God loves and reaches out to a fallen world in Jesus Christ and by the power of the
Holy Spirit brings strangers and enemies together into a new and abiding community.
The mission of the church is to participate in this reconciling love of God.
A Reconciling Community
The purpose of God is to mend the beloved creation. We are a sign and a foretaste
of God's healing reign coming into the world. Through Christ and the Holy Spirit
we are receiving reconciliation to God and each other and being formed into a new
and diverse community. In this way God is setting us free from the fears and forces that lead
to isolation and destroy the good abundance of life in community that God intended.
Therefore we hunger and thirst for right relationship with God and one another. We
covenant to make time for one another, know and serve each other, and be accountable
to one another for the healing work of prayer, bearing one another's burdens, and
forgiving one another as a reconciling community of God's reign. (Matthew 5)
God's love goes far beyond us. In God's reign the lowly are lifted up and the proud
humbled, the weak strengthened, the hungry fed, the naked clothed, the lost sought
after, and the earth cared for. So that is where we will be found, going beyond
our safe boundaries to seek out and defend the least, the lost, the littlest, and even those
whom we find disturbing. Wherever communion is broken, that
is where we will mourn its absence and pray for God's reconciliation to begin. (Ps.
146; Is. 61, 65; Matt. 5, 18, 25)
Gifted by the Spirit
The Spirit reconciles and equips us by bestowing on each person a precious gift of
service to be used for the well-being of all. To honor the Lord's presence we must
celebrate and put to use the rich diversity of gifts, opinions, and experiences God
is bringing among us. To be fruitful we will build each other up, pray for each other,
and hold each other accountable to use our gifts as living sacrifices to God for
the building up of the larger community. (Eph. 4)
Discerning God's Will
Being in right relationship includes discerning the will of God together. Through
the active use of all our gifts in worship, prayer, study of Scripture, and shared
decision-making, we will be empowered to discern the way of Jesus Christ and be a
visible demonstration of God's reign in the world. This requires humility, patience, not
rushing to judgment, but taking the time to practice open conversation and prayer
in which we listen for the wisdom and prompting of the Spirit. In this way we will
come to know the will of God well enough to expose the other powers--like idolatry, injustice
and violence--that rule our personal lives and our society and contradict God's reign.
(Matthew 18:19-20; John 16:13; Romans 15:14; 1 John 4:1)
On behalf of the world
This vision is not limited to those who enter our gatherings, but reaches out to everyone
we touch in our daily lives, our work, our community and to all the creation. This
is a movement prompted not by obligation, burden or fear, but by gratitude to God, the desire to share the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the hope of
living a new communion with others in the power of the Spirit.
Scriptures
2 Cor.5:17-18
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new
has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and
gave us the ministry of reconciliation:
Romans 12:1-2
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as
living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship.
Do not confirm any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his
good, pleasing and perfect will.
2 Peter 1:5-11
For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness,
knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and
to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly
kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will
keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus
Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins. Therefore, my brothers, be all the
more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you
will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 1:9-10
And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure,
which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached
their fulfillment--to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one
head, even Christ.
