Our Mission & Vision
The current First Parish in Lincoln resulted from a 1942 merger of Lincoln’s Congregational and Unitarian churches. That merger is reflected in Christian and Humanist elements of our Sunday services, and also in our intent to be a “big tent” spiritual home for persons of all faith backgrounds.
Our historic roots are quite visible each Sunday as the congregation recites a Covenant and a Call to Ministry.
First Parish’s statement of Values, Mission, and Vision complements and elaborates on the core concepts of the Covenant and Call to Ministry in a way that reflects our big spiritual tent. This statement, which describes what FPL tries to do and hopes to be, follows below.
Our Mission & Vision
The current First Parish in Lincoln resulted from a 1942 merger of Lincoln’s Congregational and Unitarian churches. That merger is reflected in Christian and Humanist elements of our Sunday services, and also in our intent to be a “big tent” spiritual home for persons of all faith backgrounds.
Our historic roots are quite visible each Sunday as the congregation recites a Covenant and a Call to Ministry.
First Parish’s statement of Values, Mission, and Vision complements and elaborates on the core concepts of the Covenant and Call to Ministry in a way that reflects our big spiritual tent. This statement, which describes what FPL tries to do and hopes to be, follows below.
COVENANT
In the love of truth
and the spirit of Jesus,
we unite for the worship of God
and the service of all.
CALL TO MINISTRY
We go forth from the worship of God
to be faithful to the vision of Jesus,
to affirm each person’s dignity,
and to cherish the living earth.
COVENANT
In the love of truth
and the spirit of Jesus,
we unite for the worship of God
and the service of all.
CALL TO MINISTRY
We go forth from the worship of God
to be faithful to the vision of Jesus,
to affirm each person’s dignity,
and to cherish the living earth.
Vision
To be a spiritual home for individuals from diverse faith backgrounds where each person can find help and inspiration to foster personal growth on their own journey while in community with others.
To be an open and inclusive community that learns to trust and work with each other as we celebrate, grieve, grow, support, and serve together.
To be a source of hope and positive impact in our communities, our region and beyond by affirming the dignity of all peoples and caring for the living earth.
Values & Mission
Promoting spiritual growth and connection.
- To gather for prayer and meditation, inspirational teachings, music and ceremony, and for the celebration of nature and the divine.
- To build on our Unitarian and Congregational heritage by exploring, sharing, and learning from a wide variety of spiritual and faith traditions.
- To grow in spirituality by encouraging our children, each other, and our faith community to seek truth, learn, and act according to high moral principles.
Building community.
- To welcome people from a wide variety of backgrounds and to find common ground in our shared humanity.
- To gather, physically and virtually, in ways that help us to know, understand and respect each other.
- To celebrate and grieve together as we mark the important events and transitions in our lives.
- To care for each other with love and support in difficult times and circumstances.
Pursuing social justice and human dignity. Preserving the living earth.
- To pursue social justice by learning, understanding how and where we can make a difference, and then acting.
- To seek environmental protection and justice through actions and advocacy.
- To pro-actively serve and engage with our neighbors by our hands-on actions, cooperative work, and donations.
Strategic Themes
Acting on our values in all we do.
First Parish’s Strategic Themes, when coupled with our Vision, Values, and Mission, provide an articulation of what we are doing and how we should do it, in order to work toward our vision and grow our church.
- Be broadly appealing by maintaining a spiritual big tent.
- Let minister and parishioner interests drive spiritual growth and faith in action priorities.
- Experiment with new ways to engage the congregation, encouraging members to participate and contribute.
- Be inclusive and welcoming in all we do.
- Prioritize mutual care and compassion.
- Collaborate and coordinate across committees and generations.
- Attract new members by investing in programs for those in life transitions (families with young children, empty nesters, and elders).
- Communicate and celebrate our values, the things we do, and why they matter.
- Commit to service, action, and advocacy, while honoring our differences.
- Connect and partner with the broader community.
- Use buildings productively, including mission-aligned users of space.
- Balance near-term financial needs with longer term financial sustainability.
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