Core Values

As I have worked with congregations in the call process over the past few years, I have been struck by how many congregations seem to be looking for the same thing – a pastor who will help them grow. Call committees and Congregation Councils tell me that they want to do a better job of doing outreach to the unchurched and to their own inactive members. Everyone is concerned about the aging of our membership, the loss of a generation of young people – the singles and the married couples with small children – and the difficulty of keeping our teens involved after confirmation.

Our congregations have spent hours and hours working on mission statements, mission strategies and missional techniques for making Christ known in our communities but with limited results. And why is this the case? I would like to suggest that it may have something to do with our core values as individuals and as congregations.

A core value is that guiding principle which describes what is important to us. Core values define us and describe what we stand for as individuals and congregations. They also help us decide for or against an action or change.

When congregations agree on core values, decisions come easy – an issue is either congruent with our core values so we do it, or it is not and so we don't do it. Without clearly defined values, it is difficult to make good decisions or to comment on behavior. Core values are those guiding principles which therefore also motivate our mission. Lying behind our activity or inactivity as a congregation lie what we really believe about mission and outreach, what we really value...

In other words, our mission statements won't bear fruit if they are not congruent with our core values. I believe that a part of the reason why our efforts at outreach and mission seem unsuccessful may be because while we think we want to or ought to grow as a congregation, there is a part of each of us that likes our congregation the size it is, or the "family" it is, or the way it is. On the other hand, those congregations that seem to "take off" apparently do so because among their true core values is a burning desire to bring people into the kingdom of God and so they cannot be silenced.

So where do we get these core values that make mission happen? We already have them. Everyone has core values. But to have the ones that Jesus sets before us we have to hear and experience God's grace and see things through the eyes of Christ dwelling in us and this begins at our baptisms. It then continues through God's speaking to us through the Word, through life changing experiences God sends our way, through meeting Christ in people who are different from us, through work trips and mission visits overseas, through sharing faith stories and hearing the stories of others and through listening for God in prayer that leads us to repentance. In these and other ways, Christ Jesus plants his core values in us and empowers us to live them out in our corner of the world.

So what are your personal core values for living your life? What are your congregation's guiding principles? How might you strategize to make room for Christ Jesus to give us those core values that will enable your congregation to want to share the Gospel with those all around us who are dying for some Good News for their lives?