Our Mission is to:

• INVITE people into a relationship with God,
• GROW together as devoted followers of Christ, and
• SERVE others by the power of the Holy Spirit.

This statement of our Mission encompasses the three most crucial functions of our ministry: Evangelism, Discipleship, and Service. As we keep our focus on these priorities we will continue to move towards the fulfillment of our Vision. Not only does this statement describe our three main ministry priorities, but it outlines a cyclical process that will be further fleshed out in our "Strategy."

Note the cycle inherent in this Mission statement: INVITE is about bringing people into faith and the experience of Christian community; GROW is about the process of discipleship and spiritual growth that happens in the context of that community; SERVE is about people discovering their gifts and being equipped to fulfill God’s calling within and beyond the community; which in turn takes us back to INVITE as we then welcome new people from outside the church into the process. A more folksy interpretation might go something like this: "Bring ‘em in, build ‘em up, send ‘em out. . .to bring 'em in, build ‘em up, send ‘em out, etc."

The Mission statement does not describe everything we do as a church, its simply keeps our focus on the central priorities which guide and direct us as we move toward the fulfillment of the Vision. It is essential that our Mission statement be succinct enough to remember, clear enough to understand, and focused enough to keep us on track. the temptation is to try and pack everything we want to do into a Mission statement - - this is why most church’s Mission statements are ineffective.

In contrast to the Vision, our Mission is mainly about what we are doing as we move step by step in the direction of becoming the people God created us to be (the Vision). The Mission helps us to keep in focus what is most important and serves to order everything that we do. Each aspect of our ministry and every new initiative must be evaluated in light of the question, "Does this serve to fulfill our Mission?" Not only does it remind us what we should be doing, it helps us to be clear on what we should not be doing. As we allow the Mission to shape our strategy for ministry we will move closer and closer to the fulfillment of God’s Vision for us.