Our mission statement says that ―"We are a diverse community, joyfully responding to God‘s love and growing as disciples of Christ by nurturing, teaching, reaching and serving all people." One way that we can advance our mission is by reaching out to more people through worship. As part of our church‘s planning process, this is precisely what we as a church have committed to do. One of the goals that emerged from that process was to ―"expand worship opportunities by identifying alternative worship styles."

When it comes to worship, the truth is we have already been experimenting with formats that are outside our normal pattern. The Youth Musicals that we offer each year use drama and contemporary music to convey the gospel. Over the last two years we‘ve had an ensemble play ―"contemporary" worship music by Johnny Cash and others – music which is older than many of the hymns from the United Methodist Hymnal that we sing regularly in our ― "traditional service." In our noontime Lenten Reflections this year, we used a very contemplative style of worship modeled on ideas from the Taize and Iona communities. Not only did these attract several newcomers, but they also provided a powerful, intimate, and transformative experience for long-tenured members of the church. During Holy Week, our youth pastor Audrey arranged for a service of Stations of the Cross accompanied by Gregorian chant music and Power Point, which allowed for yet another type of worship experience, one which blended the ancient and the modern.