and unintentionally guide how we act, behave, choose among competing priorities and make decisions about everything!
Competing Priorities are the assumptions, attitudes, and habits that hold us back, that keep us from embodying our values and being the church we feel called to be. They are the habitual behaviors and activities that we turn to, i.e., prioritize, in times of stress.
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