Vital Congregations Initiative
GPC, through Session action, has covenanted with the Presbytery of Genesee Valley to participate in the Vital Congregations Initiative (VCI), a program of PC (USA). The purpose of the VCI is to help churches assess, discern, and live into transformative actions that will increase their vitality.
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Mark 1 Lifelong Discipleship Formation How we claim and proclaim our identity as followers of Christ |
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Mark 2 Intentional, Authentic Evangelism Sharing the “Good News” with people in our daily lives |
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Mark 3 Outward Incarnational Focus Focusing on neighbors and neighborhood (The Church has Left the Building) |
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Mark 4 Empowering Servant Leadership Identify, nurture and support the use of spiritual gifts |
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Mark 5 Spirit Inspired Worship Active participation into the living relationship with God |
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Mark 6 Caring Relationships True Agape love is a sacrificial, self-emptying, perfect love we can strive for |
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Mark 7 Ecclesial Health Are we who we say we are and who God calls us to be? |
The VCI is based on intentional spiritual practices of scripture and prayer. The intent is to help us better define and refine how we “do church”. Buildings, budgets, and worship styles have become the “mission” of most American churches when the “mission” needs to be taking the church to the community. Just as each person in each congregation has a unique contribution to make, so each church is unique in its people, style, and resources. No one church is like any other and it is futile to compare and compete. Each congregation needs to discover for itself what it does best and work at that. Each worshipper must connect first to God, then to each other, then to the community.
Through prayer, study of scripture, and honest assessment, we will find ways to increase GPC’s energy as directed by the Spirit. Through intentional spiritual practices and building relationships, this process will take us deeper into following Jesus Christ and open us to the leading of the Spirit, enabling us to better serve our community of faith and the world outside our doors. It will help us better assess how we practice our faith; how we cherish our faith; and how we share our faith. It is all about whether our mission, vision, and values match up with the ways we live together.
Visit the Presbyterian Mission page here to continue learning about the Vital Congregations Initiative.
