VISION STATEMENT
“A Christian community growing together, knowing, loving, and serving Christ, to make Him known to all”
The KirkWood community already strives in many ways to make this vision a reality, but we must never become complacent or satisfied with our service to God and being a disciple of Christ. This is a vision that all can embrace and find opportunities to grow in discipleship, show their love for both fellow Christians and our neighbors around the world, and serve and bring others to know Christ. All are encouraged to increase their involvement in the life of KirkWood Presbyterian Church.
MISSION STATEMENT
“KirkWood is called to glorify God, to deepen our understanding of Him and His purpose, to minister to our community and Church family, and by our witness, to share Christ with others.”
CORE VALUES
Our Foundation:
God is the creator, provider, and savior, and is the center of all that we do in our lives. We demonstrate this through love, forgiveness, peacemaking, hope, and witness.
1) Prayer and Worship – “Bringing Ourselves and Others Into God’s Light”
By praying and worshipping in all circumstances – our joy and sorrow, success and failure, hope and despair, satisfaction and regret – each of us invites God into our hearts and daily lives. When praying for others, we bring people closer to God and to His sustaining, comforting presence. When worshiping with others, we are unified by drawing spiritual nourishment from a common source.
2) Community – “We are Family”
We are a community following Jesus together, so that we may know, love and honor Him. Together we learn and grow, supporting and sustaining each other through life’s joys and challenges.
We recognize our spiritual duty to take responsibility for every aspect of our church community, which includes our people, our facilities, church grounds, and of all God’s gifts in our own lives, such as our time, talents, and resources.
We endeavor to be a “big tent” church where all are appreciated and all can grow. This includes building and protecting a diverse community in which we don’t always agree but are committed to respecting and learning from one another. We find our unity in Christ, His teachings, and the gracious, open-minded principles of the Presbyterian Church of the USA (PCUSA), one of which is that “God alone is the Lord of the conscience.”
3) Spiritual Growth – “In Christ We Are Trying to Become More Like Christ”
Together, through scripture, study and practice, we strive to grow in our love for God and those around us. Our intent is to grow in faith, hope, and love so that we become more like Jesus, which will prepare us to share God’s good news. Led by God’s Spirit, we will make faith and growth accessible to all who seek.
4) Openness – “Reformed and Always Reforming”
As a PCUSA church, we seek to be open to God’s continuing work of reformation within our church so that we will be more effective in our God-given mission. We recognize that we are in a rapidly changing world in which new challenges, needs, opportunities, and questions arise constantly, so we must be open to responding with energy, intelligence, imagination, and love while being guided by our Christ-centered values.
5) Welcome – “All Y’all are Welcome. All Y’all Means All Y’all”
Because God has welcomed us, we show Christian hospitality and invite others into community and spiritual growth with us. We love each and every person as a child of God.
6) Outreach and Mission – “Go, Proclaim, Do”
Following the example and teachings of Jesus, we make our world bigger, not smaller. We share the message of Jesus and show love and care for those that are struggling (the poor, lonely, homeless, hungry, sick, elderly, and others in need). We prioritize partnerships with other organizations because we can do more of God’s work together than we can on our own.
Benediction:
“Now to God who by the power within us is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, to God be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever, amen.” (Ephesians 3.20)