MISSION AND VISION STATEMENTS
After more than a year of work by the Clergy, Parish Council, Strategic Planning Committee and with input from parishioners, Saint Luke Church published its mission and vision statements in early 2017.
Mission
Love God, Love Neighbor, Nurture Disciples
Why do we say our mission is to “love God and love neighbor”?
We say this because Jesus tells us in Luke 7:28 that this is what we must do in order to live. He says, “Do this and you will live.”
The whole passage goes like this:
On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“What is written in the Law?” Jesus replied. “How do you read it?”
He answered: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
The answer given by the teacher of the law is put in quotation marks because he is quoting Deuteronomy 6:5 (which is repeated in the New Testament in Luke 10:27):
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength;” and
Leviticus 19:18: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Jesus calls these the two greatest of the commandments (Matthew 22:37-39)
Why do we say our mission is to “nurture disciples”?
This is also what Jesus tells us to do. It’s called “the great commission” (Matthew 28:19):
“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations.”
Jesus is saying this to his disciples. He is telling them what to do after he leaves them; by extension, that is also how he is telling us to live our lives.
When we are baptized, we become disciples of Christ. And yet our journey as disciples continues throughout our lives. As disciples, we continually seek to grow in our personal relationship with God. In our discipleship, we accept the Gospel, and assist in spreading the teachings of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.