Mission Statement

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Town of Avon

Mission Statement

As members of the West Avon Congregational Church, our mission is to reflect our faith in God and Jesus Christ by:

· Accepting the guidance of the Holy Spirit;

· Learning and teaching, joyfully, the word of God;

· Loving, in Christ’s spirit, one another and those around us;

· Giving spiritual leadership in our congregation and our community;

· Providing an open, spiritual, compassionate, nurturing place of worship, learning and fellowship; and

· Committing ourselves and our resources toward making our world a more just, caring, peaceful place.

The First Church in Avon

Our Tradition

The West Avon Congregational Church was organized November 20, 1751, as the "Church of Christ in Northington." Later, when Northington became the Town of Avon, the church was renamed "The First Church in Avon (West);" it took its present name, "West Avon Congregational Church," in 1960. The people of the area were originally part of Thomas Hooker's congregation which settled Farmington in 1640, organizing the church there in 1652.

For 250 years, West Avon's membership has been exemplified by a strong lay leadership with dedication to personal ministry. Women have played a key role in providing leadership and vision throughout our history, including, in recent years, the chairing of every functional lay group.

In addition to being responsible for the needs of the congregation, our membership has played a pro-active role ministering to the needs of the greater community, including the continuing support of ministries throughout the world. In addition to providing personal effort and financial support to the needs of society, this congregation has taken strong and often unpopular positions regarding political and social issues, and members have spoken out, fought, and died for their convictions.

The members and friends of our congregation come from many parts of the country and several foreign countries. They include retired ministers as well as local families whose roots go back to this church's earliest development, and whose dedication to Christian service and this congregation continues to enrich all of our lives.

Professional leadership with great energy, vision and understanding has highlighted out long history. From Ebenezer Booge and Rufus Hawley in the 1700s to Dr. Donald Ketcham, and our present minister, Dr. Brian Hardee, West Avon has been blessed with leadership for our times.

Our Faith

We, the members and friends of the West Avon Congregational Church, are united in striving to know and respond to the will of God as revealed in Jesus Christ and as taught in the Holy Scriptures. We are diverse in our understanding, perception and expression of the reality of God. We regard this union of diversity as one of our strengths.

We believe in God the Father, infinite in wisdom, goodness, and love; and in Jesus Christ, his Son, our Lord and Savior, who, for us and our salvation, lived and died and rose again and lives evermore; and in the Holy Spirit, who takes of the things of Christ and reveals them to us, renewing, comforting and inspiring the souls of all people.

Because faith can be expressed in many different ways, the United Church of Christ has no formula that is a test of faith. Down through the centuries, however, Christians have shared their faith with one another through creeds, confessions, catechisms, and other statements of faith. These historic statements such as Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed are valued as authentic testimonies of faith, but are not used as tests of faith. In this sense ours is a non-creedal church.

Our Covenant

We are united in striving to know the will of God as taught in the Holy Scriptures, and in out purpose to walk in the ways of the Lord, made known or to be made known to us. We hold it to be the mission of the Church of Christ to proclaim the Gospel to all people, exalting the worship of the one true God and laboring for the progress of knowledge, the promotion of justice, the reign of peace and the realization of the human family. Depending, as did our ancestors, upon the continued guidance of the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth, we work and pray for the transformation of the world into the kingdom of God, and we look with faith for the triumph of righteousness and the life everlasting.

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