Blueprint for Our Dream
We dream about being a part of a community that allows and encourages people to be most fully who they are—children who are deeply loved by God who are called to deeply love God, to deeply love each other, and to deeply love the people around them.
We dream about:
· being authentic (true and honest) with God, with others, and with ourselves; working together to create space where people can live in relationship with God and with one another
· creating "places of possibility"—sacred spaces and times that are infused with meaning and purpose; places in which people can live out the dreams of God in accordance with the desires of their hearts and their unique gifting and ability
· struggling with hard questions and difficult times in community; clinging to and communicating hope; allowing love to be the force that moves people toward healing and wholeness
· belonging to a community that is determined to follow God into mission, living in the way of Jesus and turning outside of itself to be a redemptive blessing in all the world
· ordering our lives according to the kingdom that Jesus described; struggling for justice and peace; crying out against oppression - mourning it, condemning it, and calling for change
· liberating the imagination - devaluing the currency of the empire and radically shifting images toward those more in line with the kingdom of God
· engaging the challenge and the beauty that is found in diversity
· integrating faith into every area of life—body, mind, soul, and spirit
· learning from the history of our faith and of our world, remembering the tragedies and the failures as well as the triumphs and the successes
· telling the story of God as expressed in the Bible and being a part of the story of God that continues today; honoring that which came before us, that which is now, and that which is to come; remembering that we are a part of a greater story and looking for ways to bless one another
· being connected to, dependent on, and serving the global Church
· forming dynamic (as opposed to static) structures and systems that do not get in the way of mission, but rather promote it
· creativity, innovation, vulnerability, and risk-taking; not being afraid to abandon some of the long-held patterns of predictability and make space where fresh life can spring forth; not always taking the roads that are safe, familiar, and predictable
· redefining the metrics of success; measuring not by numbers but by the depth of the stories that emerge from the community
We dream about:
· being authentic (true and honest) with God, with others, and with ourselves; working together to create space where people can live in relationship with God and with one another
· creating "places of possibility"—sacred spaces and times that are infused with meaning and purpose; places in which people can live out the dreams of God in accordance with the desires of their hearts and their unique gifting and ability
· struggling with hard questions and difficult times in community; clinging to and communicating hope; allowing love to be the force that moves people toward healing and wholeness
· belonging to a community that is determined to follow God into mission, living in the way of Jesus and turning outside of itself to be a redemptive blessing in all the world
· ordering our lives according to the kingdom that Jesus described; struggling for justice and peace; crying out against oppression - mourning it, condemning it, and calling for change
· liberating the imagination - devaluing the currency of the empire and radically shifting images toward those more in line with the kingdom of God
· engaging the challenge and the beauty that is found in diversity
· integrating faith into every area of life—body, mind, soul, and spirit
· learning from the history of our faith and of our world, remembering the tragedies and the failures as well as the triumphs and the successes
· telling the story of God as expressed in the Bible and being a part of the story of God that continues today; honoring that which came before us, that which is now, and that which is to come; remembering that we are a part of a greater story and looking for ways to bless one another
· being connected to, dependent on, and serving the global Church
· forming dynamic (as opposed to static) structures and systems that do not get in the way of mission, but rather promote it
· creativity, innovation, vulnerability, and risk-taking; not being afraid to abandon some of the long-held patterns of predictability and make space where fresh life can spring forth; not always taking the roads that are safe, familiar, and predictable
· redefining the metrics of success; measuring not by numbers but by the depth of the stories that emerge from the community
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