Mission statement:
In life I wish to return good for evil through building churches and communities that are homes to the hopeless and living out God’s call of love, compassion and justice in this world.
Vision Statement:
To fulfill this mission:
I will ask myself these questions of myself each day:
· “Do [I] make [my] home a place of friendliness, refreshment, and peace, where God becomes more real to those who live there and to all who visit there?[i]
· Is my church and community reflecting the God’s desire of justice for all people and bringing about the kin-dom of God?
· Have I lived out my call to Feed God’s Sheep, by making sure people feel fed spiritually and physically?
· Have I made sure to eat, drink, sleep and be merry today?
Personal Values
Hope, compassion, peace, kindness, justice, hospitality, faithfulness
[i] "New England Yearly Meeting - Faith and Practice Online - The Queries," New England Yearly Meeting of Friends, section goes here, accessed October 02, 2011, http://www.neym.org/fponline/queries.html.
I wrote this mission and values statement at the beginning of the semester for an assignment for my religious leadership project. As I look back at this, I am struck by two things. The first is my commitment to community and the second that the ideal of flourishing that runs throughout these two statements.
ReplyDeleteAt the core of the mission statement is the strong value of community. It is "home" and a place to find hope. My commitment to community, despite the complications of community that I have had over the course of this semester, remains strong.
One of the darker elements underlines this mission statement is the understanding and expectation that churches are a place where "evil" can happen. I hope to maintain what I consider a realistic understanding of the difficulties that occurs within communities, without giving in to cynicism about the nature of humanity. As I grow more experienced in church work, I hope that I will be able to continue focus on the positive aspects that come with community over letting my awareness of the possibilities for harm as well.
I think that the other value that runs throughout these statements, the ideal of flourishing, keeps the emphasis on the positive aspects of community. Nourishment of body and soul are connected to community. Justice in a community is marked and measured by how well people are fed.
Therefore, the aspect of this mission statement that I see myself most likely to change would be the personal values that I see as the mission statements foundation. The two ideals of community and flourishing that I now see as keystones of the mission and values statement are not things that I listed as personal values. I think the distance between writing the statements and this reflection allows me to see more clearly what aspects of myself that this is coming from.