Highland’s Mission, Vision, and Values Statement
Our Mission… God’s Love compels us to cultivate a safe, welcoming community of faith where all are challenged to discover, grow, and serve, as together we boldly live out the worship that is our very lives.
Our Vision… We dream of being an engaging, vibrant Christian church, where transformed people are joining the work of God, creating a world where justice and Love are abundant.
Our Values…
- We value a deeply spiritual, Christ-centered faith that opens us to life, equips us to serve, and calls us to action.
- We value a courageous, progressive theology whose relevance extends from the pew to the street, that engages both the mind and the heart, and that welcomes everyone from the skeptic to the devoted.
- We value all people, not in spite of, but precisely because of all that makes each one unique.
- We value being doers of the word, living out what Jesus taught: showing hospitality to strangers, confronting injustice, giving voice to those who have been silenced.
- We value a healthy community, where honest relationships provide all people safety, encouragement, acceptance, and healing, and challenge us to practice gentleness, forgiveness, and continued growth.
- We value embracing challenge and change: naming hard things, asking questions, and leaning into tensions and ambiguity.
- We value growing together across the lifespan, through multi-generational and intergenerational relationships and ministries.
- We value being rooted in our distinct and radical heritage that compels us to breathe new life into bedrock Baptist principles.
- We value broad and deep worship that invites us into the mystery of a loving God.
- We value being good stewards of all we have been given, discerning together how best to use our financial, physical, human, and spiritual gifts to follow Jesus and carry out our mission.
Who We Are
We like to ask big questions here at Highland, not so much to get answers, but more because we are curious about where the conversation will lead us. So our motto, “thinking, feeling, healing,” sums us up well.
You will find folks from all walks of life contributing to this church family: retired grandparents, hard-working twenty-year-olds, parents, tons of kids,
LGBTQ friends of every age, and people with a variety of gifts, abilities, insights, and opinions.
Our progressive theology is hard to miss, but hopefully, you will also notice how we value the healthy tension that comes from recognizing our differences. We celebrate intentional and generous dialogue whenever new questions arise. (Hint—They are always arising.) And we hope you will see how our call to love inspires our commitments to justice.
Highland’s Logo
The LOGO of Highland Baptist Church…
Like the Highland Baptist community of faith, the images in our logo are diverse and interconnected: leaves, flowers, a butterfly, squares, directional pointers, even colors of the church year — individually ripe with meaning while uniting to reveal the Cross of Jesus at our center. Interwoven through all of the images is the thread of growth, depicting our desire to be a community grounded and growing in God’s transforming love. The logo reflects a design found throughout our Sanctuary and particularly on the doors … doors open to all.