Mission
The mission of St. Margaret’s is to share with all the grace of God in Jesus Christ, empowering followers of Jesus to grow in love for God and neighbor.
Vision
A flourishing, prayerful, and faithful Christian Community, belonging to each other and to God.
Values
Receiving God’s Grace
We cannot pass on what we have not first received. That which compels everything we do must first and foremost be the grace of God, made available to us in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We want our community to be thoroughly seasoned by God’s grace, such that together we are a people marked by forgiveness, compassion, mercy, and hope, loving all people wherever they are at.
Knowing our Story
Philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre once wrote “I can only answer the question ‘What am I to do?’ if I can answer the prior question ‘Of what story or stories do I find myself a part?’” Every person and every community has a story, and one of life’s great challenges is discerning how our stories fit into the grand story of God’s love for a broken world—the narrative of redemption revealed to us in Scripture, which is what ultimately grounds us as a community. St. Margaret’s loves Scripture and we love stories—ours and yours.
Pursuing Christ’s Mission
Church is never supposed to be static. We are to be a people on the move, confident in who we are and where we are going. Christ left us with a mission to make disciples—promising to be with us to the end of the age—and we are committed to making that mission a reality.
Belonging & Reconciliation
More than just feeling welcome, humans desire to belong. We desire to belong to God and to each other, even in a world riven by so much difference and fear. St. Margaret’s wants to be a refuge for all people, especially the marginalized, oppressed, and overlooked, where the world can see what God can do with a community focused on belonging and reconciliation.
Transformative Discipleship
Jesus promises to all those that follow him that his burden is easy and that his yoke is light. Paradoxical as it might seem, it’s the transformative discipleship of Jesus that can actually set a human being free—free to be that which God is calling them to be.
Practicing Hospitality
Hospitality is one of the central messages in all of Scripture. Hospitality is that process that turns estrangement into reconciliation, alienation into relationship. St. Margaret’s strives to be community of authentic hospitality practiced in the name of Christ: opening our doors, serving our community, reaching out our hands in sacrificial love.
Embracing Sabbath
One of the rarest words one can hear these days is “enough.” And that’s what Sabbath is all about. It’s about having enough. We are a tired and weary people, living in a world that tries to convince us that we need more of whatever it is we’re seeking. St. Margaret’s wants to be a place of rest—the type of rest that enables us to live abundantly, to give generously, and to be able to intentionally stop and offer thanks for the unceasing goodness of God.
Adopted by St. Margaret’s Vestry, July 2023.