Our Mission

Our vision and mission is to help connect people to faith

Theologically speaking, our mission is to act as God’s hands and voice, as agents of reconciliation and companions in our commitment to Jesus’ vision. We interpret this vision as being a nurturing and welcoming spiritual home where:

We embody God’s inclusive love and compassion.
We live our faith by wrestling with questions, not defending answers.
We promote the love and justice of Jesus Christ and the responsible stewardship of God’s creation.

Our members are encouraged to “walk the talk.” We not only hear Jesus’ words, we strive to live them out through ministries integral to the life of the church.

What Sets Us Apart

You may have attended other Christian churches and have felt unwelcome or just uncomfortable. Or, you may consider yourself “spiritual but not religious” and have some doubts about organized religion because of a negative church experience. What’s different about St. Mark?

As Jesus said, “This is my commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.” We believe that this means loving everyone as they are. Jesus did not discriminate. Neither do we. Our leadership is active in Orange County interfaith organizations and we believe we have much to learn from one another. At St. Mark, our worship messages and Bible text studies dig into what scriptures are saying to us today, and we welcome questions and discussions.

What Does That Mean?

Our emphasis is on partnership with Jesus Christ, and our challenge as followers of Jesus is to live our lives his way—believing in what he believed in, loving what he loved, opposing what he opposed. This leads us to declare our emphasis on:

Inclusiveness

We see in the gospels a Jesus who was radically inclusive of his society’s outcasts. We believe that every group of people belongs to God and that every person is God’s creation and, therefore, sacred, regardless of ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation.

Inquiring

As members of the local and global community, we believe it is our responsibility to understand the complexity of the issues that shape our world today. It is through this understanding that we can best be of service to those organizations and communities in need.

Caring

The result of this emphasis is reflected by the fact that, although we are not the largest Presbyterian church in terms of membership, we have for many years been among the highest per capita contributors to the mission of the wider Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).