Our Mission – Greenbush Reformed Church

MISSION STATEMENT, GOALS AND VALUES FOR THE GREENBUSH REFORMED CHURCH

Our Mission…

To be a faithful, authentic witness of God’s presence and power in our lives, in the church, in our community, and in the world.

We will live out this mission by…

Empowering persons to be Disciples of the Living Christ by continually growing in faith, courageously doing good, returning no one evil for evil, strengthening the faint hearted, supporting the weak, helping the suffering, and ever rejoicing in God’s grace and goodness to us and others.

Our values and goals will be…

In Worship

Understanding that worship is the central focus of our life together, we will give the best we have to our worship of God while, at the same time, being open to what God wants to give us.
Striving for an average worship attendance equal to at least 75% of our Active Confirmed Membership Total.
Making an effort to keep the Sabbath Holy.
Providing regular opportunities for further dialogue on the worship scripture text and sermon as well as a time to witness to God’s grace at work in our lives.
Striving to preserve and enhance the integrity of our Sacraments including further encouragement of the congregation to live out our baptismal vows to God and each other.
Encourage the participation of our youth in worship especially in and through the continued use of our Children and Worship program.

In Christian Education

Caring for our Christian Education leaders and their students through the continued use of a quality curriculum and the expansion of teacher support so that God’s Word can be shared more openly by and through our congregation.
Encouraging real life application of our Christian walk including but not limited to training members of the Stewardship Committee so that they might better witness to stewardship as being a way of life that goes beyond just financial commitments; providing resources for groups like the Biblically Based Book Study Groups to help us turn from our busyness to more deliberate ways of the Spirit; and by supporting our Couples’ Group in their efforts to encourage healthy relationships by the expanded use of Seminars and Workshops.
Knowing that God’s Word is centrally important to Disciple Making and Spiritual Transformation, we will strive to have 100% of our membership involved in some form of Bible Study.
Continuing our efforts to more effectively connect with the Sunshine Pre-School so that it can be an extension of our congregation’s ministry. We will do this remembering that the church’s stated goal for the Sunshine school is for it to be a Christian centered ministry of the Greenbush Reformed Church
Providing a safe haven for young children to grow – body, mind, and spirit. (Italicized portion indicates goal already adopted by Consistory.)

In Outreach

Providing greater support to our missionary partners within the local community and around the world so that God’s grace can be shared, in word and deed, beyond our immediate congregation.
Striving to be hospitable neighbors to one another and to our community – reaching out to those in need, inviting others into our spiritual house while making them feel like honored guests, and by recognizing that by doing so we just might be welcoming God’s angels or even Jesus himself!

In Being Good Stewards

Encouraging our Church family to pursue the use of products that are environmentally and economically sensitive to the world around us.
Supporting and encouraging efforts to create greater accountability, efficiency, and transparency of financial and non-financial church records.
Realizing the high level of demands placed on members of our congregation and our community at large, we will, at regular intervals, commit ourselves to seasons of examination in order to create a better balance in our church life between being a Mary, who sits at Jesus’ feet to listen and learn, and a Good Samaritan, who acts and responds in deed to God’s grace.
Being sensitive to the present day demands that so many families and individuals face by finding ways to honor the gifts of time and other resources they share with this faith community.
Making healthy stewardship a goal for our congregation recognizing that it is so much more than ‘fundraising’. We will do this by increasing understanding of and participation in good Christian Stewardship disciplines and practices.
As part of this effort, we will also set a goal for our congregation of moving towards a balanced church budget that is 100% funded by congregational giving. All other income will be used for facility upkeep, outreach, and mission.
Making it a priority in our budget planning, programming, and congregational relationships to encourage the faith development and overall well being of our youth.
Promoting systems that honor the calling of our paid staff understanding that, by doing so, it will: free up volunteer hours so that they can dedicate more time to spiritual growth and proper use of their gifts; support the welfare of the community in which we live by providing jobs; honor the efforts of these paid servants of the church by making sure we treat these people with fairness, compassion, and care. We will encourage healthy habits of work, play, renewal, personal faith development, and leave-taking that will foster long term service to the church.
Understanding that Christian Ministry is a calling to which we are all invited to participate in. It is not just the paid staff’s responsibility to ‘run the church’. Instead, we will strive to be a Disciple Making congregation where all participate in the mission and work of Christ’s ministry.
Promoting permission giving structures that empower people to use their gifts for God’s calling and ministry.
Recognizing that our physical campus plays a significant role in our ministry we will commit to the following: seek ways to make our facilities more handicap accessible; seek ways to make our facilities more energy efficient and environmentally sensitive; commit to investing the resources necessary to keep our facilities in good working order and condition; ascertain and determine the feasibility of our being good landlords; set goals for the future use of our facilities ensuring they are conducive to and supportive of our church’s mission.
Expecting our paid and unpaid staff to be persons of deep faith and commitment to the mission and ministry of the church of Jesus Christ.

In Deepening Congregational Relationships

Being deliberate in scheduling opportunities for ‘play’ and ‘fellowship’ so that relationships of depth and meaning can be encouraged and maintained within our congregation.

In General

Placing a high level of importance on humility knowing that God’s vision is always bigger and wiser than ours. As part of this, we will be vigilant in prayerfully seeking the guidance, wisdom, and aid of God’s Spirit.
Recognizing that the church exists for God’s purposes.
Recognizing that change is hard and that change for change sake is not always good, we will, at the same time, not fear change when its need becomes apparent in our discipleship journey.
Recognizing that our discipleship calling often means that we, as a church and as individuals, can not mimic the culture but, indeed, must bear witness to the culture by encouraging it to mimic the ways of God.

Adopted by the GRC Congregation on 10/26/08