Many years ago, I attended a Franklin Covey seminar on "Focus". It was about developing a Life Mission Statement as well as a set of Core Values being identified. After 3 days of prayerful thinking and narrowing down, my Life Mission Statement became "To live for an Audience of One."
To this very day that simple Life Mission Statement is what affects almost every decision I make.
Beyond that, I distilled a set of 6 Core Values that would further define HOW I would live out my life, from parenting, to being a spouse, to pastoring, to friends. I can say that by and large I have lived authentic to my self, whether in success or failure, to the best of my ability.
Without a set of Core Values, we drift aimlessly through life. On the other hand, with a strong set of Core Values deeply ingrained in our hearts, we live out our lives by these governing principles that are essential to us. We know better who we are at our core. Likewise others know us better as they know what we are about, the things we value.
Over the past few months, I have been doing the work of distilling what the heart and DNA of The Bridge Church will be like, our Core Values. These are different than our Statement of Faith or Vision Statement, which describe what we believe and what we see. Our Core Value Statement are rather about how we will LIVE OUT our beliefs, the governing principles that will control our behaviour and ministry decisions at The Bridge.
It is what people will FEEL when they get to know us and our fellow Life.Church movement of churches. It describes the 'air' of our church, our DNA. You could call it our "spiritual fingerprints"!
The 6 Core Values of The Bridge:
1. We are....... B old, faith-filled, bet the farm risk takers. We will never insult God with small thinking and safe living.
2. We are....... R adically outward-focused. We will do anything short of sin to reach people who don’t know Christ.
3. We are....... I rrationally generous. We truly believe it is more blessed to give than to receive.
4. We are....... D edicated spiritual contributors rather than consumers. The church does not exist for us. We are the church and we exist for the world.
5. We are...... G lobally minded, dedicated to the Capital C church around the world. We believe that the local church is the hope of the world and we know we can accomplish infinitely more together than apart.
6. We are....... E xcellent in all we do. We believe that excellence honors God and inspires people. We only do what we can do well.
There you have it! Each of these 6 Core Values will be deeply ingrained into our Core Launch Team as to what it means to our future as a church. Each decision will be weighed by these as well. It will likewise serve as a filter for those who come to us as to if The Bridge is or isn't for them personally.
Going over these again, one thing is for sure: WE ARE GOING TO LIVE OUT LOUD!!!
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Bobby Lepinay
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