Our Mission:

To seek and make disciples in the saving way of Jesus called and sent to serve and speak God's love in daily life

To seek and make disciples: There are so many things with which a church and school ministry might occupy itself. But our mission statement takes its lead from the Great Commission of Christ Jesus in Matthew 28: "Go and make disciples of all peoples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to do all I have commanded you." The Risen Christ tells us what our signature responsibility as a Christian Mission is all about: seeking people to become disciples of the Lord, and learning together what that relationship as Christ's followers and disciples is all about.

In the saving way of Jesus: This work of seeking and making disciples is grounded in the Christian Gospel centered in living faith in Jesus Christ the Savior, "the Way, the Truth and the Life" - the message of salvation to all who will come to believe. All that we do - from the perennial preaching of God's Law and God's Grace, to administering the ancient sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion, to our commitment to teaching, serving, living in caring community - all of it is bound to the Word of the Cross, to faith in the Lord Jesus who says to everyone, "Fear not! I have overcome the world!"

Called and sent: This simple phrase is really Christian dynamite, because it reminds us that in our Baptism into Christ we were ordained, called by God, each and every one of us, to be a disciple and apostle, a witness and servant of Christ. While we set some men and women apart to be pastors and other leaders, all the Baptized are equally commissioned to bear the Cross and tell the Story, to make Christ known in the world.

To serve and speak: St. Francis of Assisi is said to have advised, "Preach the Gospel at all times; use words when necessary." As agents of God's grace in the world, we proclaim the Good News not only through verbal or written language, but also in the universal idiom of selfless service to the vulnerable, the forgotten, the sick, the poor, the lonely, the lost. Reaching beyond the temptation to merely "serve silently," or to "talk the talk" without "walking the walk," we commit both to service and speech in our response to God's most public service of all - the saving Cross of Jesus Christ.

God's love in daily life: According to a popular song, "What the world needs now is love, sweet love." The Church asserts that "in this is (true) love: that Jesus laid down his life for us; so we ought to lay down our lives for one another." The Baptized, washed and fed, trained and supported by Christian community, go forth into our daily lives to share this selfless love with the world God cherishes so much. This way of understanding "Church" places all that we do here at 2900 West Carson - from school to congregation to groups to ministries - as the core work of making disciples in the Lord, sent to seek and serve all those without the Gospel in the seven-daysa- week challenges of life in the real world.

And so, a new statement of mission stands before us, to center and shape our common work in obedience to Christ. May God the Holy Spirit grant blessing and wisdom to us as we go forward in the name of the Lord Jesus, who promises to all he places under the Great Commission, "Remember: I am with you always, to the end of the age."