OUR VISION

Creating spaces of belonging for everyone.

 

OUR MISSION

To build our multi-cultural, multi-generational collective into a compassionate, prayer-guided community.

 

OUR VALUES

Word-centered and spirit-led

Loving and compassionate

Guided by prayer

Socially responsible

Accountable in stewardship

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WE ARE…

We are all sinners and simultaneously all saints. While we may be broken and hurting and in need of God’s love and grace, we are chosen by God. As recipients of God’s amazing love, we are also called to share that love with those around us. 

 

We are every race, every creed, every sexual orientation, every physical ability, and every socio-economic status. If everyone is a child of God, none can be excluded from the table. 

 

WE ARE NOT…

We are not experts. While we all strive to grow closer to God, no one here has all the answers. We are learning, growing, and messing up together. As we learn, grow, and mess up, we are in need of confession, absolution, grace, and love for one another. Through God’s grace and love, we will love and forgive each other. 

 

We are not afraid to use our experiences to help, teach, and love others – even those we disagree with and don’t understand. 

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WE HAVE LEARNED…

We have learned we are storytellers – all of us have a story to tell and all stories are equally important. Stories – sermons, conversations, social media posts, or prayers & praises of the people – are meant to free us. By telling our story, we are no longer scandalized by our sin – instead, we are learning to trust that we are held by a God who loves and accepts us as we are. All who come to Midtown Collective are invited to speak and share, for it will be received in love. 

 

We have learned from Scriptures, prayer, theologians, prophets, from those who have come before us, and from those who walk with us today. 

 

We have learned our table must be open to all and for all. 

Everyone, without exception, is welcome to receive bread and wine, which for us are the blood and body of Christ. The good news for us, and the bad news for our egos, is that, without exception, all are welcome. We need this reminder of God’s abundant grace and the fact God’s grace is available to us at any time. It is also for those we might prefer to exclude. It is the celebration of the love of God that makes us saints. 

 

We have learned we don’t work alone. Just as one person cannot sing harmony by one’s self, there is not service or sermon without the Collective. We exist by God’s grace and the work of our hands, prayers in our hearts, and melodies of our voices. 

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WE ASPIRE TO…

We aspire to find the gospel everywhere, for his grace and love is everywhere. It binds us together and can be found in the grand as well as the mundane. 

 

We aspire to love what is and struggle for what could be. 

We acknowledge that our world is a mix of grief and joy, failure and success, dreams realized and hopes lost. Life happens. While our reality may be a broken one, it is steeped in God’s love and bathed in our prayers. Knowing this gives us courage to continue. 

 

We aspire to show up for each other. Many of us are exhausted from life and the many facets of it. Sometimes, simply showing up can feel like too much to ask. But, it’s in that act of love for each other we receive love and grace from both God and each other. We hurt together and heal together. 

 

We aspire to remain avoid letting excellence get in the way of love. We choose people and loving people over performance. We will not be perfect while here on earth, our time together doesn’t have to be perfect either. By accepting this, we encourage everyone to participate – from the newcomer to the old-timer and everyone between.  

 

Above all, we aspire to share God’s gift of grace that has been given to us. It cannot be earned and is given freely to all. We often struggle to accept this gift of grace, but we must remember God loves us madly and infinitely just as we are. As believers, we are all instruments of God’s grace, and we pray God will continue breaking our hearts so we may give away the grace we have received, for others need that grace – that love – too. 

 

We aspire, with God’s help, to be physical representations of God’s love on earth, to strive for justice and peace among all people, to respect and love every human being, including ourselves, and to become what we’ve received – grace and love.