Mission Statement

In and through Christ: make followers, multiply disciples, and transform lives. 

Developed on September 24, 2005 for presentation to Session for approval on September 27, 2005.

Core Values

We are first a Christian church and also a Presbyterian church.  Each of these affiliations provides us with a rich history of values and commitments.  In selecting our core values we seek with God’s help and in the power of the Holy Spirit to retain all of those values, meet all of those commitments and to elevate a chosen few to focus our mission and ministries.  We have selected the following values based on our strengths and our desire to grow in specific directions.

Youth – Providing significant opportunities for our youth to grow in faith, character and discipleship in a Christ-centered environment.

Worship – Honoring God with biblically-based, varied expressions of adoration, preaching, and music excellence. 

Discipleship – Committing our spiritual gifts in selfless service to Christ

Mission –Continuing the work of Christ through prayer, service and gifts.

Prayer – Communicating with God to discern God’s vision and guidance in all things.

Community – Responding fully to the spiritual, emotional and physical needs of our church family.

Lost People – Sharing the love of Christ with all who do not know Him.

Our Vision

Giving thanks always for God’s unending love; we of Lenape Valley Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), a community of faith in the Reformed tradition, bring our individual gifts to the Church, that the body may be strengthened, the faith multiplied to do the work of Jesus Christ. We have adopted our Mission Statement from the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19,20), “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

We are a suburban congregation located in central Bucks County, PA, an area with a diverse, growing population of families and individuals, many of whom do not have church homes or a strong sense of belonging to a community. It is our hope to become a church home, to provide a sense of community to neighbors we have yet to meet as well as to strengthen those ties within our present congregation.

Make Followers

God calls people to follow Him. God uses us to nurture them in their journey of faith. We may precipitate the opportunities - by offering a missionary spirit that reaches out to welcome all who are seeking to follow Jesus Christ. We will welcome them to the fellowship of our church family or meet them where they are - in their neighborhoods.  In either case, the message of Christ will be the same.

We seek to make missionaries of our members. When members become missionaries, they do not remove themselves from the work and worship of the church; rather, with the church's blessing, they are expected to work actively as Christians where God calls them to be: in homes, workplaces, schools, and communities. We need to walk our Christian walk in the world, not just within the walls of Lenape Valley Presbyterian Church.

Being intentionally inclusive requires us to be individually welcoming, hospitable as a congregation; accepting, and nurturing of all who come to this church. We will search for the talents of each person and meld them into a pool through which we accomplish the tasks He sets before us.

We need to expand our definition of congregation through understanding and appreciation of the cultural differences of our members and neighbors.  That does not mean that we abandon our own culture and the beautiful, familiar language of our own message. It challenges us to learn more about ourselves and our neighbors, inviting them to join us, and to ensure our message is one that we can all understand. We will not only make room for our guests and neighbors whose celebrations may be different from our own, but will also find joy in how others celebrate God’s presence in their lives.

Multiply Disciples

We will become a discipling ministry in which the leadership of ministry is removed from the clergy and returned to the people in a "New Reformation." The first Reformation returned the Bible to the people.  Now individuals are challenged to achieve relevant, deeply spiritual Christian lives, trusting the response of their hearts to hear and to apply God's word in their life circumstances. The New Reformation follows the Biblical model in which the church becomes the people ministering to each other.  The New Reformation is about mission, about service to one another.

We will learn to be a discipling ministry through the teaching of worship, Christian education, small group ministries. Christian education will enhance the worship experience, while participation in small group ministries will teach us to use our gifts and resources to minister to one another.  Each person will be encouraged to develop a strong personal communication with God to discern His vision and guidance.

In order to better equip our members to perform the work of our ministries, our pastoral staff will mentor ministry workers rather than performing the work of the ministries. The discipling church depends upon each person's commitment to excellence and accepting accountability for his contributions. This accountability will be to each other and to one’s self as we commit to walk the road that Jesus walked.  

Transform Lives

The underlying principle of the New Reformation is Mission!  We will continue the work of Christ within the structure of the church through prayer, service, and the giving of gifts. But we will expand the scope of our mission work and our thinking of mission to become actively aware of and involved in the life of our local area, our nation, and our world. Many of our members are quietly working in mission-oriented projects outside the church. We want to be a congregation of missionaries.

Community includes our congregation, the local area, the nation, and the world.  We need to extend the loving environment that is the foundation of the church beginning with our next-door neighbors and workplace acquaintances and extending to the wider, anonymous community around the world.

When we put it all together, individual followers will be led to Discipleship. We will commit ourselves and our spiritual gifts to selfless service to Jesus Christ.  Lives will be transformed from self-centeredness to missionary zeal.  Disciples will seek new followers…