Mission

outward facing

every aspect of the church's life (individuals, families, small groups,large gathering, worship) is in service of and a witness to the world.  The church is does not exist on earth just for Christians.

evangelism in word and deed. 

we seek to participate in and serve our neighborhood. 

co-operating with and learning from existing Christian ministries. 

initiating future ministry: church plants and RUF 

A few thoughts...

One of the challenges of being the Church - and being a Christian for that matter - is finding balance. How do you balance being in the world (the good, but broken social order in which we live, work, and have our being) and yet not being worldly, i.e. conformed to a pattern of idolatry, selfishness, treating people as means to your own ends, and indifference to our Creator.

Jesus gives us the challenging model of how to be Christians, and how to be the Church, by His own example. He was often criticized for His willingness to associate with compromised outsiders - those who had given up hope in "religion" and now were living according to their own devices and on the fringe of God's people. Yet, Jesus was no squishy push-over. He was welcomed by the "non-religious" but winsomely (and even sometimes sharply) challenged their most basic religious convictions (or anti-religious convictions as the case may have been). In short, He called them to change, and to new life that came by the forgiveness of sins and power of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus was able to strike the balance because of His own missional concerns which He has now entrusted to those who follow Him. First, He identified with the weak, broken, twisted, and angry. He had compassion on sinners, not contempt. A robust grace that seeks restoration is the heart of Jesus' encounter with sinners (like us) today. Second, He knew things were not the way they are supposed to be. The moral rebellion of humanity has fractured lives, relationships, and the world and Jesus came to set His world right. He has given His life and been raised again, so that we will be forgiven, restored, and changed by His Spirit to be His agents in the world. In short, Jesus loves the world, and yet doesn't leave it where it is. Likewise, by His grace He calls us to be for the world (enter it, enjoy it, love the people who make it up), and also be "against" it by being the presence of life, grace, forgiveness, and gospel change.