What's The Mission Cincinnati All About Anyway?
“This isn’t just a church where you hear ABOUT God, this is a church where you actually EXPERIENCE Him.”
“From everything you guys do in the community, its clear that you believe in church outside the four walls of a building. What you do on Sunday mornings is beautiful but its clear that you see what you do the rest of the week out on the streets as being just as important.”
“This is the first church that I can really say feels like home. I think I want to stay in Cincinnati after I finish my degree just to continue to be a part of what God is doing here…”
These are just a few of the things that members of our church and residents of our neighborhood of Evanston have said about The Mission Cincinnati.
What are we all about?
Well officially, The Mission Cincinnati is an intentionally rooted, creative, diverse, and empowered community of faith seeking to love God and reveal His kingdom by stewarding His goodness, truth, and beauty in our neighborhood, our city and the world.
What does that mean?
It means we’re a church that values place.
We care about playing our part in what God is up to locally in our neighborhood of Evanston and our wider parish of Uptown Cincinnati: everything from OTR and Clifton to Xavier University and Norwood. We value our place by spending time with people where they are: whether that’s hanging out at the Evanston Rec Center, sharing planned and impromptu meetings at coffee shops like Community Blend, Café DeSales, or Landlocked Social House, helping our community put on awesome events like the Evanston Trunk or Treat, a neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt, or the District 2 National Night Out, or partnering with amazing organizations like Urban Young Life, Intervarsity at UC, the Music Resource Center on Woodburn Ave. or the Evanston Area Council: we desire to be a church FOR our place.
It means we’re a church that values creativity.
A group of artists from our church meets every week in homes to share meals and talk about how God is revealed through writing, music, and the visual arts. We pursue excellence in our musical expression on Sundays, blending the styles of ancient hymnody with contemporary praise choruses and soulful Gospel tunes. We believe God is revealed in beauty. We want HOW we communicate Jesus to have just as much integrity as WHAT we communicate about Jesus.
It means we’re a church that’s intentionally seeking to break down the walls of race, age, and socio-economics that divide our nation.
We are church filled with every generation, a church of many races, and a church where wealthy and poor worship and share life together. Just as Jesus has brought reconciliation between God and man, so He empowers us to share reconciliation with one another.
It means we’re a church led by the authority of God’s Word, connected to Christians across the world and throughout history through the sacraments of communion and baptism, and empowered by the life of the Holy Spirit.
We are charismatic and contemplative, liturgical and spontaneous, reverent and warm, ancient and contemporary. Our worship is nourished by the streams of evangelical faith, liturgical practice, and charismatic expression. We seek to draw the best of all Christian denominational worship traditions together in one beautiful expression.
It means we’re a church, coordinated by God’s mission to share the message of Jesus’ death, resurrection, and salvation with all people even while we work in the world to reveal God’s Kingdom on Earth as it is in heaven.
We not only share our faith in words, but seek to establish justice on our streets. We desire to show mercy to the weak and challenge the affluent to get to their hands dirty in serving our city. We spend time getting to know each other, discerning what gifts God has given each person in our midst, and then seek to empower those gifts so that they can bless and encourage others to the greatest possible extent. The people God brings to us are a great treasure and we seek to love and shepherd everyone who comes in our doors as Christ would.
We’re a young church: we’ve only been meeting for weekly worship for 9 months. We’re a growing church: every week new people join us in worship, share meals with one another in homes, pray together, and wrestle with questions about what it means to love God and His people today, here in Cincinnati. We’re a welcoming church: all are invited to join in worship and experience the life of our community regardless of what you already do or don’t believe. We’re a fellowship of missionaries: our life together is marked by friendship and mutual welcome in community, but also in shared sacrificial service to our world. We’re not a cruise ship, we’re a sailboat: everyone matters, everyone is counted on to get involved! We’re a Christ-centered church: we believe Jesus is the only hope for our world.
Want to learn more about how you can belong, grow, serve, and go as a part of The Mission Cincinnati? You are invited to come and see what God is up to here every Sunday at 10 AM at the Evanston Recreation Center (3204 Woodburn Ave.) Our services last about 1 hour and 20 minutes and involve musical worship, call and response prayer, a powerful and relevant message, and a time of communion. Mission Kids childcare is also available for children ages 0-10. Come as you are! We are a casual bunch.
If you have any questions or would like more information about our church, please reach out to our pastor Fr. William by emailing him at william@missioncincinnati.org.