Core Values

This past Saturday the Core Value Task Force at Chain of Lakes completed its work. Since September this group has met off and on. The purpose of the group was to develop the Core Values of Chain of Lakes Church.

A Core Value is a principle, quality, belief, and/or attitude that is foundational to a community. A Core Value is not a goal, a strategy, a tactic, and is not reactionary. If done right a Core Value could last beyond our lifetime.

Our hope is that our Core Values will permeate every person and ministry in our congregation.

We have worked extraordinarily hard on these Core Values. We spent three and a half hours this past Saturday coming up with the explanations for our Core Values. The final wordsmithing was invigorating!

The Steering Committee of Chain of Lakes will review and most likely vote on these Core Values this coming Thursday. If a reader of this blog has a comment about these Core Values and the explanations for them, please share your thoughts in the comments section. Would you want to be part of a church who was committed to these Core Values? If you make a comment, we’ll take them seriously.

The following are the Core Values that our Task Force developed and an explanation for each Core Value.

Hospitality
We will go out of our way to welcome people as Jesus welcomed the, with an open heart and open arms.

God’s Church
In every decision we seek to discern God’s desire. No leader, person, or ministry is more important than what God wants.

Relevance
Jesus successfully communicated his message by using examples and symbols of first century culture. We will be open to using examples and symbols of our culture to communicate Jesus’ message.

Acceptance
We accept people without judgment, regardless of what has happened in a person’s life or where someone is on his or her faith journey.

Outward Focus
We will keep the needs of the broader world before us and won’t only focus on our own congregation’s needs.

Investing in Future Generations
Our priority is to create an atmosphere where children, youth, and young adults grow in faith.

Healthy Disagreement
When we disagree we will encourage discussion while valuing all opinions. We will speak truth in love, treat others respectfully & with dignity, and seek to remain in community.

Joyful Love
We are released to love each other with joy because of what God has done for us. We are a community who enjoys spending time together and supporting each others’ journey.