God's Vision For Us
In 2002, the community of First Church in Cambridge embarked on a prayerful process of self-study and spiritual discernment. In a variety of settings and in many different ways we asked: Who are we? What do we believe? What are our strengths, our gifts and our liabilities? This process of discernment yielded a number of insights, some positive, some challenging. It reaffirmed many of the strengths of FCC—the things that kept many of us coming back week after week. But it also helped us to recognize traits, habits, attitudes that sometimes got in our way, that seemed to contradict our best intentions. As we learned more about ourselves, we began to ask, “How is God calling us to grow in love and faithfulness? Where is the Spirit leading our three-and-a-half-centuries-old congregation today?From all this learning, a vision emerged, God’s vision for us, ancient and fresh. In May 2003, we imagined and committed ourselves to a journey of transformation called “A Way of Hospitality,” a fourfold path encompassing our whole common life.
GOD'S VISION FOR US: A WAY OF HOSPITALITY
Open Door: Welcome
Imagine a church that is glad you're here no matter where you come from, what you look like, how old or young you are, how much money you have, where you are on the journey of life, or where you are on the journey of faith. Imagine a church that loves its heritage, yet flexibly entertains new people, new ideas, and new ways too. Imagine a church that is amazed by the wonderful gifts God gave you for service, wants to receive them, and is eager to help you use them for the good of the world. Imagine a church that helps all who enter its life take one more step, or many more, on the Way of Life.
Imagine a church with a wide open door, imagine a church of life-changing welcome, a church of unity in our differences, a church shaped in the pattern of God's boundless embrace: Imagine First Church in
Open Spirits: Spiritual Growth
Imagine a church that is as welcoming of God as God is of us, a church discontented with the status quo in its Christian life, a church that studies, prays, practices and praises with receptive hunger, deeper every day. Imagine a church that wants to know about God and to experience God, a church unafraid of diving deep and finding joy. Imagine a churchthat creatively accompanies and supports its children, youth and adults on the Way of Christ. Imagine a church that respectfully invites others to share its joy, know its Source, and enter the circle of love.
Imagine a church of open spirits, a church that is friends with God, a church of praise, practice, self-gift and proclamation: Imagine First Church in
Open Road: Mission
Imagine a church that cannot stay put, but takes God's welcome into the world. Imagine a church in conversation with other lives, other cultures, able to invite and be invited, to sit at other people's tables, to learn and share the inestimable riches of God, to build relationships outside its walls. Imagine a church where the hands, hearts and feet of every member, young and old, are shaped for service, and a church that does not lack imagination about ways to use them. Imagine a church compelled by the Spirit to travel with Jesus, healing, reconciling and doing justice, a church filled with the daring and delight of the children of God.
Imagine a church on the open road, agile and able, willing to follow Jesus into life's margins, a church that gives itself away and asks nothing in return, a church mobilized for mission: Imagine First Church in
Open Table: Covenant and Communion
Imagine a church that really knows how to be together: a church where strangers are guests, guests are friends, friends are family. Imagine a church where you don't have to struggle for a place at the table because there are no barriers to belonging. Imagine a church where people want to know each other, feed each other, journey together, know and share each other's pain and joy, give each other the best they have. Imagine a church with no turf, no territory, no mine and yours, where people are partners in mission, committed collaborators in the one ministry of Christ, all rowing the same boat of hope.
Imagine a church with an open table, a place of meeting and feasting, a church of generosity, mutual care and commitment, a church structured for companionship and cooperation: Imagine First Church in
Walk with Us
If you are excited by the vision of a Way of Hospitality, we invite you to explore it with us. Join us as we learn together what it means to be on this way. We welcome your ideas, your insights, your participation, and your presence.