Core Values
Our First Core Value: Jesus Christ
I realize that it may seem odd to say that Jesus Christ is a core value. After all Jesus was both an historical figure and is, at the heart of our faith, the risen and reigning Lord. It might appear to be more appropriate to say that faith in Jesus, or following Jesus is a core value. However, in the end it is the person of Jesus Christ; his preexistence, birth, life, death, resurrection, reign and return that are at the heart of who we are. To limit our core value to faith in or following of Jesus limits how Jesus’ existence can impact our life together.
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Our Second Core Value: Reaching Out
The football teams come out onto the field. They huddle up. The clock begins to tick but nothing happens. They remain in their huddles. Mercifully the first quarter ends and the teams switch ends of the field but still they remain in their huddles. Not long thereafter halftime arrives, then the end of the third quarter and finally the whistle blows ending the game. At long last the players emerge from their huddles, congratulate each other on a great game and go home. If we had been sitting in the stands watching this event we would not have called it much of a game…which was the point being made by Harvey Carey the pastor of Detroit’s Citadel of Faith Covenant Church (http://citadeloffaith.org/) at last week’s Willow Creek Leadership Summit (http://www.willowcreek.com/events/leadership/2009/index.asp). Pastor Carey used the illustration of describe many churches whose entire life is focused inside the Sunday huddle and who never venture out to impact the world.
The second core value which we as First Presbyterian Church proclaim is that we commit to break the huddle and get into the messy game of life by “reaching out.” Both our Mission and Focus statements remind us that we are to be not only an outward looking community but that we are to be an outward reaching people.
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Our Third Core Value: Welcoming
In both our Focus and Inclusion policy statements we make clear our belief that everyone is welcome in the midst of our family of faith. Our statements put it this way (Inclusion statement): “We welcome the participation of all people regardless of race, ethnic origin, worldly condition, or any other circumstance not related to profession of faith (see our First Core Value).” Our Focus statement makes a point to expand on this idea by mentioning those individuals with special needs. We believe that this emphasis on welcome is at the heart of being followers of Christ.
Read more here
Our Fourth Core Value: Celebrating
Celebration is our fourth core value. Though we do not use this exact word in any of our statements it sums up the essence of two of our most important activities, worship and music. Our statements put it this way: “We respond to God in Christ…through ministries of worship.” And “We believe Christ called us to reach out…by leading in creative ministries of…music.”
Read more here.
Our Fifth Core Value: Connecting
Connecting is our fifth core value. In all three of our statements we use language that points us to connectedness. We speak of being “community” and a “congregation.” We also write about the benefit of “participation”. While connecting may appear the easiest of our core values to live out, I believe it is in reality the most difficult.
Read more here.
Our Sixth Core Value: Growing
The sixth of our core values is that of growth; through deepening our knowledge and love of God. In both our mission and focus statements we speak of education as a key element in our life together. We also state that we live the will of God. The two of these are inseparable. We cannot fully live the will of God unless we are continually growing through learning and then practicing what we learn.
Read more here.
Our Seventh Core Value: Serving
Our seventh and final core value is serving. Both our Mission statement and our Focus statements speak of us having ministries of service and of our being mission oriented. They are a reminder that First Church has a long history of being involved in serving the community and world around us.
Serving is also a reminder that the scriptures, from beginning to end, call upon us to serve others. The Torah, the Law of Moses, makes it clear that we are to serve the hungry, the widow, the orphan and the stranger. Jesus tells us that he came to be a servant and not to serve, and his followers are to follow His example of service to others.
Read more here.
In both our Focus and Inclusion policy statements we make clear our belief that everyone is welcome in the midst of our family of faith. Our statements put it this way:
Inclusion statement: “We welcome the participation of all people regardless of race, ethnic origin, worldly condition, or any other circumstance not related to profession of faith (see our First Core Value).” Our Focus statement makes a point to expand on this idea by mentioning those individuals with special needs. We believe that this emphasis on welcome is at the heart of being followers of Christ.
Throughout Jesus’ ministry the twelve disciples were constantly trying to decide who was in (themselves) and who was out (women, children and foreigners, to name a few). In the minds of the disciples this practice of exclusion made sense. Their identity as Jews, as God’s people, was under attack from the onslaught of the Greco-Roman culture. Without some boundaries they would be assimilated into a culture which would bring an end, or so they thought, to their faith. By maintaining clear boundaries of who was in (holy, acceptable) and who was not (unclean, unacceptable) they believed they were protecting their God and their faith.
Jesus however had other ideas. Jesus’ vision was one of God’s kingdom that was large and not small; growing and not retreating; welcoming and not rejecting. God’s kingdom did not need walls to keep people out; it needed a welcoming community to invite people in because by so doing God’s kingdom would assimilate the world, rather than be assimilated by it. We see this in Jesus’ welcoming children, speaking with foreigners (Samaritans and Greeks), healing the unclean, eating with sinners and tax collectors, and in the conversation with the woman at the well, doing all of the above. Jesus’ teachings and actions demonstrated a welcome that was unheard of during his lifetime.
The early church took this welcoming vision to heart and grew rapidly because of it. The church welcomed Jews and Gentiles, men and women, young and old, slave and free, Romans and pagans. Each person was intentionally welcomed into the community as a brother or sister with no distinctions for wealth or rank…and when such distinctions were made (see the Book of James) the leaders of the church upbraided those who treated persons differently or excluded some based on worldly condition or position. People flocked to the church because in the welcome of Christ they found out that they were valued and loved by God.
The PCUSA Book of Order puts it this way:
“The church is called…to a new openness to its own membership, by affirming itself as a community of diversity, becoming in fact as well as in faith a community of women and men of all ages, races, and conditions, and by providing for inclusiveness as a visible sign of the new humanity.” (G-3.0401.b)
The challenge for us at First Presbyterian is to continue to make welcome more than a vision. We have made an excellent beginning, now we need to continue to explore God’s calling to open our doors and our hearts to all.
