Cleansing the Temple

Our challenge question today was "What clutter do you need to remove from your life to renew your relationship with God?" Just like we sometimes need to clean up the house, we also need to clean up our hearts. Lent is the perfect time to do just that.

As a church, rewriting our Mission Statement was one way of remembering how important our relationship with God is. Here's a sneak peak of language that will go on our website later this week about the mission statement: 

The mission of St. Paul’s UMC is to LOVE God and all others unconditionally, SEEK answers to our questions, and SERVE God by serving others.

This is not a mission focused on a task to be completed. It is focused on a culture that we hope to live out. We believe that as we live out this mission we begin to see the Kingdom of God break out among us. So how do we live out the mission?

LOVE – As reflected in our Welcome Statement, Love, hospitality, and welcome are primary virtues that we believe in. We affirm the Scriptural witness that Love is central to God’s identity (1 John 4:16) and to how God calls us to live (Matthew 22:38-40). We like to talk about Sundays at St. Paul’s as a family reunion. We are a large enough church that we don’t all know each other by face or name, but we do know that we all belong. When you come to St. Paul’s you become part of the family. You will be nurtured and supported in good times and bad times.

SEEK – If you have questions about faith and life then this may be the church for you. If you already have all the answers it probably isn’t the right place for you. We see ourselves as seekers on a journey. Christianity is more about the journey than the destination. So we seek! You’ll find this true in our adult Sunday School classes and evening small groups that ask questions not only about the Bible but also about current world events and faithful living in a changing world. You’ll also find this in Sunday morning worship. We don’t just ask what the Bible meant 2,000 years ago. We explore what it means for life today. Sometimes we come away with new insights, sometimes we come away with even more questions. In either case we know that our opinions are respected and that we are welcome to continue on the journey together!

SERVE – You will find St. Paul’s members all over Kansas City serving God by serving others. We regularly participate in serving meals, collecting food and other donations, working on Habitat for Humanity houses, giving blood, and helping the homeless. You will also find us outside of Kansas City on mission trips (generally 4 a year including 2 youth trips and 1 international trip).Those are just some of the ministries that we sponsor. We also encourage our members to serve on their own. We understand that God uses many tools to change the world. We are just one of them.