Our Mission & Values
The board of The Fellowship of Presbyterians is meeting this week in Chicago, and we continue to be invigorated as we dream and pray together about a new kind of ministry community. We will soon post drafts of our theology and polity documents and invite your feedback. But before we turn to the structural pieces, we want to restate the larger vision – what The Fellowship of Presbyterians is seeking to do and the values that define how we will go about it. In the interests of keeping the “why” ahead of the “what,” we want to share with you some of what has come out of the board’s discussions today as we’ve talked about the mission and values of The Fellowship of Presbyterians. This is not final language, but a taste of what excites us for the future.
Our Mission:
To build flourishing churches that make disciples of Jesus Christ
Our Values:
Jesus-Shaped Identity: We believe Jesus Christ must be at the center of our our lives and making disciples of Jesus at the core of our ministry.
Biblical Integrity: We believe the Bible is the unique and authoritative Word of God, which teaches all that is necessary for faith and life. The prominence of God’s Word over our lives shapes our priorities, and the unrivaled authority of the Bible directs our actions to be in concert with Christ’s very best for our lives.
Thoughtful Theology: We believe in theological education, constant learning, and the life of the mind, and celebrate this as one of the treasures of our Reformed heritage.
Accountable Community: We believe guidance is a corporate spiritual experience. We want to connect leaders to one another in healthy relationships of accountability, synergy, and care.
Egalitarian Ministry: We believe in unleashing the ministry gifts of women, men, and every ethnic group.
Missional Centrality: We believe in living out the whole of the Great Commission – including evangelism, spiritual formation, compassion, and redemptive justice – in our communities and around the world.
Center-Focused Spirituality: We believe in calling people to the core of what it means to be followers of Jesus – what “mere Christianity” is and does – and not obsess over the boundaries.
Leadership Velocity: We believe the work of identifying and developing gospel-centered leaders is critical for the church, and a great leadership culture is risk-taking, innovative, and organic.
Kingdom Vitality: We believe every congregation should vigorously reproduce new missional communities to expand the Kingdom of God.
