How we came to our call
Celebrating 130 years of history in 2023 is amazing! Celebrating another 130 years of our future will be even better! In the Fall of 2022, the Church Leadership Board decided to pursue a strategic plan to look carefully and expectantly at our future.
A Strategic Plan guides decision-making around priorities for our future. It is one of many tools used to develop resources to support growth. The timing is right. Coming out of the pandemic and social unrest, it’s time to ensure we are being relevant to the needs of the church and the community.
We set out to hear from as many voices as possible and received input from over 200 voices! We heard from the congregation, employees, building partners and clients, our UMC District Superintendent, community leaders, and neighbors.
On March 15, 2023, the Church Leadership Board approved the 2023-2026 Strategic Plan Priorities. And on Sunday, April 23, 2023, the Strategic Plan Priorities were announced in church.
Watch the video to learn more.
Our Vision
We aspire to be a vibrant Christ-centered, multiracial, multiethnic, intergenerational church actively engaged with our neighborhood and world.
Our Source
Believing in a triune God, we are awakened by God’s grace in Christ to embody the spiritual vitality of faith, hope, and love in our relationships. We seek to trust God, live expectantly, and behave generously.
Our Call
Strategic Priorities
2023-2026
WELCOME & BELONGING
We support a place to belong and to be accepted.
We commit to being an inviting and inclusive church, making room for all people. We are dedicated to loving God and neighbor. We desire to build relationships which respect, support, and celebrate our similarities and differences by cultivating shared experiences and acquiring knowledge rooted in understanding and belonging.
WELLNESS
We nurture healthy relationships, healing, and wholeness.
Our health, wellbeing, and spiritual vitality include faith, hope, and love. We seek the essence of shalom, which includes peace, harmony, justice, wholeness, and the enjoyment of all relationships. We confess that we have done wrong. We recognize hurt. We seek reconciliation. We will create brave places to listen, lament, heal, and give comfort. So together we lift up a strong and beautiful community.
GROWTH & CELEBRATIONS
We grow, learn, and celebrate community.
We long to deepen our discipleship and sanctification by growing our beliefs, actions, and affections of loving God and neighbor. We celebrate and engage in rituals (vibrant worship, faith formation, sacraments), traditions and activities that feed our soul, highlight children and youth engagement, and support our faith and life together.
BEING A NEIGHBOR
We create vibrant community placemaking.
We desire to deepen our place-based relationships with our community by sharing our resources, supporting local economic growth, honoring historic roots, and becoming active members of the Central neighborhood. We commit to making our presence on the block, in the building, and online more accessible and welcoming to support congregational and neighborhood growth and vitality.
INTENTIONAL STEWARDSHIP
We will align our call and build capacity for growth and outreach.
• Deepen and expand church membership and belonging, promoting active engagement.
• Align work with vision and calling.
• Provide evidence of effectiveness by using outcome-based evaluations.
• Create a stable and sustainable organizational environment.
• Prioritize intergenerational and multicultural voices in planning and decision making.
• Build capacity for growth and outreach by updating church policies, building needs, online presence, programs, and visuals.
• Deepen and expand current giving and additional funding.
