Our Vision

Now that we have a new vision statement, a very rich one, and I wanted to offer some of my own theological reflections around that statement in the hopes of getting all of us to think more deeply about what it means. I will spend the next few weeks breaking down the vision/mission statement and offering some of my own thoughts.  Let me know what you think, what am I missing, how did it change the way you are thinking about things?  We start with the first half of the first sentence:

We continue to break down our vision statement with some theological reflection, this week continuing with the first sentence of the statement:

We are all members of many communities-- our workplaces, our friend groups, our social organizations, our families, our neighborhoods, the list can go on. Church is something different and we affirm in this part of our statement that at First Presbyterian Church in Victor we intend to be a community that centers itself in faith. 

The richness of our vision statement is on display here in this particular breakdown of the phrase “hub of spiritual practice”.  To me, this is the true heart of our vision statement as it can paint the clearest picture, in a fairly practical way, of what we can look like, what we can strive towards as a church. 

This particular phrase was added during the session meeting that approved this statement. As we sat with the draft statement and looked it over and made slight modifications, the members of session felt as if something important was missing. After some discussion and attempts to draw out what piece wasn’t there, someone was able to see that the statement was missing a commitment to a growth mindset.

During the process of coming up with this statement there was some discussion about whether we were creating a mission statement or a vision statement.  Generally speaking, a mission statement breaks down the purpose of an organization and a vision statement speaks to what an organization wants to be and often a few key ways on how it will get there. The old statement was clearly a vision statement, and some asked what our Mission Statement is. I responded, probably too quickly, that at the most basic and foundational level our mission is to be the hands and feet of Christ in the world.

As I first started introducing the early drafts of this statement to folks in the church, this was the line that often caught people the most off guard. For many of us here at First Presbyterian Church in Victor we know what it means to serve, we are ready to serve, we are ready to put others first and to love freely. What is more challenging is being served, because isn’t that selfish? Are we not supposed to let go of our own desires and needs and only think of God’s?