Our Mission:
Helping people KNOW Jesus, GROW more like Jesus, and GO serve Jesus.
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KNOW Jesus. We seek continually to deepen our knowledge about and our relationship with Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior;
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GROW more like Jesus. We seek the Holy Spirit’s ongoing transformation of our lives, forming Christ in us, making us members of Christ’s Body that are increasingly responsive to the Head;
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GO to serve Jesus. We seek to put ourselves more and more at God’s disposal, both to witness to Christ and his purposes and to serve others in the power of Christ’s love.
Our Vision
We will be a people who experience, and help others experience, a scriptural and relational KNOWledge of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; who are GROWing into the full measure of Christ’s stature by the Holy Spirit’s empowerment; who GO daily to serve and witness to Christ, making his rule visible in this world.
Our Core Values
Passionate Worship
Radical Hospitality
Intentional Discipleship
Salty Service
Extravagant Generosity
I. Creating a church family of Passionate Worshipers
Our worship tells the world how we feel about God and witnesses to what God has done in our lives. God’s astounding love and generosity toward us in Christ evokes from us a response of grateful praise and passionate worship.
Our acts of worship are an expression of our love for Christ. The elements of our services, how we share the Word, how we celebrate Holy Baptism and Holy Communion, the style of music that we share, the space in which we gather — these are all reflections of the passion of our worship of God, not reflections of us.
“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us and not we ourselves, we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.” (Psalm 100)
II. Extending Radical Hospitality to the Larger Community
As followers of Jesus, who gladly welcomed children, tax collectors, lepers, prostitutes, and sinners of all sorts into his fellowship, we want to do the same.
“Just as you do it to one of the least of these, you do it to me.” (Matthew 25:40)
Radical Hospitality reflects our desire to invite, welcome, receive, and care for those who are strangers, so that they find a spiritual home at Port Charlotte UMC and discover for themselves the blessing of relationship with and through Jesus Christ. Radical Hospitality describes a real love for others who have yet to become a part of the faith community.
Hospitality is a mark of Christian discipleship, a quality of Christian community, a visible expression of our commitment to grow in Christ-likeness by seeing ourselves as part of Christ’s community of faith.
“Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:28)
Radical Hospitality isn’t measured by the church’s signage, the cleanliness of its facilities, the proximity of the Welcome Center, or the size of the smiles on the Greeters. Hospitality is measured by a congregation’s heart toward those outside their membership.
III. Growing in Christ through Intentional Discipleship
Every person who has a relationship within the body of Christ has the opportunity to be a growing disciple of Jesus Christ. From a biblical scholar to the uninformed searcher, we are all somewhere on the journey of faith whose destination is eternity.
We believe that Christ must be “caught” as well as “taught.” People need personal mentoring, coaching, guiding, and encouraging by others who are seeking to follow Jesus. This journey doesn’t just happen; it takes a level of intentionality, organization, and commitment.
“Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20)
Intentional Discipleship is the commitment we make to discovering the ways that would work best for each person in our church family to become mature followers of Jesus Christ. This ongoing process enables people to grow in forgiving and serving others, in living a God- honoring life-style, in walking with God through difficult times, in having Godly balance in their lives.
IV. Going out into the community and world as Salty Servants
“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.” (Matthew 5:13)
Salty Service makes a difference in people’s lives – both those being served and those serving. It makes us “doers and not hearers only” (James 1.27). Salty Service connects the lives of disciples with the ongoing work of Jesus Christ in the world. Salty Service occurs when we give over our hands, feet, time, and heart to Jesus, to accomplish his work of love and invitation, making his rule visible and tangible in our world.
Salty Service strives to answer to the question, “How is Christ calling us to bless our Charlotte County community and the world, in order to earn the right to be heard when we speak about His love?”
“We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works.” (Eph 2:10)
“I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink; I was a stranger and you invited me in; I needed clothes and you clothed me; I was sick and you looked after me; I was in prison and you came to visit me.” (Matthew 25:35-36)
V. Sharing ourselves with Extravagant Generosity
“Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.” (1 Timothy 6:18)
John Wesley shared a threefold plan for godly stewardship: 1) make all you can by working hard at an honest and honorable trade; 2) save all you can, never squandering money; and 3) give all you can by supporting your immediate family, the household of faith, and then all who are in need.
We are committed to sharing ourselves with extravagant generosity.
We want to follow Jesus’ example of a good steward: knowing that all we have comes from God, trusting God to sustain our needs, we find ourselves free to pour ourselves out in generosity to God, even as Jesus poured out himself for us. We want to help people form a plan for living that enables them to resist the temptation of always reaching for the next thing, in hopes of finding meaning for their lives.