Bishops' Vision Statement
called to develop growing communities of faith, in and through which the
Kingdom of God is made known, and in which the whole people serve together
as followers of Jesus Christ for the good of the world to the Glory of God.
Three key words were extracted from that "mission statement" to summarize its key components. The words are
Growth - Unity - Service
That initial statement and its three components surfaced afresh as the bishops worked together to articulate a vision for the Church. Here is the vision the bishops enthusiastically agreed upon. It is a shared vision, the corporate vision of the Bishops of the Church of Ireland. We commend it to the whole church.
In the power of the Spirit, our mission requires us to order our contemporary worship and life in a manner that nurtures growth, promotes unity and liberates us for service in the world that is God's
Worship & Spiritual Growth
Through stillness, through celebrating, through drinking deeply of the wells of salvation, we are called to explore God's beauty and love, to renew the face of the earth and to recover the divine image that is within us.
Hence we must:
- Acknowledge that worship is humanity's primary purpose
- Offer worship that articulates truth and evokes holy beauty
- Ensure that our worship is rooted in the faith once delivered, but is never static
- Pray that it may be magnetically attractive, energizing and informing the
- building of the kingdom
- Rejoice that through it countless individuals form one body in Christ
Unity & Dialogue
The Church is called to be an agent of God's purpose to bring all things together in Christ; to be the sign, instrument and first fruits of that oneness in Christ that is God's gift and God's will.
Hence we must:
- Strive to live in unity and peace among ourselves and with the whole family of God
- Model respectful relations with humanity and the whole created order
- Develop common life and action with other Christian traditions
- Work for greater mutual understanding with those of other faiths and of none
Living God's Kingdom and serving the world
Aligning ourselves daily with Christ's own prayer and example, the calling of the Church is to pray for, discern and realise the presence of God's kingdom among us.
Hence we must:
- Engage compassionately with the world and society in all its rich variety of need and opportunity
- Be both disciples and discipling; perpetual learners in the school of Christ as we ourselves strive to teach and serve others
- Daily and energetically embody and proclaim the values of the Kingdom for whose coming we long. Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus! Amen