What's in the 'Secret Sauce' at Mt Vernon

The DNA of each church is different. Every church culture is unique. Recently our staff got together and identified the defining characteristics of Mt Vernon. What makes us ‘us.’ This list is a continual work in progress, but here’s we think is in the ‘secret sauce’ at Mt Vernon:

We make everyone welcome. This speaks to our culture. It doesn’t matter your station in life. Whether you’re educated or uneducated, churched or unchurched, married or divorced, an outstanding citizen or a recovering addict, we’ll do our best to make you feel welcome at Mt. Vernon.

We embrace change. This speaks to the humility of our people. We have changed almost everything at Mt Vernon in the past decade, and we’re continuing to change and adapt to our cultural context of a post-Christian world in the 21st century. Our church embraces the necessity of constant change as the price of effective ministry today.

We’re all rowing in the same direction. This speaks to our unity. We’re united as a staff and body. There’s no dead weight. There’s no sideways energy. We’ve killed legacy programs that don’t contribute to our overall purpose. We all have our marching orders: creating contagious communities of hope. It’s amazing to see the synergy that’s created when we’re united behind the same purpose.

We teach timeless truths in creative ways. This speaks to how we communicate truth. Everything we teach is biblical truth, like most churches. Yet we go above and beyond to teach those timeless truths in the most creative ways imaginable. We want to engage all five senses. We think it’s a travesty to bore a child with the Bible. We have a standard of excellence when it comes to our environments that blows my mind.

We are serious about having fun. This speaks to our joy. A church service shouldn’t feel like a funeral service. You can be reverent without being depressing. We emphasize joy. We have fun. We laugh together. We celebrate the good things in life, and we make no apologies for doing so. We work hard at having fun.

We offer transforming hope. This speaks to our purpose. We offer the hope of the gospel. We expect lives to be changed. We invite people to a better way of life. We offer them the hope of positive change and the hope of eternity through the power of Christ.

We walk towards the messes. This speaks to outreach. We’re not content to wait for people to come to us. We go to them. Our folks bring those that need hope the most: the broken, the dirty, the messes. We don’t judge them for not getting their life right before coming to church. We don’t condemn them when they’re standing at the entrance to our church and their mess is staining the carpet. We embrace them with open arms, just as Christ embraces us.