Our Vision

Our Mission: We seek to be good neighbors to make Little Rock a place where all God’s children THRIVE.

Our Welcoming Statement: You are a child of God created in the Divine Image. You are welcomed, affirmed, and included at First Church, not despite, but because of your age, ability, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender identity. This is how the Holy Spirit works: when you are welcomed, all are welcomed. When all are welcomed and embraced as the Body of Christ, the world is transformed into a place where all of God’s Children can THRIVE, finding the Trust, Health, Relationship, Imagination, Value, and Education they need.
We are all children of God. Thanks be to God!

 Our Core Values:  Using the acronym THRIVE, we have identified six core values to being good neighbors: Trust, Health, Relationships, Imagination, Value, and Education.

T-Trust is essential to faith in God, and it builds community. Trust enables people to be authentic. In a culture where shame and judgment seem pervasive, empowering people to experience trust through honesty, vulnerability, and compassion is transformative.

H-We define Health as a sense of wholeness through spiritual, emotional, and physical health. The broader culture fragments people’s lives by work, family, social circles, civic involvement, etc. However, our lives are whole when we find a healthy balance of spirit, mind, and body. Just as healing was a main element of Jesus’ ministry, working for health is essential to our ministry.

R-Relationships are foundational to faith. In the Trinity, our very understanding of God is as a relationship between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Therefore, life-giving relationships empower people to be good neighbors and build community. We believe relationship building in any form is essential to understanding and relating to God, who exists as a relationship.

I–God is a great mystery. To understand and relate to God more deeply, one must be empowered with Imagination and creativity. While we acknowledge the value of empirical knowledge and understanding, providing space for people to be creative, experience the arts, and play allows for a richer sense of the Divine Mystery.

V–So often our culture measures personal value by externals such as money, position, ethnicity, sexuality, and social status. However, we believe that our true Value is defined by the fact that we are all children of God, created in the Divine Image. This may be the most empowering and transformative claim we can make.

E–Good education is more than dissemination of facts and knowledge.  True education empowers people through deeper understanding and seeking wisdom. Therefore, Education is essential for being good neighbors and Kingdom-building as we empower people to seek wisdom.

Our Vision: In response to the trauma and spiritual crisis created by the COVID-19 pandemic, by 2025, FUMC, LR will facilitate spiritual recovery and healing for individuals, our faith community, and the community of Little Rock.