There are hundreds of icecream flavours.   Visit any icecream shop and you have a whole raft of choices.   Will it be a scoop of Blue Heaven or Cookies & Cream?  Or would you go for a couple of scoops of Hokey Pokey?  It is hard to find here in Australia, but in Canadian my flavour of choice was Heavenly Hash.  Perhaps it was just the name.

What is the flavour of your church?  We have been discussing what strategic planning or setting direction looks like in the church.  How do you bridge the gap between the church you are today and what God wants your church to become?^₁  One of the things you will need to do if you engage in setting direction for your church is figuring out what makes your church or ministry distinctive from other churches down the road.  Oh, you will have many similarities, but there are things about the culture of your church that sets it apart from other churches.  When I refer to the flavour of your church I am really speaking about the biblical values that are at the core of your church.

Everyone holds values regarding many things in their life. You may have values related to your marriage, your kids, your finances, your recreational time, your doctrinal beliefs, etc.  If you were developing a list of values related to how you spend your recreational time, you might list things like relaxing, stress-free, or affordable.  When you look at the core biblical values of your church, you are considering how your church will do ministry together as you go about accomplishing your mission.

Although there are many values your church could list related to how they will do ministry together, you need to narrow the list down to the top five to ten most important values.  Select the core values that you feel most effectively describes the things that will guide the decisions, priorities and behaviors of your church as you carry out your mission. 

In Matthew 5:13-16 Jesus uses two word pictures to describe his mission and that of his followers:  "You are the salt of the earth" and "you are the light of the world".  These two word pictures describe the "what" of this mission.   The "how" is summarized in the eight values Jesus already listed in the preceding verses (vv. 3-12), the values that are the core of how Jesus and his followers would accomplish their mission.  These eight values are often referred to as "The Beatitudes" as each of the values are prefaced by the words "Blessed are...."  These core values included things like being "poor in spirit", "showing mercy", being "pure in heart".  These eight values describe the things that would guide the decisions, priorities, and behaviours of Jesus and his followers as they carried out their mission being salt and light in this world.

Knowing your Core Biblical Values (CBVs) will help you and your church know what it stands for and on what principles it will operate. As Lyle Schaller wrote: “The most important single element of any congregational culture is the value system.”  Before you figure out your mission and vision you need to nail down your CBVs.  Your mission tells you what you are all about and your vision shows you where you are going or heading into the future.   Your shared values will influence and determine what the mission and vision are.   For example, most churches would say they are all about about the Great Commission, reaching the lost for Christ.  But this does not mean that you are going to make and grow disciples.  If you as a church do not value evangelism or discipleship – then your church will have some other mission that aligns more closely with its values – whatever they may be.

To give clarity to your CBVs it is important also to develop descriptive statements that further explain what each value means or looks like in your church.  Also provide the key biblical references from which these values are derived.  Having descriptive statements can really help as an educational tool to consistently communicate how you intend your values to affect the way your church does its ministry.  

If you want to see an example of what CBVs might look like, check out the CBVs of the CRCA.   As a denomination we have identified five Biblical values that shape the culture of the CRCA.  The five core values are: (1) Contemporary Reformed, (2) Word Based, (3) Gospel Focused, (4) Local Church Empowering, and (5) Prayerful Urgency.  Alongside each of these values we have also added descriptive statements and Biblical references.   You can read more about our denominational values here.  

So before you nail down your mission and vision, clarify your CBVs.   Know the flavour of your church.

¹ Check out previous articles:  Setting Direction and The Starting Point