HOPE CHURCH MISSION STATEMENT: A HOLISTIC APPROACH

I woke up one day recently to realize that I had been looking at the Hope Church Mission Statement printed in the bulletin every week, and at the entrance door of our building, and on our website, in a way that may very well hinder its potency. At the very least, I realized that I had not been fully living this Mission Statement, both as an individual and as a leader. I had been looking at it like a kind of smorgasbord, as if there was something there for everyone; that way, each person can select which “purpose” within the statement best suits him or her, ignoring other “purposes.”

There was a time when I would have said, for instance, that “To worship God” was not an essential element. I would have reasoned, “What about those who question the very existence of God?” There was a day when you might have heard me do this. I realize now that I was quite “off the mark.” (That is what “sin” is, by the way…being “off the mark.”). Therefore, I first ask your forgiveness for any way I may have doubted or demeaned the Mission Statement or misled you. I was wrong.

Let me suggest at this moment in time that the Mission Statement of Hope Church could be a strong center for our mission together; but only if it is taken as a whole. Let me suggest that an “all of the above” approach could move us to a deeper center as a congregation and bind us together in mission and purpose. Below is a pyramid version of the Mission Statement.

People come together at Hope Church for the following purposes:

* I couldn’t fit the last purpose in that little triangle in the peak of the pyramid. It reads,

   “To celebrate with joy the richness of ourselves and our religious community.”

After 3.5 years at Hope I have come to discover that a scattershot approach to this pyramid could eventually bring the whole thing toppling down. I did not realize how misguided I was to think that a higher power (i.e. God) should be nothing other than the very foundation of the pyramid. It is the starting place for all of our life together as a “religious community;” and it does say “religious community.” The promotion of “personal and spiritual growth” is also foundational. Let me suggest strongly that the lower tiers of this pyramid are incredibly foundational, the underpinnings of our life together. We bypass them at our peril.

This is where I am on my journey as a member of Hope Church, and as a potential leader of this congregation. I say potential because I cannot lead unless I have a center from which to lead. All too often, that center has been my own ego. This cannot continue. I ask for your prayers as I begin anew my ministry with the Hope community.

-         Vance Toivonen