What God has done with our community in the last few months has been nothing short of amazing.  He has brought people together from all over to live, love, and serve in Salt Lake City.  He has assembled us to tell a story about Himself. God is not a passive, disconnected creator but rather a God who pursues His people. He is a God on Mission.  He is a God who sent His Spirit to create the world, sent His Son to redeem it, and sends his Church to live in it and tell the incredible story about this mission of God, or “Missio Dei.”

We started with the revealed character of God to discover core values that will define us as a community.  These values will not just sit on a typed page or hide on a website, but will be lived out in all that we do.  Our values will not live in compartments, isolated from one another, but will be held in tension as we seek to tell our neighbors, our city, and our world the story of the Missio Dei.

Our core values are not just “good ideas” or “attractive phrases.” We believe that these values are central to the Kingdom of God. God has called His people to embody these values so that the story of the Missio Dei will be put on display.  By holding our values close, we will, to steal a phrase from Wendell Barry, practice resurrection.  We sum it up with our mission statement this way:

“Missio Dei Community exists to see God transform us into a worshipping community that practices resurrection.”

Within this statement, our core values are held in tension and our purpose is stated clearly. So, we move forward as “Missio Dei Community” (yes that is our official name). We will ask God’s Spirit to create in us an ability to embody these values.  It’s as “Missio Dei Community” that we will rely on the power of Christ’s resurrection to be Jesus to each other, our neighborhood, our city, and to the world.  And as “Missio Dei Community,” we will ask the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to give us the words and actions to tell the True story of the Missio Dei.