South Church
Mission & Inclusivity Statements
Our Mission
We are Christian community striving to be living examples of radical hope and extravagant love, connecting our community with God and with each other.
Our Vision
We will create opportunities for spiritual growth, build a welcoming community of diverse relationships, serve our neighbors, and work for a just world.
Our Values
• Active involvement in our greater community
• The need to spark spiritual growth and creativity
• Being welcoming and open to all people
• Nurturing each person's faith journey
• Advancing social justice issues
• Intergenerational worship and activities
• Faithful stewards of our resources in support of our Mission and Vision
Our Commitment to Inclusivity
Radical hope and extravagant love are lived out commitments to widening our circle.
Open & Affirming and being an Accessible church are ways that we embody this love and hope. For us this means that our welcome goes beyond words so that the heart of each person is engaged as a child of God. We believe that each of us is gifted and loved by God and God extends to us mercy and grace! As children of God we are called to extend that same mercy and grace to others. Truly, all are welcome.
Our Commitment to Accessibility
We are called by God, the creator of all, to be an open, inclusive, affirming and accessible community of faith. We recognize that this calling involves all aspects of our gathered life, including buildings, worship, education, fellowship and service, so that all of us can proclaim God’s word.
In order to widen our welcome and accessibility we:
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have several areas available throughout our sanctuary for those with mobile assistance (wheelchair, walker or other assistance)
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offer large print bulletins which include the hymns
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have a lift so that most levels of our building are accessible
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have ramp access at both our front and side doors
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have available hearing assistance devices
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offer gluten-free bread and grape juice for Communion
Our Open & Affirming Covenant
We believe that:
1. We are a congregation of persons of different ages, races, sexes, gender identities and expressions, abilities, and social backgrounds, yet we are all made in God’s image and are loved by God.
2. We are one body in Christ, and when one part of the body suffers, we all suffer together.
3. We are called by Jesus to fight discrimination, persecution, and the denial of civil rights to any group of persons in our congregation or in the world by promoting justice and peace for all humankind.
4. Our sexuality is a gift from God that enriches our lives and our humanity, and we are called to accept ourselves and our sexuality.
5. We celebrate human relationships that are based upon love, responsibility, mutual respect and trust.
6. God's Spirit calls us to lives of awareness, understanding, compassion and love.
7. No biblical, theological, or ethical justification exists for discrimination, denial of civil rights, or physical violence against any person, regardless of sexuality or gender identity or gender expression.
8. An Open and Affirming Church does not discriminate against any person, group, or organization in hiring, promotion, membership, leadership, use of facility, provision of services or funding on the basis of race, gender, gender identity or expression, age, sexual orientation, nationality, ethnicity, marital status, or physical or mental disability.
Therefore, in accordance with the preceding, and with the help of God, we hereby Resolve that:
South Congregational Church shall be an Open and Affirming Church.
Voted into service at the May 8, 1996 Annual Business Meeting.
Amended at the June 9, 2016 Annual Meeting
On May 21, 2023, South Congregational Church voted to become a Racial Justice Church.
We as members of South Congregational Church, declare we are a Racial Justice Church. We covenant to engage in an ongoing process of being:
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Learners in a community of mutual accountability, about slavery, white privilege, implicit bias and all aspects of racism in our midst;
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Interrupters of the continuing cycle of racism
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Allies with People of Color in challenging race-based injustice in all its manifestations.