~ Core Values ~
Those things that we hold up as most important in our life and ministry.
In all that we do we seek to...Welcome, Listen, Commune, Empower and
Develop.
Welcome:
To recognize and receive God in all creation. The call to welcome is the
ministry of hospitality, which is more than just the expression of love for a
guest. True hospitality encompasses stewardship of all that is God’s,
recognizing everything in creation is a medium through which God speaks.
Receiving God in all things is to say to the friend and the stranger, “Come
right in and disturb our perfect lives. You are the Christ for us today.” To
welcome is to live the Greatest Commandment to its fullest as we seek to love
God as expressed in all of creation and love our neighbor as ourselves.
Listen:
To be with, to perceive, and to pray. Spiritual life is achieved by
listening to God in all of life and learning to respond to each of its
dimensions wholly and with integrity. This is no easy task, but God’s call is
for us to “be still” and listen with an open heart (Psalm 46.10). Jesus
gives us the example to which we should strive. Jesus’ life, centered in
stillness, allowed him to live in stereo by being in connection with God and
attuned with the Spirit at every level of his daily life.
Commune:
To celebrate the gift of relationship. Communing is sharing in fellowship
with God, both individually and corporately. In the words of the apostle Paul,
we “are no longer strangers and aliens, but citizens with the saints…built
together spiritually into a dwelling place for God” (Ephesians 2.19-22).
Community is formed as we hear the Word of God in and through the lives of
people. As Deitrich Boenhoeffer has explained, I need the Christ that is in you
and you need the Christ that is in me. The great mystery of the church is that
it embraces all people, whatever our differences may be, and allows us to live
together as the family of God.
Empower:
To prepare the way for God’s recreating grace. Throughout the Bible and
history, God has empowered people for ministry. One by one God called the men
and women of the Old Testament to lead Israel into righteousness and freedom.
Through forgiveness and reconciliation, Jesus empowered countless people,
especially the disciples, to live new life in the fullness of Christ. And since
Pentecost, the Spirit has been equipping the saints to prepare the way of the
Lord. God’s greatest gift is that as the Word becomes alive in us, it
transforms our entire being, which is God’s recreating grace at work. It
enables and commissions us to become the living Christ in the world today.
Develop: To cultivate and unfold the fullness of God’s
mission. “For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for
your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope…When you search
for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart” (Jeremiah
29:11,13). As we earnestly cultivate our faith through welcoming, listening, and
communing, God through the empowering work of the Spirit, unfolds the fullness
of the Great Commission in our lives and in the world.
Jim Lewis - The Rhythm of the Soul
Copyright ©2001