Values

As stated in an earlier post we are working on a Prospectus, which is pretty much a fancy way of saying “coming up with a plan.” One of the first things we’ve been instructed to do is understand our core values. In other words, what are our main beliefs or convictions that determine our behaviors? What is something we would die for? What carries us and gives us energy? We have been discovering these values by really reflecting on our lives- the ups and downs, patterns, strengths, weaknesses and everything in between. The idea is that once we start to understand our own core values we can then establish the core values for the church we will plant. Then we start asking questions like, “what is going to drive our church plant decision making (i.e.: how we spend our money, time and resources)? What issues will we put less emphasis on and what issues will we stand in front of the masses to defend?”

After much soul searching and tweeking, Lindsey and I have established what we believe are our core values and we would like to share them with you. We have been hesitant to post these because it opens us up to being criticized or disagreed with. Some of you might love them and some of you might hate them. We understand that and embrace the fact that not everyone including family members are going to like our core values. On a side note, I would like to encourage everyone to try and figure out what yours core values are. It was at first a really daunting task, but knowing our values definitely helps us to prioritize and be more intentional with our time, words, relationships, etc. Ok, without any further a due:

Our Core Values

Christ-Centered: We desire to make all of our decisions, motivations, and efforts centered in Christ.

One Church: We are only a small part of a global group of Christ-followers and we work alongside any church that is centered in Christ.

Faith Living: We strive to live not by the standards and securities of this world, but by the
standards and securities of Christ.

Christian Community: We encourage Christians to be in relationship with one another for worship, spiritual growth and accountability.

Serve All People: We make no distinction about who we serve and love.

Repeat: We plant churches that develop groups of believers locally, regionally, and globally.

Let me try to break these down for you. Number one is simple and strong- we do everything because, as Christians, we believe Christ should be the center of our lives. Lindsey and I use this language a lot in our own prayers. “Father, be the center of our finances. Be the center of our marriage. Be the center of our hopes and desires.” This is also the value where the Bible comes into play for us although it is not directly mentioned. We believe that the truths that the Bible reveals is what leads a person to a Christ-Centered life. No one can be Christ-Centered without interacting with the Bible. Now, when I mention Bible, I do not want you to think physical book. I want you to think of the biblical truths it contains. Why? Because there are thousands upon thousands of Christians around the world who do not have copies of the Bible. They might have several torn out pages or they might have none at all. BUT, someone has taken the time to share with them biblical truths and those truths are what are leading them to live for Christ in the midst of persecution and hardship.

The second value- One Church may be a different concept to some and a given to others. Coming out of the Baptist world, this has taken some time to get used to because Baptists often build churches that do their own thing and sadly compete with one another and begin to be inward focused and not outward focused. In order to make sure this does not happen to us we plan on partnering with any Christ-Centered church that wants to partner with us. One of the many things we love about Columbia Crossroads (CC) is that there are four other churches meeting and growing out of there buildings right now. These four other churches have no affiliation with CC except the fact that CC lets them use there building. CC is about the kingdom growth not the growth of their own individual church and they are willing to share and at times be inconvenienced to see kingdom growth. So for us the One Church value is big and we are willing to be inconvenienced or suffer for it.

So how will we define who is Christ-Centered church and who is not? With all the doctrinal disputes and styles how do you know? Simple, I have three tests: 1) Is Jesus the Son of God who came in flesh fully man and fully God and died on a cross and three days later rose from the dead? Will He return one day in the flesh? 2) Do they allow the Bible to have authority in the life of their church and individual members? 3) Are they on mission outside of their church walls? If the answer to all three is “yes,” then lets play ball. On all the other little things we can just agree to disagree. I couldn’t care less if you want to sprinkle infants or not, if the Lord’s Supper is more important than the sermon, if you read from a book of prayer every week or lift your hands and stare at screens. All I want to do is love Jesus and partner with anyone else who loves Jesus and wants to see His glory made known.

The third value- Faith Living. I must confess that I really dislike this one. You see, I’d really like to live on fast track to the American dream- have a nice full bank account, drive nice cars that run all the time and don’t have weird paint jobs, live in a nice neighborhood all safe and comfortable. There is only one problem with this. The bible shows us living in quite the opposite way. Jesus certainly did not live like that- safe and comfortable. So, instead of chasing the American dream we are going to chase faith in hopes that we spend our lives for Christ glory and live for the good of others not for the good of ourselves. This might mean that we turn down really good jobs that pay really well, but keep us from being able to serve Christ (which Lindsey has done twice now). This might mean that we move to a place we are not thrilled about or is dangerous because we are trying to be obedient to God. This might mean that we attempt to do things that would be considered humanly impossible because we know that with God, all things are possible. It will mean different things for everyone.

The fourth value- Christian Community. This might be the easiest or the most familiar of all of our values because most churches are already doing this one- or at least trying to. One aspect of Christian Community that I want to really touch on is accountability. We have to start holding each other accountable and I believe this only happens when true Christ followers come together and choose to share there lives with each other- small groups. Jesus did not go after the masses every Sunday. Instead, he choose to invest in a small group of men. Small groups that foster transparent relationships are where real Christian life happens.

The fifth value- Serve All People. We make no distinction about who we serve and love. We will be a church that serves and loves all different walks of life- we will not be selective. We cannot be selective. Christ was not selective. The gospel and the love of Christ is for all people. We will serve Muslims and fat people, small people, black people, undocumented workers, poor people, rich people, people who are gay, people out of prison, people who hate us, people who love us, people who want to blow us up, people with addictions and diseases, people who think Christians are stupid and weak- minded, people who love Jesus, people who want to build a mosque inches away from the twin towers site. WE WANT TO MAKE THIS CLEAR!! WE WILL DO OUR BEST TO SERVE AND LOVE ALL PEOPLE!!! We serve because we are converted. We do not serve to convert. So, if anyone comes to use needing something that we have to give or share, we will do our best to give it regardless of how they will respond. I believe that for too long the church has been overly focused on the outcome of service rather than on the service itself.

The sixth value- Repeat. Last but not least is the idea that this whole thing, this whole model of reaching the world, has to repeat itself. If someone cannot do it again then it is not worth doing in the first place. Hopefully, every three years we will be able to plant a new body of believers either in a new area or even within the same city. It’s not going to be about getting a huge crowd to come to one church on Sunday morning. It’s going to be about growing the kingdom of God and we believe that this will take multiple church sites and groups of believers.

So, these are our values and now with these values we are establishing our purpose, which we will be sharing with you next after some more thought and prayer. If you have made it all the way to the bottom, thanks so much for taking the time to read this and keep up with us. Feel free to leave a comment or send an email letting us know what you think.

-David (edited by Lindsey)