Dear First Pres,
Soon after I arrived at FPC, nearly nine years ago, I began working with Session on a statement that would clarify why we exist as a church, who we’re meant to be, and what we’re meant to do. After countless hours of work and study and prayer, we landed together on what we’ve called our Purpose Statement for these last several years: engaging together in Christ’s work of making disciples for the redeeming transformation of our city and world. I have to tell you, I have loved this statement. I love how it puts Christ’s work of making disciples right at the center of our purpose. I love how it calls out the way we do that together. And I love the way it points to the fruit of that work being beyond us in our city and world.
But the problem was that most of us couldn’t remember it. And, if we can’t remember it, then it isn’t a very useful tool to remind ourselves of our purpose. So, at the beginning of 2020, Session set out, once again, to clarify our purpose in a way that people would understand and remember. And that’s exactly what we’ve done over the past seventeen months (in the midst of a few other things too). Now, instead of one Purpose Statement, we have two statements that we believe are inspiring, biblically-based, helpful to focus our efforts, and easy to remember.
As I mentioned at our congregational meeting on Super Sunday, we adopted a Vision Statement. A vision statement is meant to paint a picture of our desired future. It’s meant to remind us of what we long to see accomplished. It’s meant to compel us forward toward a common dream. Here is our Vision: In Fresno as it is in Heaven. This is what we pray every Sunday as we pray the prayer that Jesus taught the disciples to pray. We pray, “Hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” And, since God placed us, 136 years ago in the heart of Fresno, we share a common dream of seeing those things in Fresno as they are in heaven.
We love our new Vision. But we knew that we still needed to define our part in seeing that vision become reality. So, for the last several months we’ve been working to define our Mission. A mission statement defines what we do today to see our vision become a reality tomorrow. Again, our hope was to make it simple to remember and inspiring to implement. So, here it is (drumroll please), our Mission: Loving God, Loving Our Neighbors, Making Disciples, and Pursuing Shalom. Of course, we only do these things in response to God’s incredible grace given to us in Christ and dependence on the Holy Spirit. But we believe that as we respond to God’s grace by loving Him, loving our neighbors, making disciples, and pursuing shalom, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we will see and experience God’s Kingdom come in Fresno as it is in heaven. We have written a brief description for each part of our Mission. You can find that additional information on this page of our website.
When I consider both of these statements, I get excited. I get excited to see God’s Kingdom come, His will be done, and His name be glorified in Fresno as it is in heaven. I get excited to see us grow together in loving God, loving our neighbors, making disciples and pursuing shalom. And I get excited to invite others into that God-given vision and mission. May the Lord empower us by His Spirit to live it out.
Blessings,
Pastor Jeremy
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