{"id":77,"date":"2016-09-01T22:49:48","date_gmt":"2016-09-01T22:49:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fccej.org\/v5\/?page_id=77"},"modified":"2022-01-14T13:02:00","modified_gmt":"2022-01-14T18:02:00","slug":"about-us","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.fccej.org\/v5\/who-we-are\/about-us\/","title":{"rendered":"About Us"},"content":{"rendered":"

About Us<\/h3>
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First Congregational Church of Essex Junction, United Church of Christ,<\/span> is a vibrant community of faith, celebrating more than 150 years of worship, fellowship, music and service in the heart of Essex.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Our Covenant<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

We covenant one with another to seek and respond to the Word and the will of God. We agree to walk together in the ways of the Lord, made known and to be made known to us. We hold it to be the mission of the Church to witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ in all the world, while worshiping God, and striving for truth, justice, and peace. As in the past, we depend on the Holy Spirit to lead and empower us. We pray for the coming of the kingdom of God, and we look with faith toward the triumph of righteousness and eternal life.<\/p>\n

Our Mission<\/h4>\n

We build relationships with God, each other, the community, and the world through prayer, worship, fellowship, education, outreach, and service.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our Vision<\/h4>\n

To be the church that most fully embodies Christ\u2019s vision of love by fulfilling the spiritual and physical needs of our community.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our Values<\/h4>\n

Inquiry:<\/em><\/span> We grow through an intellectual journey and feel empowered to challenge, question, and explore our faith.<\/span><\/p>\n

Inclusion:<\/em><\/span> We are an open and affirming, diverse, and inclusive congregation that offers an invitation to meet Jesus Christ no matter where you are on life\u2019s spiritual journey.<\/span><\/p>\n

Service:<\/em><\/span> We seek opportunities to live Christ\u2019s love through active engagement in our world.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fellowship:<\/em><\/span> We express kindness and compassion with each other through Christian community.<\/span><\/p>\n

Stewardship:<\/em><\/span> We are responsible in the use of our time, talent, and treasure to care for our church.<\/span><\/p>\n

Worship:<\/em><\/span> We express our faith through meaningful experiences in the presence of God through Word, Sacrament, Music, and Fellowship.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fun:<\/span><\/em> We are a place where people can laugh and be joyful.<\/span><\/p>\n

Save<\/span><\/p>\n

Save<\/span><\/p>\n

Save<\/span><\/p>\n

Save<\/span><\/p>\n

Save<\/span><\/p>\n

Save<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n

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Open and Affirming Statement<\/h4>\n

The First Congregational Church of Essex Junction, United Church of Christ, is an Open and Affirming congregation, embracing diversity and affirming the dignity and worth of every person, because we are all created by a loving God. We seek to live Christ’s call for compassion, justice, healing and wholeness in life. Therefore, we welcome into our community persons of every race, gender, age, sexual orientation, faith background, nationality, ethnicity, marital status, mental and physical ability, economic and social position, gender identity and expression, level of education and family structure.<\/strong> We invite all to share in the life, leadership, ordained ministry, lay ministry, worship, sacraments, responsibilities, fellowship, blessings, and joys of our congregation as we seek to grow together in faith and love.<\/p>\n

United Church of Christ Statement of Faith<\/h4>\n

You seek in holy love to save all people from aimlessness and sin.<\/p>\n

You judge people and nations by your righteous will declared through prophets and apostles.<\/p>\n

In Jesus Christ, the man of Nazareth, our crucified and risen Savior, you have come to us and shared our common lot, conquering sin and death and reconciling the world to yourself.<\/p>\n

You bestow upon us your Holy Spirit, creating and renewing the church of Jesus Christ, binding in covenant faithful people of all ages, tongues, and races.<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n

You call us into your church to accept the cost and joy of discipleship, to be your servants in the service of others, to proclaim the gospel to all the world and resist the powers of evil, to share in Christ\u2019s baptism and eat at his table, to join him in his passion and victory.<\/p>\n

You promise to all who trust you forgiveness of sins and fullness of grace, courage in the struggle for justice and peace, your presence in trial and rejoicing, and eternal life in your realm which has no end.<\/p>\n

Blessing and honor, glory and power be unto you.<\/p>\n

Amen.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":13199,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-77","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fccej.org\/v5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/77","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fccej.org\/v5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fccej.org\/v5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fccej.org\/v5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fccej.org\/v5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"https:\/\/www.fccej.org\/v5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/77\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17822,"href":"https:\/\/www.fccej.org\/v5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/77\/revisions\/17822"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fccej.org\/v5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fccej.org\/v5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}