We exist to invite hungry people to be filled with joy in Christ Jesus

Our Mission

We believe that God has called First Pres to be a church that extends the invitation of Jesus, that we have experienced for ourselves, to hungry people around us, to find the inexpressible joy that exists only in Christ. We acknowledge that hunger is something that exists physically, but is also a deeper reality spiritually. If you are hungry, and nothing else has filled you with lasting joy, we invite you to “taste and see” for yourself that the Lord is good.

God's Call to Action

to invite

Matthew 11:28-30; John 1:46-49, 4:29-30

Missional Who

hungry people

Mark 6:33-44; Matthew 5:5; John 6:26-40

Missional Objective

to be filled with joy in Christ Jesus

Romans 15:13; Acts 13:52; John 15:11

Read the Pastor's Letter on the Mission Statement

We Value

Fellowship

We are a fellowship of faith based believers open to all who are seeking the truth and long for Jesus.

Substance

We want to be known for substance not style, what we stand for not what we are against.  We are not here to entertain, we are here to collectively grow in Faith.

Welcoming

We strive not to judge anyone – rather we open our doors to all, realizing we are all sinners only saved by God’s grace and mercy.

Created

We believe all people have value, deserve respect, and are created in the image of God.

Kingdom

We pledge our allegiance to the Kingdom of God.

Community

We love and serve one another and our community.

Worship

We celebrate joyful worship.

We Believe

The Trinity

We believe God exists as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and that he is a being of unimaginably wonderful power, goodness, and love. Psalm 118:1, Psalm 145:1–9, Matthew 28:19, 2 Corinthians 13:14

Creation

We believe the world exists because God created it, that it belongs to him and therefore we should cherish and care for it. Genesis 1:1, Psalm 24:1–2, Isaiah 40:25–26, 1 Corinthians 10:26

People

We believe all human beings have dignity because they were created by God in his own image, and great worth because they are valued by God beyond our ability to measure. Genesis 1:27, 31, Psalm 8:3–6, John 3:16, Romans 5:8

Sin

We believe this world also has pain and suffering because human beings have fallen and sinned, and are estranged from God, from each other, from ourselves, and from creation. Genesis 3:17, Romans 3:23, Colossians 1:21, Titus 3:3

God’s Redemptive Plan

We believe God does not intend for sin and suffering to get the last word, but is at work to redeem and reconcile what he has made. Isaiah 11:6–9, Colossians 1:21–23, Revelation 21:1–5

Jesus

We believe God has expressed himself uniquely in his Son Jesus, who lived, taught, died, and rose again for our sakes. Jesus is our master and teacher and savior and friend, and now reigns forever with the Father and the Holy Spirit. John 14:6–7, Acts 2:32, 1 Corinthians 15:3–4, Ephesians 2:13, Colossians 1:15–20, Philippians 2:5–11, 1 Timothy 2:5–6

The Bible

We believe God has revealed the truth about himself in the scriptures of the Old and New Testament, which are our unique and authoritative guides in faith and action. Matthew 4:4, 1 Thessalonians 2:13, 2 Timothy 3:16–17

The Holy Spirit

We believe the Spirit of God is now available so we can be closer to God than the air we breathe. John 14:26, Acts 1:8, Romans 8:26, Galatians 3:14, Ephesians 1:13–14

The Church

We believe the Church is the community through which God wants to bring love, healing, and growth to the human race, to which he invites everyone who is willing to follow Jesus to join. Matthew 18:18–20, John 1:12–13, Acts 1:8, Galatians 3:28, 1 Peter 2:9

Eternity

We live in hope because one day Jesus will return, love and justice will prevail, and God will set the world right. Matthew 24:30–31, Luke 12:40, Romans 8:37–39, Revelation 21:1–5

We Gather

We are affiliated with a growing movement of over 400 churches called ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians. The mission of ECO is to build flourishing churches that make disciples of Jesus Christ. Our beliefs are grounded in the Essential Tenets of ECO.

ECO Essential Tenets

Mission Statement

First Pres Family,

I am so excited for this new mission statement for First Presbyterian. After a long 6 months of prayer, diving into scripture, discussion, and more prayer, your Elders have come up with the mission that we believe God is calling us to. 

Our mission statement is uniquely ours, in that we all know the Great Commission from Jesus: “go and make disciples of all nations;” but he also calls His church local to a mission that is theirs since no church can reach every kind of people that exist in a community. 

That being said, I do not believe that we could have landed any closer to a mission statement that describes exactly who we are and who we are becoming as a church, if not for the working of the Holy Spirit.

The first thing that came to us as a session was the Missional Who, “hungry people.” When we thought about how God has uniquely equipped us, we realized that we love to feed people, whether its within our church or outside of it. Further, we recognize the incredible depth of meaning in scripture of what is means to be “hungry.” There is such a spiritual hunger that exists within all people, but they often try to fill that hunger with things that will never satisfy.

We then began to address God’s Call to Action for our church. We believe the Holy Spirit led us to “to invite.” We quickly realized that invitational language has been a recent shift in who we are becoming. Our call to worship is always a reminder that God invites us to worship him. We have also spoken about the shift away from invitations to church to invitations to Jesus. And every time we read scripture together, we are encouraged to listen to God’s invitation in the passage. Truly, let us be an invitational church, not just to a building, but a body that reveals Jesus in every way!

Finally, the missional objective went through a few transformations, but one thing was clear in every discussion, God desires people to experience deep and abiding joy. It wasn’t discussed as some outward emotional expression, but more a state of being about who our Savior is and what He has done. The reality is, that as we grow as a church, we are learning that joy is experienced best when He is glorified most. That can only happen in a repetitive cycle of love, trust, and obey. As we encounter the love of God, we believe through deeper trust, and have lasting obedience. 

I believe without a shadow of doubt that your elders have heard from the Lord. Let us now go forth in testimony of what God has done, doing, and will do at First Pres!

Grace and Peace,

Austin

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