Why are we looking at the church mission?
The Congregation Engaged in this Process in the 2020/2021 Programming Year
It is not possible for any congregation to be all things for all people. Having a clear and mutual understanding of the mission of the church assists the ministers and lay leaders in making hard decisions about the allocation of financial and volunteer time resources of the congregation. A clear sense of mission also helps the Board craft policies that support the mission, give coherence to the work of the church, and aid in talking about what the church does with others including potential new members. It is considered good practice for churches to periodically revisit and re-commit to their mission, and it is one of the primary responsibilities of the Policy Board to discern the mission of the First Unitarian Church of St. Louis.
Our current mission statement was crafted in 2013. It is distinctly possible that the fundamental values of the church have not changed, but the membership is not composed of all the same people as it was in 2013 and the context of our St. Louis church has most certainly changed following the 2014 death of Michael Brown. Rev. Mason had not yet been called when the current mission statement was crafted. It will be helpful for her to hear and be part of the conversation with current members as we talk with each other and share our understandings of our identity, values, and context.
The goal of the exercise of reviewing our mission is NOT simply to cosmetically re-write the mission statement to shorten it or include more current buzzwords. The goal is for as many members of the congregation as possible to think about our current identity, values, and context. As a result of engaging in this process we will all emerge with a deeper and clearer common understanding of what we mean by the words of our mission statement, whether we end up re-writing the mission statement or not.
The Mission Task Force of the Board (Joel Hickman, Gene Rubin, Kathy Wilke, and Margaret Weck) is working with Rev. Mason on designing multiple ways for people to be engaged in these important conversations. We hope that a majority of the congregation will be involved in the process of clarifying our mutual understanding of our common mission. Details of upcoming sessions will be published as they are finalized.
Crafting a Mission Statement: In Search of Proximate Purpose
There are many things that a church can be doing in this day and age. However, a church can’t work on everything. So out of all the things a church can be working on, how do you come up with the mission of the church?
Proximate Purpose is another word for a church’s mission. Proximate purpose exists where Context, Identity and Values intersect.
Context includes the physical location of the church as well as its location in time and history
Identity includes the demographic make-up of the congregation
Learn more about our Identity and the discussion HERE.
Values includes the the virtues most important to the church
Learn more about Values and the discussion HERE.
We want as many members as possible to participate in this conversation. To that end, we have created a bulletin board with the same questions we have explored live on Zoom. We encourage you to use the bulletin board as a place for civil dialogue and discernment.
New Mission Statement Adopted at the May 16, 2021 Annual Meeting
We strive to be a welcoming congregation, inspiring lives of loving kindness and integrity by nurturing spirituality, building community, and advancing justice.