"You guys really need a vision statement." That's what the three pastors were told, soon after they began. Or maybe it was a mission statement. They can\'t remember which. And they don\'t really know the difference anyway. So... While on a retreat/fast/visionquest in January of 1998 (actually, it was during a break for coffee and little chocolate donuts) the three pastors tried to capture in one single statement their vision/mission, which was intended to help them communicate their vision/mission to the House of Mercy community. Here it is. The vision/mission of House of Mercy is to plant a church, a community of followers of Jesus Christ. Given their own unique social context, the pastors believe this can be accomplished by these three means:

• by the recovery of theology, theology that is grounded in the good news of God\'s radical engagement with the world in Jesus Christ, instead of the bad news of shame and religious manipulation,
  
• by the practice of liturgical eclecticism in which elements of worship are carefully and thoughtfully drawn from the wide expanse of the historic traditions of the Christian faith,
  
• by active service in our world, that is, acts of mercy, charity and consciousness-raising which aim to bear witness to the grace of God revealed in Jesus Christ.