Too often people mistake churches for static buildings that sit in one place and watch the world change around them. That is not the biblical vision of church: the Bible portrays churches as being regularly transformed through encounter with God, and regularly transforming their environment as people charged with a message of good news from God. Community Presbyterian Church has, for more than half a century, seen this kind of transformation take place among its members and in its community as the people that make up the church have followed Christ where he led them. So we honor the people who built CPC, the ministry that they practiced and the community of faith that they cultivated over many decades. And we anticipate the ways in which God will continue to transform our hearts and habits as we follow Christ into meaningful relationships. We’ve adopted this notion—reaching people for Christ, growing people in Christ, sending people with Christ—as our vision of who we as a church have been, who we are constantly becoming and who God calls us to be here and now.

Mission is what God does; consequently it’s what we, as God’s people, do. God’s mission involves restoring people to the wholeness of their original creation. So a church’s efforts toward mission ought to promote the spiritual, emotional, physical and relational well-being of other people. God’s mission also involves reconciliation between people and a relational God, and among different people created for relationship. So a church’s efforts toward mission is inherently relational and involves personal engagement. As a church we strive to serve people outside our membership directly and personally, in ways that connect them to God and to a supportive community, and in ways that enhance and improve their daily lives.

Part of the redemptive work of God, and consequently God’s people, is to acknowledge and address the pain and vulnerability of a world victimized by sin. So we tailor the ministries of our church to address the real needs of people in our community. From everyday concerns that accompany the busyness of contemporary society to more serious concerns such as loneliness and anxiety, we understand these to be the work of the church.

The unique gift of any church in its community is to invite and guide one another into an encounter with God. Any such encounter is an encounter with truth because God is truth. And any such encounter can reasonably be expected to leave people changed, in large and small ways, because God is interested in seeing people become more fully themselves through relationship with him. So our worship services tell the truth through the stories found in the Bible, and explore how those truths and stories intersect with life today. They also provide opportunities to commune with God through prayer, music and the sacraments of the church.

Jesus told his followers to let children come to him. As Jesus’ mission is our mission, we take seriously the command to bring children to Jesus. So we offer programs that creatively and winsomely introduce children to the story and teachings of Jesus. While these programs are usually fun and entertaining, we remain conscious that children and their parents are not immune to the pain and vulnerability of the world. So we offer programs to address the needs of parents as well, and above all we explore the many ways that Jesus speaks truth and brings healing today.

From Jesus’ initial invitation to disciples to follow him, to his seating of thousands of people in small groups to be fed and taught, to the long history of the church meeting together in small gatherings, true community has been sought by Christians in small, committed gatherings. So in a culture that too often isolates people from one another, we pursue opportunities to come together, to get to know one another, to serve one another, to support one another in our relationships with God.

The unique gift of any church in its community is to invite and guide one another into an encounter with God. Any such encounter is an encounter with truth because God is truth. And any such encounter can reasonably be expected to leave people changed, in large and small ways, because God is interested in seeing people become more fully themselves through relationship with him. So our worship services tell the truth through the stories found in the Bible, and explore how those truths and stories intersect with life today. They also provide opportunities to commune with God through prayer, music and the sacraments of the church.

Money is the thing that raises the most suspicion in people about religion. Fortunately, the Bible lays out clear teaching and ethical guidelines about money. So our church doesn't shy away from talk about money; rather we explore ways of honoring God with our finances, and we encourage and support one another toward a biblical ethic regarding money.

Prayer is an act of faith, a practice that presumes that God listens and speaks. So our church seeks opportunities to speak to and listen to God, alone and together. We pray for real-life needs in real time, trusting that God knows our needs

We believe that the best life is one lived in reconciled relationship to God, allowing God to do restoring work in and through us. So we follow the long tradition of the Christian church by sharing, in respectful and responsible ways, the good news of life in Christ. We look for ways to relate the Christian gospel to everyday life for our own benefit and the benefit of our friends and neighbors.

Every organized effort, including the effort to live out God's mission on earth, requires organized leadership. Churches flourish when they are well led by people who actively pursue the values of the church. So we choose our lay leaders and our church staff carefully, giving particular attention to the leader's commitment to living biblically and maintaining a personal connection to God.

We believe that everything we can see (and even what we can’t see) is a creation of a God who values craftsmanship. We further believe that we were created in the image of God and bear a responsibility to follow God’s lead in the work of our hands. So we aspire to beauty in form and function in all that we create and cultivate as a church, and we put appropriate finances and sweat equity toward the property and initiatives of the church so that they reflect the goodness of God even as they achieve their good purposes.