Vision, Covenant, & Policies

Every so often we’ve taken time to describe who we are and who we hope to be. We currently have a few documents that do that (the headings are links):

Mission (who we are / what we do) &  Vision (what we strive for)

In December of 2019, Shalom adopted the following Mission and Vision statements:

 

Shalom Mennonite Congregation is a welcoming and inclusive community
rooted in Jesus’ radical call to love, justice, and peace.

We seek to grow our welcome and inclusion as we

deepen our spirituality,

build meaningful relationships,

work for peace and social justice,

and cultivate diverse community connections.

 

In 2020, we started living into this vision through our regular gatherings, first in our then-new worship space of the EMS dining hall, and then adapted significantly due to COVID-19. Yet the vision-fulfillment work was carried on by the persistent Shalom ministry teams & administrative committees. In November 2020, the congregation approved the updates to our structure and constitution we’d been testing. As 2021 progresses we will continue learning and being challenged by our commitment to “Jesus’ radical call to love, justice, and peace.”

Faith Formation Vision, Mission, Values, & Goals

This is the result of our collective effort to describe what kind of faith we hope to nurture. It serves as a guidepost for our Formation Committee. Created in 2015.

Safe Congregation Policy

In draft form, this policy was developed in participation with the Safe Church Program hosted by the Collins Center of Harrisonburg, VA. It details our desire to comprehensively create a culture of sexual abuse awareness and prevention, and to model and teach healthy sexuality. Created in 2016, with implementation slated for 2016-2017 and ongoing.

Inclusion of people who identify as LBGTQIA+

Shalom seeks to welcome all people without discrimination based on sexual identity, gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation. Read our congregational statement here.