Authorized by our Leadership Council, and facilitated by Church in Society Commission, the Northaven Community is invited to engaged in a process of discernment which could lead to an expansion of our church's mission statement.
Specifically, the idea is to ask: "Does our statement need to say more about our mission to the world, specifically to the poor and the oppressed? And, if so, what should it say?"
This process does not seek to replace the current statement, approved in the 1990s, but to expand on the question "What are we called to *do* in the world?"
Therefore, for four weeks the congregation is invited to provide input and feedback on what that mission statement should include.
To "prime the pump" Church and Society has drafted four sample statements to get you to thinking and to praying about what it should be. They are:
* "Northaven seeks to extend God's love to the world through ministries of compassion, peace, justice and reconciliation."
* "Northaven understand our mission to embody God's love and justice in the world with special preference for those who are most vulnerable and marginalized."
* "Jesus described his mission in Luke 4 as being anointed, "to preach good news to the poor, te proclaim release to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord". Jesus' mission is Northaven's mission in the world."
* As one body of Christ, we pray that God's Holly Spirit will empower us for the awesome and challenging task off spreading God's love and justice throughout our community and world.
Leave comments below about these statements, or about another statement of your own choosing. Or, on Sundays, leave a comment on at large display in the Atrium.
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Is this just our statement about mission activities or our statement as to the overall mission of Northaven United Methodist Church? If it is the later, then it must be more inclusive. Of the four statements listed, the 4th is the best. But I still yearn for more to be said if in fact this is a statement for the church whole and not just the mission program.
ReplyDeleteGail Bialas
I would be happy with any of the four. Probably number 2 is my favorite.
ReplyDeleteI like four the best, because we also say it every time a new member joins. This would be nicely reinforcing between worship and the statement.
ReplyDeleteI would like to see our church claim and embrace racial diversity through membership, worship, outreach, and mission.
ReplyDeleteI like Number four..As one body of Christ, we pray that God's Holly Spirit will empower us for the awesome and challenging task off spreading God's love and justice throughout our community and world.
ReplyDelete