Sacred Heart Belief Statement

Sacred Heart is a church that seeks to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with God (Micah 6:8) whose boundless love is given by the Father, is revealed by Jesus His Son the Lord and Savior of the world, and made present by the Holy Spirit. 

At Sacred Heart Church, we strive to be a safe community that respects all God’s creation. We believe all people are made in the image of God. As the body of Christ, we feel called to participate in the Spirit-led work of building God’s kingdom and working to dismantle all forms of oppression as Jesus leads us. This work starts by looking inward with a heart of repentance and moves outward into the world empowered by the Holy Spirit.

We want to be a community where you can belong
before you believe. We welcome you no matter
where you are on your spiritual journey and invite
you to bring your questions, doubts, and
struggles before God.

We believe, with scores of fellow Christians,
the words of the Nicene Creed:

  • We believe in one God,     
    the Father, the Almighty,     
    maker of heaven and earth,     
    of all that is, seen and unseen.

    We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,     
    the only Son of God,     
    eternally begotten of the Father,     
    God from God, Light from Light,     
    true God from true God,     
    begotten, not made,     
    of one Being with the Father.     
    Through him all things were made.     
    For us and for our salvation         
    he came down from heaven:     
    by the power of the Holy Spirit        
    he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,         
    and was made man.     
    For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;         
    he suffered death and was buried.         
    On the third day he rose again             
    in accordance with the Scriptures;         
    he ascended into heaven             
    and is seated at the right hand of the Father.     
    He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,         
    and his kingdom will have no end.

    We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,     
    who proceeds from the Father and the Son.     
    With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified.     
    He has spoken through the Prophets.     
    We believe in one holy catholic* and apostolic Church.     
    We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.     
    We look for the resurrection of the dead,        
     and the life of the world to come.
    Amen.

    *The Christian Church of all times and all places

Shared Decision Making Process to Be Used in Congregational Meetings

Values Statement

In congregational meetings, we rely on the Holy Spirit to guide us as a group, to help us seek wisdom together, and to empower us to act in alignment with God’s purpose for our church community as we seek to follow Jesus together.

In congregational meetings, we bring humility by recognizing that we discern a path forward by listening to one another. When we are confused or uncertain, we intentionally slow down and ask questions rather than make assumptions. We strive to be curious rather than judgmental.

In congregational meetings, we help create a safe and honest environment by accepting and respecting different perspectives, opinions, lived experiences, needs and desires. We aspire to trust one another and presume that each person is doing the best they can. Still, we can anticipate that our ideas or our preferences may conflict with someone else’s, and we understand that people may feel hurt or unheard. When hurt occurs, we make space to name the hurt or misunderstanding in real time and to repair our relationships and reconcile. In this way, we learn to show mercy and love to all.


Community Agreements

As a community we agree to:

  • Be willing to listen carefully to whoever is speaking. 

  • Ask ourselves and others curious questions so as to gain clarity. 

  • Presume goodwill toward one another: we try on the perspective that every participant is moving from their current authentic self of that moment, doing the best they are able in the moment. 

  • Be mindful of our own defensiveness, openings, closings, receptivity levels, and/or resistances, and engage with established practices when we notice ourselves becoming upset.

  • Let go of the need to be an expert or “be right”. 

  • Share responsibility for the success of the session.

  • Accepting the deep diversity and life experiences among each of us.

  •  Meeting each other with the awareness or noticing of how we are seeing each other, and what we assume in that seeing. 

  • Letting go of the need to compete or be more or less “evolved” than another. 


Long Process* - to be used for issues requiring a high degree of discernment 

  1. Agenda Item Introduction - topic is introduced by the person/committee who has been working on the item.

  2. Clarifying Questions - the floor is open for any clarifying questions

  3. Circle Process

    1. Each person in the meeting is invited to share their thoughts/feelings on the topic with the option to pass followed by 5-10 seconds of silence between each person

    2. Try and refrain from directly responding to what others have shared at this time

    3. The point of this step in the process is to allow everyone’s voice to be heard in a way that allows us all to listen well. By knowing that everyone will be offered a turn we can listen attentively to the person speaking, rather than thinking about our response while someone is sharing.

    4. We will go around the circle two times before moving on to discussion 

  4. Open Discussion   

    1. After listening to each person who felt led to share in the previous step, the topic can be discussed with an emphasis on discerning together what God is calling us to. 

    2. Some form of “speaking stone/item” will be used to signify who has the floor

  5. Decision    

    1. If we have gotten to a point where we are near consensus (consensus minus two) a decision can be made.

    2. We can instead decide that more time is needed, that smaller groups (ad hoc committees) could be created to research an issue and prepare a proposal for the congregation to consider, etc.

Short Process* -  to be used for items not requiring a high degree of discernment

  1. Agenda Item Introduction - topic is introduced by the person/committee who has been working on the item.

  2. Clarifying Questions - the floor is open for any clarifying questions. 

  3. Decision    

    1. After clarifying questions have been asked the Long Process could be called for if necessary.

    2. If we have gotten to a point where we are near consensus (consensus minus two) a decision can be made.

    3. We can instead decide that more time is needed, that smaller groups (ad hoc committees) could be created to research an issue and prepare a proposal for the congregation to consider, etc.

*The facilitator will anticipate which process is most likely needed for a particular agenda item, but any congregant can call for the use of the long process following the clarifying questions stage of the short process if it seems that a higher degree of discernment is required.