In 1996 the church leadership undertook a strategic planning process that led to the development of a Vision Statement. This statement was formally accepted by the Vestry and shared with the parish in January 1997. Since then it has guided our life as a parish by defining the community that we are called to be.

Our Parish Vision
The Christian community of Holy Comforter has a vision. It reflects our beliefs, dreams and hopes to be a precious community bound together in love and obedience to God. We seek to be united in one Body by one Spirit.

The World
The world we live in is a gift from God. It is increasingly complex and rapidly changing, rich with joy and opportunity, yet paralleled by great personal, family and societal risks. It is a grace-filled world with complex and often confusing choices. On our journey in faith we are pulled in many directions by forces that demand our attention, our time and our resources.

Our Response
Our response to the world is to be a holy family through God’s grace. Our belief in Jesus Christ brings and holds us together. Living the Gospel is a life of community that begins in Baptism, is nourished by Eucharist, and sustained by Love.

Tradition and Practice
We believe Jesus Christ is our sole authority. We seek to love God that we may live in His will. We pursue the Truth by faith. Life in Christ is revealed through the centrality of scripture, enhanced by tradition and reason.

Our Anglican tradition unites us as a community of faith. This tradition is founded upon the affirmation, traced back to the Apostles, that Jesus Christ is Lord. We recognize ourselves as an integral part of the whole Christian church.

Our faith and practice is a way of life in which our theology, ethics, morality and behavior are inextricably linked. Our identity is expressed as a community bound together by our liturgy embodied in the Book of Common Prayer. Following Christ’s command, we invite and encourage others to worship and minister with us.

Community
There is a thirst and hunger at Holy Comforter to be a true community and a true family. Over the cycle of life we all have times of great celebration and great need. The true community responds; we share joy as we share pain. Each is entitled to all the joys, rights and privileges of community and must accept the duties, obligations and responsibilities that come with inclusion. We expect to be responsible to and for the community, just as it is responsible to and for us.

Living as Community
By its nature, the true Anglican community, like the world, is diverse. When our diversity occasions disagreement, tension and/or conflict, we believe that the gospel calls us through an act of will to put the kingdom of God before our conflicts. We must learn to tolerate, then accept and finally, despite our differences, to love each other in the name of Jesus Christ.

Personal Journey
From birth to death, life is a personal and spiritual journey. As Christians, we seek to deepen our relationship with Jesus, and we celebrate and strengthen this relationship within the Anglican tradition. There is an ongoing examination of “who we are” and “what we believe”.

Stewardship
In true community, stewardship impacts every aspect of life and requires a responsible commitment of time, talent and resources. We believe stewardship is sacramental; what we share is an outward and visible sign of our relationship with Jesus Christ. We have a history of sharing our lives, our gifts and our resources. From the abundance of grace we have received, we minister to one another and to the larger community including support of the Diocese of Chicago and the Episcopal Church. Our ministry reflects our conviction that all that we are and have is a gift from God.