At the heart of every community is an assembly of values. Whether articulated or not our values guide and move us. They also give us a grid for evaluating our efforts. A bowling group’s core values may be camaraderie and cheap beer. In a mom’s group they may be support and parenting skills. We recognize that a community of Christ followers is not immune from having core values and it is not guaranteed that we will hold legitimate values of God’s Kingdom.  In our last several sessions together we have entered into discussions that recognize and seek to ensure that our focus and foundation will be deeply rooted in the story of God. In His story we discover the values that drive His Kingdom. Below is a brief examination of our core values; community, truth, incarnation, and worship.

In our first discussion we began with our core value of community. Scripture tells the story of God calling his people to live in community with one another. This means being vulnerable, sacrificial, and humble. At times the Holy Spirit will lead us to be Christ to someone else. Other times we are called to receive Jesus’ love to us through others. This includes encouraging one another and suffering with one another. It also means calling out idolatry and confessing sin. It is a complex mess, but when done with a worshipping heart it is a beautiful mess.

Our next conversation was on our core value of truth. Our Triune God is the ultimate picture of truth. He has revealed himself in His creation, His Son, and His scripture. We seek to let these be the bedrock of our lives. Our desire is to let God’s truth inform everything from how we gather to how we are sent. We understand that it is God’s truth that gives us hope, gives us our identity, encourages us, rebukes us, and ultimately saves us.

Our third value is incarnation. We recognize that our God is not a passive God. He is a passionate pursuer of His people and He is always at work reconciling and redeeming. The most vivid picture of this work is His incarnation; the birth of Jesus. It is here where we see Jesus empty Himself of His glory, die for creation, and ultimately find victory in the resurrection! This is where God pursued humanity by literally moving into the neighborhood showing his mercy and compassion. Jesus was clear that His church is His bride. It is His representative here on earth. So it is in the value of Incarnation that we seek to be Christ to our community. We will love Salt Lake City. We will serve it, administer to it, woo it, and suffer for it. This value is not about us or our agenda. It is about joining God in His.

Finally we meditated on and talked through our core value of Worship. We recognize that we are beings who are created to worship. Our lives are lives of worship whether we believe it or not. Worship is simply our response. We all live our lives responding to something. It is our hope that God will create in us a passionate, unadulterated, worship of Him. We recognize that if worship is void from anything we engage in it is idolatry.  It is not a call to glorify ourself rather it is a call to glorify the one true God.

As a community we believe that our core values are not just “good ideas” or “attractive phrases.” We believe these core values embody what God has called his people to be. Truly embodied, these values tell the story of the Triune God.  We in no way claim or believe that we are capable of living these out apart from the God who authored them.  It is only Him who we will rely on to hold these in tension and live them out in Salt Lake City.