The mission of Zion/Wesley United Church is the compass by which we navigate every decision, every program, and every act of service.
"Rooted in the teaching and example of Jesus Christ, we gather as an open and inclusive community of faith — to worship God with honesty and joy, to grow together in understanding, and to reach outward in service and solidarity to our neighbours near and far."
These words are not a slogan. They are a commitment — renewed every Sunday when we gather, and tested every day when we leave the sanctuary and return to the world.
At Zion/Wesley, mission is not a department or a committee. It is the whole life of the congregation, lived out in worship, in relationship, in service, and in the simple act of showing up for one another.
We gather each Sunday to offer God our praise, our questions, our grief, and our gratitude. Worship at Zion/Wesley is honest, participatory, and grounded in scripture and song. It is the heartbeat of everything else we do.
We believe that authentic worship — worship that names both the beauty and the brokenness of the world — is itself an act of mission. When we leave the sanctuary having been moved, challenged, or comforted, we carry that transformation into our daily lives.
Faith, for us, is a living thing that grows through study, conversation, and the willingness to be changed by new understanding. We offer Bible study, adult education, and open discussions where no question is off-limits.
We draw on the full breadth of the United Church's intellectual tradition — engaging theology, ethics, and the sciences as partners in the search for truth, not as enemies to be feared.
We are called not only to gather but to go — into the life of Marion Bridge and the wider world, bearing the burdens of our neighbours, advocating for justice, and caring for the creation entrusted to us.
Through local outreach, pastoral care, community suppers, and our partnership with the United Church's Mission & Service, we put our faith into action where it is most needed.
Mission, for us, is not an abstract ideal. It is the food left on a neighbour's doorstep when they are ill. It is the phone call to someone who has not been seen at church in a while. It is the congregation gathered in the fellowship hall to plan a community supper and staying two hours later because the conversation matters as much as the meal.
We measure our mission not in programs completed but in relationships deepened — in the slow, patient work of becoming, together, the community God calls us to be.
See Our Community ProgramsThe United Church of Canada's A New Creed — affirmed in our worship each week
We are not alone,
we live in God's world.
We believe in God:
who has created and is creating,
who has come in Jesus,
the Word made flesh,
to reconcile and make new,
who works in us and others
by the Spirit.
We trust in God.
We are called to be the Church:
to celebrate God's presence,
to live with respect in Creation,
to love and serve others,
to seek justice and resist evil,
to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,
our judge and our hope.
In life, in death, in life beyond death,
God is with us.
We are not alone.
Thanks be to God.
© 1968 The United Church of Canada
