Angie Ward on Clues to Hidden Core Values

"9 Clues to Secret Core Values: More on discerning your church's hidden agenda" by Angie Ward, (Leadership Journal, February 28, 2005)

Thanks, and wow. Thank you to everyone who responded to my
previous column about hidden core values. Thanks for sharing your insights and
questions. It was a privilege to read about your stories and your struggles, and
I hope what follows will be of help on your leadership journey.

First, a quick review: Most churches these days have some sort
of mission or purpose statement. All churches, however, also have their own
internal culture, a set of shared attitudes, values, and beliefs that define
church and shape its practices. This deeply entrenched culture can be summarized
into an "ethos" statement which is almost never officially articulated, but is
nonetheless extremely powerful. Here are some (more) examples:

Continue reading “Angie Ward on Clues to Hidden Core Values” →

Bedrock Beliefs – Basic Affirmations

Circle the words in the following documents that state what you rely on in your faith when your back is against the wall.

THE NICENE CREED (The United Methodist Hymnal, #880)

We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father; through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became truly human. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets.

We believe in the one holy catholic and apostolic church.

We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

THE APOSTLES' CREED (Traditional Version, The United Methodist Hymnal, #881)

I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth;

And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord: who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; the third day he arose from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

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Core Values Tentative Report

Thanks to all who attended the Core Values Workshop (just over 60 attended the session). The following were the word fields that we began to consense around at the close of our time together. This is a work in progress and we will want to clarify and narrow our sense of each group of words.

Loving Church Family
Teaching
Fellowship
Singing
Worship
Trying New Things
Caring for Others
Caring for God
Valuing Others
Faith
Passion
Humility
Reaching Out
Discipleship
Learning
Using Our Gifts
Tolerance
Love
Replenishment

To derive this short list we asked persons to consider answering the following questions using a shortened list of 33 value words from Tom Bandy's Vision Discernment Workbook (a shortened form of Moving Off the Map).

Value Words: productivity, strength, trying new things, using one's gifts, singing, teaching, thinking, worship, passion, reaching out, purpose-driven, purposefulness, tolerance, sensitivity, morality, valuing others, fellowship, harmony, loving church family, generous, replenishment, hope, faith, loved by God, caring for God, humility, caring for people, God's grace, love, peace, futuring, leading.

What have you always found of value in the church?
What do you personally admire most about any church?
What do you love to do the most when attending church?
What legacy do you want to leave your children and grandchildren?
What do you most want to be remembered for at church?
What value would you state would be found when PUMC reaches God's promised land?

Core Values – Group Answers

The following are summaries of group answers to the following questions:

What have you always found of value in the church? caring for others (4), caring for people, faith (3), fellowship (9), fellowship/worship with other believers, God's grace (4), hope, love (2), loving church family (4), passion for teaching, replenishment (2), singing, teaching (2), worship (6), worship leading to accepting God's grace, using one's gifts, valuing others.
What do you personally admire most about any church? caring for God (2), caring for others, caring for people (4), faith (2), faith/passion, fellowship (2), following God's will, generous, hope (2), love, loving church family (4), mission, morality, reaching out (5), sharing God's grace (2), singing, teaching (2), teaching God's word, tolerance, trying new things, using one's gifts, worship (2).
What do you love to do the most when attending church? caring for God, fellowship (6), learning (3), learning about God, listening to music, preaching, reaching out, replenishment (5), singing (7), thinking (5), using one's gifts, valuing others, worship (5), worship/singing.
What legacy do you want to leave your children and grandchildren? caring for God (7), caring for people (5), faith (5), God's grace, humility (6), know they are loved by God (2), knowledge and love of God, morality (2), passion, purposefulness (2), peace, sensitivity, strength (2), tolerance (2), tolerance/ valuing others, valuing others (2).
What do you most want to be remembered for at church? caring, caring for God (4), caring for others, caring for people (5), faith (2), faithfulness, fellowship, generous (2), harmony, humility (2), love (2), morality, purpose-driven (2), reaching out to others (5), tolerance/harmony/sensitivity, using one's gifts (4), valuing others (5).
What value would you state would be found when PUMC reaches God's Promised Land? caring for God, caring for God's people, caring for others (2), caring for people, faith (2), God's grace (3), God's glory, grace, love, loved by God (2), loving church family (5), passion peace (3), purpose-driven (3), purposefulness (2), reaching out (2), tolerance, valuing others, using one's gifts.

Overall the following core values were lifted up.

Alphabetical order: caring, caring for God (15), caring for God's people, caring for others (8), caring for people (16), faith (13), faith/passion, faithfulness, fellowship (18), fellowship/worship with other believers, following God's will, generous (3), God's glory, God's grace (8), grace, harmony, hope (2), humility (8), know they are loved by God (4), knowledge and love of God, learning (3), learning about God, listening to music, love (6), loving church family (13), mission, morality (4), passion (2), passion for teaching, peace (4), purpose-driven (5), purposefulness (4), reaching out (8), reaching out to others (5), replenishment (7), sensitivity, sharing God's grace (2), singing (9), strength (2), teaching (5), teaching God's word, thinking (5), tolerance (4), tolerance/valuing others, tolerance/harmony/sensitivity, trying new things, worship (8), worship leading to accepting God's grace, using one's gifts (8), valuing others (10), worship (5), worship/singing.

