September is a time of new beginnings in the life of the church. We begin a new season of active programs after the quieter season of summer has passed. We renew old friendships and make new friends as we gather together in the fall.
This September our church gathers with new mission and vision statements to guide our life together. The committee also presented a list of beliefs we share as a church. As you will see in this newsletter, a committee met last winter and spring to prayerfully work on these statements, which were approved by our Administrative Board in June. We are grateful for the hard work and dedication of that committee and we thank Bill Evans for leading the group.
As Bill’s article in the newsletter explains, the committee understood a vision statement as “a compelling picture or image of what the church can become or where the church wants to go in the future.” A mission statement “defines what the church is trying to accomplish and for whom.”
As we begin working with these new statements we hope they become a part of the way we see ourselves and what we do in this church. I encourage all of us to read the newsletter article and reflect on these statements. I encourage our leaders to refer to these statements regularly as we do the work of the church together. And I pray that God will continue to lead our church to be faithful to God’s vision and mission for us as we go forward
