Our Values
The Village Church, meeting in the West Village for over ten years, has grown into a community of three values. Christ’s revolution in our midst presses out these prerogatives.
We breathe to God
We spend a lot of our energy to accomplish nothing! Individually and in our 11:00am gathering each Sunday, we celebrate Jesus Christ as our connection to the Divine. Through celebrating His birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension, we inhale His grace and exhale our appreciation. This respiration of worship, with joy and reverence, is vital to who we are, an exhibition of excitement about knowing and walking with God.
The Village Church brings the Ancient forward to today. We find the historic Christian faith to be the means of navigating the turbulent choices of city life. We are creedal, sacramental and confessional in the Presbyterian tradition. The ministry of Word and Sacrament, Praise and Prayer, are means of grace we use weekly to proclaim both God’s transcendence and Christ’s invitation to immanence, in an eclectic style indigenous to Greenwich Village. We hail the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, working constantly to reform the faith in our contemporary setting.
We live to one another
We are a church culture of oneness by being involved in each other’s lives. We equip by grace-motivated giving of our energy and resources to each other. Integral to our community is a network of small groups, meeting in individual homes and cafés throughout New York. We seek maturity that comes through unity with each other, speaking the truth in love, making all flourish in Christ through honest-to-goodness care and accountability.
We engage the culture of New York City
As New Yorkers, we belong here. We love our city, celebrating its accomplishments and pleasures even while we grieve over its brokenness and evils. Christ leads us to approach New York culture with affectionate restraint, rejoicing in it as well as challenging it. Bringing to bear the power of Jesus Christ’s resurrection, we proclaim His gospel in word and deed.
In word, we respect the intelligence of the urbanite, honor the questions of seekers and skeptics and uphold the freedom of conscience of all.
In deed, we seek out the New York’s problems, to own them and, in cooperation with other churches and social agencies, address them with the healing mercy of Christ. We interpret our work in the arts, as well as in all our vocations in the city, as valuable in a dawning Kingdom of joy and peace.
That is what the Village Church is, a Bridging Community of Worship, dwelling joyfully in God and with one another, confronting our city culture with the love of Christ. As we pursue these priorities in the power of the Holy Spirit, breathing the air of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we expect the Father of Lights to overturn the current order and bring the Kingdom of Heaven among us in Greenwich Village.