Incidence of Recurrence Order: fellowship (18), caring for people (16), caring for God (15), faith
(13), loving church family (13),
valuing others
(10), singing (9), caring for others (8), God's grace (8), humility (8), reaching out (8), worship (8), using one's gifts (8), replenishment (7), love (6), purpose-driven (5), reaching out
to others (5), teaching (5), thinking
(5), worship (5), know they are
loved by God (4), morality (4), peace (4),
purposefulness (4), tolerance (4), generous (3), learning (3), hope (2), passion (2), sharing God's grace (2),
strength (2), caring, caring
for God's people, faith/passion, faithfulness, fellowship/worship
with other believers, following God's will, God's glory,
grace, harmony, knowledge and love of God, learning
about God, listening to music, mission, passion for teaching, sensitivity, teaching God's word, tolerance/valuing others,
tolerance/harmony/sensitivity, trying new things, worship
leading to accepting God's grace, worship/singing.

The work of the visioning team will be to begin forming word groupings and seek clarity on ambiguous terms. We will then carry those to various formal and informal groups for reflection and interpretation.

Continue reading “Core Values – Group Answers” →

Core Values – Individual Answers

The following are summaries of individual answers to the following questions:

What have you always found of value in the church?
What do you personally admire most about any church?
What do you love to do the most when attending church?
What legacy do you want to leave your children and grandchildren?
What do you most want to be remembered for at church?
What value would you state would be found when PUMC reaches God's promised land?

Gordon MacDonald on Resilent Living

A Resilient Life February 22, 2004 – by Gordon MacDonald

The
event is engraved upon my soul much like words carved into marble face
of a monument. I have described it often because it shaped the way I
look at life.

I was standing at the starting line-the leadoff runner-in a mile relay championship race at the world-renown Penn Relays in Philadelphia. Our team had drawn the second lane. The first lane was occupied by a
runner who, a few weeks before, had broken the American record in the
100 meter dash. He was fast..and he was cocky.

"May the best man win," he said as he hammered his starting blocks
into the cinder surface of the track. "I'll be waiting for you at the
finish line."

It was trash talk, 1950's style. And it was intimidating to a skinny
15 year old who was competing in a large stadium with thousands of
people for the first time.

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John Townsend on Relationships (1 of 3)

Secrets of Great Relationships February 22, 2004 – by Dr. John Townsend

Welcome
to our series on GREAT RELATIONSHIPS and how you can have them! We all
desire the good things a thriving, healthy relationship provides-things
like love, tenderness, intimacy, companionship, security, protection,
help and more. God wants you to have all these things, and He provides
a way for you to experience these good things: through connection. God
created you for connection, both with Himself and other people, and He
has designed ways to help you grow into the relationships you need and
long for. We are excited about your own prospects to create great
relationships, whether you want to improve a struggling one, or make a
good one great.

In this first article of three, we wanted to start with the foundation and beginning of any great relationship. That foundation is grace. This
is a word that you often hear describing our spiritual relationship
with God, and that is the origin of it. Grace is, briefly defined, unmerited favor,
and is the basis of how God relates to us, by favoring us through love
and not through performance: "For it is by grace you have been saved,
through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God (Eph.
2:8)." It is favors that God provides to us that we could never provide
for ourselves.

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Zan Holmes on “Do We Look Like Our Picture?”

On Sunday February 20, 2005 the Sanford District of The United Methodist Church welcomed Dr. Zan Holmes to its Lay Rally. He offered some challenging words around the question: “Do We Look Like Our Picture?” He recalled a moment in his life when he almost missed a ride at a strange airport because he “did not look like his picture.” Let’s center on to several verses from the book of Acts:

After his suffering Jesus presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God; While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. "This," he said, "is what you have heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy
Spirit not many days from now" (Acts 1:3-5, NRSV, also see Acts 2:1-12).

What does the picture of the early church look like?

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Rick Warren on Growth

Explosive growth: Unleash the creativity of your congregation by Rick Warren

Napoleon
once pointed to a map of China and said, "There lies a sleeping giant.
If it ever wakes up, it will be unstoppable." Today the American church
is a sleeping giant. Each Sunday, church pews are filled with members
who are doing nothing with their faith except "keeping" it.

The designation "active" member in most churches simply means those who attend regularly and financially support
the church. Not much more is expected. But God has far greater
expectations for every Christian. He expects every Christian to use
their gifts and talents in ministry. If we can ever awaken and unleash
the massive talent, resources, creativity and energy found in the
typical local church, Christianity will explode with growth at an
unprecedented rate.

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Roy Oswalt on Church and Ministry Expectations

Link: Congregational Resource Guide Article: How to Minister Effectively.

The Alban Institute has been helping churches learn how to deal with transitions for a long time. In the article listed below, Roy Oswalt, an Alban Institute consultant, outlines the corporate dynamics of four types of churches based on their worship attendance. The first, the family church, averages less than 50 persons per week in worship and their ministries are centered around the matriarch/patriarch of this small faith community. The pastoral church, which averages 50-150 persons in attendance centers its ministry around the pastor who navigates among the several matriarchs and patriarchs of that church. The next size church finds ministry based on the programs that nurture the 150-350 persons in worship each week. Finally, the corporate sized church returns to a central figure around which ministry extends … this time the figure is often the pastor (for good or bad!). Pinehurst UMC average between 100 to 150 persons in worship until just before moving into our new building in June of 2002. Since then our worship is in the 300-320 range and we stand poised to make another leap. Before we leap we need to gather ourselves and understand a little bit more about who we are. Read on …

"How to Minister Effectively in Family, Pastoral, Program, and Corporate Sized Churches," by Roy M. Oswald, Senior Consultant, The Alban Institute from Action Information, Volume XVII, Number 2, March/April 1991, pages 1–7 and Volume XVII, Number 3, May/June 1991, pages 5–7.

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