I was pondering a post about the core values discussion that I participated in this morning at our church, but then I started to second guessed myself. I always hesitate to write stuff about my own church. It's usually out of fear that someone will misconstrue what I say/write and it'll come back to bite me in the rear. (That couldn't possibly happen though, right?)
I also have a personal struggle with feelings of inadequacies...but that's for another post.
With that being said, I'm trying to process what the core values in a church should look like. My own personal feeling is that core values should be seen and known by every person (whether they know Jesus or not) that enters the presence of a particular church community. For that reason I feel core values need to be free of the Christian-ese lingo. They need to be simple and to the point. But they need to be tangible.
The few that have raced through my brains were these:
- Scripture - We teach it. We study it. We live it.
- People - Every person has value and worth, regardless of their economic, spiritual, ethnic, social or physical condition.
- Authenticity - We're all a mess, so let's get real about it. Let's admit our faults, mistakes and short-comings; let's forgive; let's accept and love each other as we are...and then repeat daily.
- Relevance - We speak the language of our community so they have a hope of understanding what we're saying.
4 comments:
That's about the best statement of faith I've read lately--clear, concise, and readable.
There is nothing better than clarity. Most the time core values are understandable for the well educated Christians who know the lingo. I LOVE your thoughts on this subject. The only phrase that I would work on is the "we're all messed up". I'm wondering if theres a better word or phrase to replace it? There might not be? I'm going to let this sink in a little bit - good job. Your thinking like a church planter??? What's the deal?
Brad...I can think of a couple phrases to use instead of "messed up". ;)
But what I was going for in "we're all a mess" is the acknowledgment that known of us is perfect. We all have flaws, blemishes and imperfections, so we need to stop pretending like we somehow have it all together.
So you struggle with feelings of personal inadequacy too eh? Maybe you should join my club . . . never mind it's probably a pretty crappy club anyway.
Seriously though, I think what you've got a great start there. Generally when I think of core values, I point to something like the Apostles Creed. I don't think there's too much you can argue in there and it's tough to deny much in there and still stay you're christian. I'm a fan of your core values idea, it kind of reminds me of Rob Bell's trampoline allusion in Velvet Elvis.
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