Mission and Vision

The Mission of the United Methodist Church is to “make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world”.  This is the goal of all United Methodist Churches.

The vision of our local congregation is to “be a beacon of light and hope to our community, with faithful and generous use of our gifts by caring and sharing Christ’s love with others”.

And we live into our vision by understanding our core values:  Christ Centered, Community, Caring, Involvement and Faithfulness.

Christ Centered:

We view the sole purpose of our church and our personal walk as Christians is to have Jesus Christ in our lives. Therefore everything we do as a church always strengthens our love of Christ and we actively seek creative ways we all can grow into a deeper, personal relationship with Christ.  Colossians 3:17 is our congregation’s heart verse.

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3:17

Community:

Community is important to Vassar First. We believe in relationships with other churches, with other businesses and with our local school district. To that end, our programs and identity keep in mind where we are a part of  the City of Vassar. We believe in the importance of being a visible and engaged partner with our town.

We also view our church as it’s own community so we look for ways to strengthen and uplift all members of our congregation by creating opportunities to be in community laughing, loving and worshipping together.

Caring:

While our chief goal as Christians is to love God with all our heart soul and strength . A close second is goal is to love our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:37-39). Therefore we believe strongly in the importance of caring for each other and those in need around us. We pray, we serve, we work together to bring justice, mercy and peace to those in need.

Involvement:

We believe each of us is given gifts from God and are to be used to care, love and lift one another up.  We provide opportunities for our members and others in the community to love their Lord and love their neighbor.

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. 1 Peter 4:10

Faithfulness:

We believe to be a faithful Christian takes intentionality.  We believe that we need to find ways to live every day the best we can and to be faithful to God’s teachings.   We follow the United Methodist Church understanding of putting into practice Works of Piety and Works of Mercy.

Works of Piety

Individual Practices – reading, meditating and studying the scriptures, prayer, fasting, regularly attending worship, healthy living, and sharing our faith with others

Communal Practices – regularly share in the sacraments (particularly Communion), Christian conferencing (accountability to one another), and Bible study

Works of Mercy

Individual Practices – doing good works, visiting the sick, visiting those in prison, feeding the hungry, and giving generously to the needs of others

Communal Practices – seeking justice, ending oppression and discrimination (for instance Wesley challenged Methodists to end slavery), and addressing the needs of the poor