The Mission and Vision of The Diocese

Draft 2009 Ministry Plan - Approved by Diocesan Council June 26, 2008

Claim our identity as a healthy, mission-focused Diocese that values the wisdom of the Church through the ages and risks following the Holy Spirit into fresh expressions of Christ’s church.

Partner with congregations to build their creative capacity to discern and live into God’s preferred and promised future.

Create opportunities for congregations to learn from one another and provide an environment in which regional and other initiatives can emerge and flourish.

Connect our congregations to other dioceses of the Episcopal Church, to other members of the Anglican Communion, and to ecumenical partners locally and globally.

Mission Statement: The purpose of the Diocese of Western Massachusetts is to carry on Christ’s ministry of transformation and reconciliation. We work and pray together to develop healthy, mission-focused Christians and congregations who live the fullness of the baptismal covenant wherever God places us.

Vision: That we are becoming evermore recognizable as the Body of Christ. That we are learning and growing together as a community of miraculous expectation, utterly dependent on God, fully gifted by the Holy Spirit, joyously living Christ’s Great Commandments and Great Commission in Western Massachusetts and the world.

The Diocese of Western Massachusetts is one church united in living and proclaiming the Good News of God in Christ through 67 unique mission outposts. God's yearning and our yearning is that we may know Christ, live Christ and make Christ known together. (Convention 2000)