We have a mission statement that calls us to do something old, focus on Jesus Christ. Our mission at Gethsemane Lutheran Church is:

Come to KNOW CHRIST through God’s Word.
Come to GROW IN CHRIST through worship, prayer and service.
Come to SHOW CHRIST through all that we do.

We will measure all that we do against this. And we will ask each other and ourselves as we plan and work together questions like, "Are we helping people to know Christ through this?" and "How are people going to grow in Christ through this class?" or "Are we showing Christ in our gathering today?" and so on. These are simple questions that ask us to focus on Christ.

We have also put together a statement of values for the congregation. It’s not always obvious what a group stands for or believes in. Now we have a list to work off of when people want to know what is important here at Gethsemane Lutheran Church. Here are the values:

• We believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God that brings the good news of Jesus Christ to all people.
• We believe in providing opportunities to learn God’s Word and its meaning for our lives.
• We believe that through this Word of God we are called to:
  - love one another
  - forgive one another as we have been forgiven in Jesus Christ
  - identify, celebrate, encourage and share all the gifts God gives us
  - train people to be missionaries both locally and abroad
  - be a fun, caring and compassionate community
  - provide a safe and relevant environment for families of all kinds
  - be open-minded and tolerant of all people
  - worship Jesus Christ with prayer, praise and thanksgiving in relevant, spontaneous and meaningful ways
• We believe that through the Word of God, Holy Communion and Baptism all people can experience forgiveness and new life in Jesus Christ.
• We believe that God has an unending amount of grace when we fail to live up to these values and our mission.

These are values that both share what is important here, but they also give us something to strive for. And the last one, the grace of God, well that is the beauty of it all. We may not always be faithful, but we trust that God is.