UNITY: Experiencing the oneness of all through Christ.

The driving vision of the Good News of God is to bring all things together in Christ. Every hostile wall is torn down. Likely the earliest baptismal creed announced the erasure of distinctions that elevate some and denigrate others. We were made for each other and we only find wholeness when we learn to live in connected relationships of mutuality and interdependence. The goal of unity is not “uniformity” but respectful conneciton and intimacy in the face of our differences.

DIVERSITY: Valuing the way our differences enrich us.

How do we respond when we experience difference? Human history is a long record of civilizations using differnece to create supremacies of every kind: class, race, religion, gender, sexuality, culture, ethnicity. Our value of diversity is modeled by Christ and challenges all the “mythic norms” of our world that elevate some above others based on these differences. Instead the Church seeks to embody its baptismal identity to “strive for peace and justice among all people and respect the dignity of every human being.”

CREATIVITY: Using imagination in the face of difficulty.

A scarcity mentality is rooted in fear and shuts down conversations when difficulties are encountered. An abundant mentality does not get locked into binary thinking which polarizes our thinking and our communities. Instead it looks for new ways to imagine our challenges and assumes there is always enough if we are willing to share. In conflict, through art, and through engagement between our faith tradition and our world we seek to embody our core value of creativity.

CURIOSITY: Listening to others for wisdom and understanding.

We are committed as a church never to assume understanding before we have asked open and honest questions. We believe God has imparted profound wisdom and understanding in each of us and that we only transcend our limited experiences of God and life by deeply listening and learning from the experiences of others. Out of this value we learn to get curious before we get judgemental, to listen first before we offer input and to be humble in our understandings of God and life.

GENEROSITY: Sharing our time, voice and resources.

The temptation toward greed and personal advancement is strong in our city. As a community we seek to become shaped by the bright generosity we see in Christ. One who has time for the neglected, who listens to the ignored, who raises the lowly, who considers others better than himself, who seeks to serve rather than be served and who promotes a whimsical relationship with wealth because we are simply stewards of the good gifts of God. We bring nothing into this world and we take nothing out of it, therefore we seek give sacrifically in love.