At key intervals in a parish’s life, it is important to pause and discern how we understand our common mission as a community who seeks to be the Body of Christ in this particular time and place. Grace has an existing Mission Statement that, honestly, we have not used much in the decade I have been here. The language and images do speak to our common life, and we can see the Spirit very much at work in what this statement points toward; however, given where we are in our Bicentennial planning, I think it would be meaningful to spend a bit of time reflecting on this statement, to amend it and be more conscious of it. Here is the current Mission Statement:
The mission of the Church is to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ (BCP, 855). Grace Church pursues this mission by accepting and welcoming all people as the children of God as we pray and worship, provide education and care for our parish family, and reach out into the community in which we live. As a community of faith, we remain open to the ongoing revelation of God in our own time.
I will be working with the vestry this fall to discern a revised Mission Statement, and a key step is to gather insights from the entire parish. To help with this, we invite your answers to the questions below. We are gathering these offerings and will use them to discern common threads.
I hope you’ll share in this practice as we pay attention to how the Spirit continues to be at work in our common life!
Blessings,
Stuart
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