The Purpose of Maple Street Congregational Church:

We share God’s love, hope, and healing and serve our neighbors.

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Vision Statement (adopted January 2019):

As a congregation we have spent the past year discerning who we are as a community of faith, where God is calling us to go, and who God is calling us to be. Our purpose is to share God’s love, hope and healing and serve our neighbors.  

 

We are living in perilous and polarizing times as a nation and world. It is our vision to be followers of Jesus before anything else. Our loyalty to Christ, as disciples, requires prayer and action at this moment in our history.

 

To live out our core values we must be bold and open to new ways to effectively meet the challenges of our times. We will focus our activities and programs, and our gifts of money and time, to foster and support: 

 

Transformational Worship:
We strive to create a religious home where everyone feels nurtured. We will help people to see how God is active and current in our lives. Through creative forms of worship, we will feed the spiritual needs of all who worship here. We will explore turning our worship spaces into multi-purpose sacred spaces for meditation, worship, fellowship and education.

 

Hands-on Mission Work & Social Justice:
We are creating a sense of community, belonging and hope, and, in the first year of implementation, will begin work to make our building accessible to all. We affirm that each human being is made in God’s image and likeness (Genesis 1:26). In Christ, there is to be no oppression based on race, gender, identity or class (Galatians 3:28). We will devote resources to those who are homeless, hungry, hopeless, or alone in their time of need. We believe these goals are well served by ceaseless outreach, a visible welcome, making our church more of a community resource, and building small ministries.

 

Meaningful Fellowship & Attracting New People:
We rejoice in our time together! We welcome all and invite everyone to share in the life of the church. We nurture connections and meet people’s needs. Our Church will be known as a safe haven for all, including children, families, elders, those fighting addiction, and people historically oppressed by the larger culture.  

 

We aspire to be Good Stewards:
We will continue to expand environmental outreach and protect God’s creation. Our Earth Stewards ministry is a great example of how a few individuals can make a big difference.  We will grow our pledges with a goal of being fully self-sustaining in five years, without utilizing more than our budgeted draw on our endowment.

 

Mission Statement

Maple Street Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, seeks to be a community of faith. Its members are united in the worship of God known in Jesus the Christ through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Our mission is to serve God through word and witness, to treat all human beings as sisters and brothers, and to foster responsible stewardship of all God’s creation.

 

In the spirit of God’s affirmation and love for all people, we declare that we are a faith community which welcomes and accepts all persons, celebrating the diversity found in the congregation, including persons from all backgrounds such as race, religion, economic class, abilities, ethnicity, gender, age, and sexual orientation. Members are called to an individual and collective quality of life that leads to personal, spiritual, and social transformation, witnessing to God’s saving purposes for all creation.

 

Therefore, we pledge ourselves to education, reflection, actions for peace and justice, and the realization of the vision of the heavenly banquet where all are loved and blessed.