About Our Vision...

Last week we stayed after service for a “State of the Church” conversation — a time to put all the cards on the table. What do our finances actually look like right now? What exactly is NFC? How is the new Board going? What’s the latest on finding a building?

If you missed it, you can watch the recording here!

One of the most important topics we discussed was our visioning process. And as a reminder, here is our vision statement:

To serve as a heartbeat in the communityso all feel connected and worthy of love

It’s beautiful. It’s full. And honestly, it’s challenging. Which is part of what reminds me that God was involved in shaping it — because we’ll need God’s help to actually live it out.

But during the conversation, someone made a comment that made me smile. They mentioned how the language of our vision statement is starting to seep into small group discussions.

That’s a huge moment of celebration!

Because every place our vision begins to influence the way we speak, gather, serve, and imagine the future means we are one step closer to becoming the kind of church we believe God is calling us to be.

That moment crossed paths with my devotional reading this week. Take a moment to read this scripture slowly:

“From now on, siblings, if anything is excellent and if anything is admirable, focus your thoughts on these things: all that is true, all that is holy, all that is just, all that is pure, all that is lovely, and all that is worthy of praise.”

— Philippians 4:8

Part of Paul’s invitation here is to place our attention on good things — not as a way to ignore the pain or negativity in the world, but as a way of training ourselves to recognize hope, beauty, and goodness more and more.

What we focus on shapes us.

Here’s a line from my devotional this week that stayed with me:

“Our lives can look remarkably different when we focus on hope instead of cynicism, the beauty of the world instead of its ugliness, the things that are going right instead of all that is going wrong.”

— The Methodist Book of Daily Prayer

The things we repeatedly place in front of us — the things we think about, talk about, and return to — slowly shape the way we see the world around us.

Our work as Christians is to focus on Christ.

And our work as the people of KUMC is to keep focusing on this vision God has placed in front of us.

So here’s my question for you:

What words in our vision statement do you want to start incorporating more into your own life and language?

Heartbeat? Love? Connection? Serve? Community? Worthy?

Share it with someone. Or share it with me. I’d genuinely love to hear it.

From my heart,

Rev. Steph Margeson