Our CORE Values
Our VALUES describe for us the kind of church in which we want to "live and move and have our being."
| CHRIST-CENTERED: Jesus will be at
the center of our lives so that all we do and say will look and sound
like what Jesus would do and say. In doing this we echo the writer of
Hebrews, who said (in Hebrews 12:2) that we look to Jesus who is the "pioneer and perfecter of our faith." Jesus
let us know what is at stake here. If we are not centered on him, if we
are not connected to him, then we can do absolutely nothing. "I am
the vine, you are the branches. When you are joined with me and I with
you...the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can't produce
a thing." John 15:5-6 (The Message)
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| GRACE-FILLED: "Grace" is the way
that God does things. Grace forgives, even when there is no apology.
Grace gives, even when there is no gratitude. Since that is the way God
loves us, it is the way we want to love God and others. |
| BIBLE-BASED: "For everything
that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through
endurance and the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope." Romans 15:4
If
we are to be Christ Centered, living a Grace Filled life then the first
and highest authority for us is the Bible. The scriptures exist to
TEACH, ENCOURAGE and OFFER HOPE to all, therefore we should seek to
humbly live under its authority. Our belief in the Bible is
encapsulated in the following quote from the Southern Baptist
Convention's Baptist Faith and Message (1963):
The Holy Bible was
written by men divinely inspired and is the record of God?s revelation
of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It
has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any
mixture of error, for its matter. It reveals the principles by which
God judges us; and therefore is, and will remain to the end of the
world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by
which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be
tried. The criterion by which the Bible is to be interpreted is Jesus
Christ.
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| MISSION-MINDED: Study the ministry
of Jesus. When you read about him in the pages of the New Testament,
one of the things you will notice is that Jesus went to where the
people were. He went out to the villages, sat on hillsides, ate in the
homes of common people, and walked the dusty highways of that day with
his friends and followers. Christ lived a missional live and he calls
us to live similarly: "But you will receive power when the Holy
Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in
all judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:8 |
Our COMPARATIVE Values
PRAYER is more important than strategies.
PEOPLE are more important than things, programs, or policies.
PARTNERS are better than "Lone Rangers."