cup a joe

I've been playing with the mission statement of the church.....

To be a Community of Hope that passionately pursues the Kingdom of God in our neighborhood, our cities, our country and the world.

Community of Hope:

We are a Missional Community. Not just a place where we “go to church”, but a community that acts as the Church to the society around us, acting as Christ’s ambassador to our neighbors. Not just doing evangelism, but acting as missionaries – living in the world but not being of the world, seeking to incarnate the values of Jesus in all we say and do so that we can demonstrate in love a counter-culture (life in the Kingdom of God) to the society we are apart of.

We are a Faith Community. Not just a place we go to for religious services or events, but a community - a family - with whom we share a journey, with all its struggles, joys, difficulties and encouragements. Our community is not based on social, economic, racial or political similarities, but instead on faith, faith in walking with Christ by walking with one another.

We are a Community of Hope. The foundation of our community is in the hope we have in the Reign and Rule of God, our hope in the Kingdom. As such, we are a community that is to be a witness to the gospel and the in-breaking reign of God, striving to be an instrument, agent and sign of that reign. We point to the Kingdom, knowing that it will bring shalom to the world – wholeness, peace, justice and joy – once it comes in its fullness.

We demonstrate this Hope through the principles that focus us as a community:

H.O.P.E.

H - Honoring God through Worship: Worship is our priority. We worship God out of our alliance to him. The Hebrew word for “worship” denotes the physical act of falling on one’s face on the ground in homage to one’s ruler. As members of the Kingdom of God, we worship God not because it is spiritual or because we are attempting to “bring in the kingdom” or because it is fun. We worship God because it is all that we can do to show our gratitude as citizens of the Kingdom.

O – Opening the Gates and Setting the Captives Free: As a witness to the Kingdom, we are called to be an instrument of the in-breaking reign of the Kingdom of God. So it is our call to release those that are being held captive throughout all of God’s creation. Because of this, we pray for wholeness and healing of those physically, emotionally and spiritually sick. We bring the Gospel to disenfranchised and the forgotten in both words and deeds. But our responsibility not only lies in ushering in the Kingdom to our fellow man, but also in being stewards to all of creation around us and allowing God to use us to bring redemption and wholeness to all of creation.

P – Being a People of Prayer: Being a community that walks with Christ implies that of a community hungry for intimacy with Christ. Our sole existence is dependent upon Christ. Because of that, the rhythms and lifestyle of the community, both corporately and individually, are intricately dependent on prayer. We pray by ourselves. We pray as a community. We pray together even when we are apart. We pray using modern techniques. We pray following ancient traditions. We are a community that prays.

E – Equipping and Empowering the Saints: We reject the concept of separation of clergy and laity and instead embrace the concept of the “priesthood of all believers”. We are a community of ministers. All believers are called to be ministers to the world around them. Because of this we believe that the church is a place not to receive ministry, but instead a place to be equipped to do ministry. Pastoral staff is there not to minister to the members, but instead to equip them so that all can minister. So when we gather corporately, we do not ask “Who will minister to my needs?” Instead we ask “Whose needs can I minister to?”

Cindy wanted to know how many books, blogs, and other place I got some of this from (yes, I know what the word "incarnate" means!) Needless to say, my answer was a lot! Any thoughts???