The mandate to love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul, and all our mind and to love our neighbor as ourselves propels us to “go make disciples of all nations…teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:18-20)
Each individual parish uses Kingdom imagination to envision the way they will live out the mission set before the Church.
At St. David’s by the Sea, we enact the Great Commandment and Great Commission
through Rooted Faith, Kingdom Mission and Incarnational Love.
Rooted Faith
As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. - Colossians 2:6-7
As Episcopalians, we are above all rooted in Christ and his Church, and also in our historic tradition. The Episcopal Church balances Word, Sacrament, Spirit-empowered lives, and societal transformation. A robust liturgical worship experience with an emphasis on Scripture is foundational to our heritage. In good times and bad, people cling to the familiar – to traditions and rituals – which maintain stability and normalcy. When we don’t know what to pray, liturgy guides us. When we don’t know how to react, Scripture shapes us. When we need to be grounded, Tradition reminds us that we are part of something bigger than our present circumstances. Being rooted in the Diocese of Central Florida, the Episcopal Church, and the wider Anglican Communion frames all that we do.
Kingdom Mission
The gifts he gave were...to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. - Ephesians 4:11-13
The Kingdom of God is both the source and goal of our Christian faith. Our corporate life as a church cannot be separated from what Christ is doing in the world as he ushers in his kingdom. A commitment to Kingdom Mission is a commitment to robust discipleship, Christian education, and theological training as we strive to follow Jesus on a daily basis, evermore being transformed into his likeness.
Incarnational Love
This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. - John 15:12-13
The Incarnation – God's putting on flesh and dwelling among us – is love personified. As joyful disciples of Christ, we are committed to making his transformational love known through word and deed. As we serve as his ambassadors, we are engaging in incarnational ministry as his hands and feet in our parish and community. Love shapes our thinking, agendas, priorities, ministries, and interactions.
