Learning to love with God
Mission statement
St. Andrew’s United Church strives to be a caring Christian Community that nurtures love of God and neighbour through worship, fellowship, learning, and service.
Values
AFFIRMING: St. Andrew’s is committed to being a church that accepts and affirms people in all their diversity. This includes diversity in sexual orientation and gender identity/expression, as well as theological and religious diversity, age diversity, economic status, race, health, etc. We are committed to accepting people in their brokenness. This value is based in the belief that God loves all of us without condition and without exception. God’s love is the beginning of our faith journey, as much as its end.
INTEGRITY: St. Andrew’s is committed to being a church in which faith is a practice, in which our beliefs issue forth in action. “Practice” also implies that faith is a process of learning and growth in which we never completely “arrive.”
TRANSFORMATION: St. Andrew’s is committed to being a church in which we, ourselves, are being transformed in Christ – in which we are becoming whole, finding healing, learning, exploring, finding depth, both as individuals and as a community.
PROGRESSIVE THEOLOGY: St. Andrew’s is committed to a faith that welcomes questions, doubts, and scientific insight. This is based in a belief that Christianity is not static but progressive – that the faith itself, and our understanding of it, grows, matures, evolves through history and through our own lives.
RESPECT: St. Andrew’s is committed to living with respect:
- In our relationship with the earth, God’s creation
- In our relationship with First Nations, Metis, and people of other faiths and none
- In our relationship with one another, and with our community.
- In particular, towards those who are poor, in need, infirm, oppressed or left out by the powers-that-be in society
This value calls us to an anti-racist practice, as well as a ministry that seeks justice and compassion in the structures of our society.
SUSTAINABILITY: St. Andrew’s is committed to sustainability, in the midst of a culture that is largely unsustainable.
- We are committed to sustainable church life – the ministry of this church should be life-giving, not life-draining.
- We are committed to doing what we can today to support this church’s ministry into the future.
- We are committed to an economic and environmental lifestyle that is just, sustainable and even restorative.
COMPASSION: St. Andrew’s is committed to non-violence: to resolving conflict with respect and care, to respect and civility in political matters, to kindness and fairness in all our dealings. Our struggle is not against people who may disagree with us, or cause us harm: our struggle is with the spiritual forces of evil and harm in the world. Jesus calls us to love even our enemies.
JOY: St. Andrew’s is committed to being a church of joy and gratitude. In spite of any struggle, God is always present with love, and Creation is a world of wonders and grace, infused with God in every place.
PARTNERSHIP: St. Andrew’s is committed to, and believes in, the value of community partnerships. We are not alone in our ministry! The Spirit works through others as well, and we strive to work in partnership – with other churches, other faiths, community organizations.
Vision: missional priorities
In the consultations we heard people value St. Andrew’s as a spiritual home – a community that welcomes all into a loving connection both with God and with the community of faith itself. We want to be welcomed in our diversity, and even in our brokenness and struggle (and we want others similarly welcomed), we want to find genuine, deep, and healthy relationships/friendships here. Openness and intimacy is actually an incredibly difficult combination. It requires an openness to those who are genuinely different, and those who need healing – usually an uncomfortable thing. It also requires community structures and supports that allow sometimes-unhealthy people to have healthy relationships. At the very least, we will need to have practices and forms to constantly build relationships, trust and support, and practices and skills in “arguing for the sake of heaven” (constructive and community-building conflict). One missional priority is to nurture St. Andrew’s as a healthy, welcoming, affirming spiritual community.
In the consultations we heard people valuing St. Andrew’s as a place of spiritual growth. There are several aspects to this: people seek and have found healing inthis community (in a variety of ways), people look for a particular theological “fit” (people here tend to take a “progressive” stance with respect to religion and theology, meaning that we understand faith and belief to be something that evolves, changes, develops over time. Our Affirming stance, as well as our work in Living into Right Relations, environmental action and awareness, and our disengaging from colonial theology, are examples of this). Our current documents acknowledge that we are seeking our own transformation here, and not simply trying to bring others into the fold. One missional priority is to nurture St. Andrew’s as a community of spiritual practice, growth, healing, and transformation.
A third thing that seemed clear in our consultations was that people valued St. Andrew’s as a community of action. This comes in two ways: people in this church are active, participating in the work of the church in many ways. There are very few “passengers” in this congregation, and of those not currently involved in ministry or leadership, most are elderly and have a long history of involvement and leadership in their more active years! But the people of St. Andrew’s are not only involved in church – our discipleship leads us as much into community involvement as it does to church involvement. Service to, and leadership in, ministries and organizations from schools to sports to arts to social services is also a part of our mission as a church and as Christians. One missional priority is to nurture St. Andrew’s (and its people) in service to the community – encouraging involvement, training for leadership, and helping to organize (partnering with) the wider community.
Finally, there was a good deal of awareness, and concern, about the trends both in society and in the United Church nationally. Church is difficult these days, especially in the United Church, and there was much concern around the sustainability of this congregation. How might we nurture congregational growth? What can we do to plan for the continuation of this congregation’s ministry and health? One missional priority is to nurture the institutional health of St. Andrew’s, such that we can be confident of its sustainability into the foreseeable future.
There are some key issues around which there appears to be energy right now, within the church community. These are the issues around which our ministry is likely to gather:
- Environmental sustainability and climate change (This is perhaps the single top priority issue, connecting as it does issues around lifestyle, societal anxiety, economics, and spirituality)
- Affirming ministry (most of the newer people in this church affiliate with us primarily or secondarily because of our affirming stance. There is also increasing societal pressure on LGBTQ+ persons here in Alberta.)
- Economics: This is a “dual” issue – on the one hand, our consumer capitalist economy is negatively affecting us in several ways generally, from environment to social isolation and general unhappiness. On the other hand, the economic disparity of our system has left many – including here in Lacombe – unable to make ends meet. We seek to both challenge the system and to support those in need.
- Division and peace: We are aware of the increasing polarization of our society – especially politically – and of the violence just under the surface. We feel a call to peacemaking and bridge-building.