VALUES ARE THE GUARDRAILS

The most recent adaptation of the lore created by J.R.R. Tolkien is a television series called Rings of Power. In the series, there is a wandering band of creatures who predate the Hobbits of Middle Earth. They are the Harfoots. They are a nomadic tribe who live in one area for a time, and then pack up and move to another. 

I found myself on a hike chanting the call and response I heard the Harfoots say over and over again during their long marches. The leader shouts, "Nobody goes off trail!" The group responds, "Nobody walks alone!"

Nobody goes off trail!
Nobody walks alone!

In a previous blog, I wrote about our church's Mission, Vision, and Values statement. I described the Vision as what we see on the far horizon as our intended destination. The Mission is the path we walk to get there. But like the Harfoots, how do we ensure that nobody goes off trail? Values are the guardrails that keep us on the path.

To glorify God by Word, Welcome, and Witness from Roseville, California to the world is the path we walk. It's our Mission. I've talked about the biblical basis for this. Let me say a little more about each of those three words that make up the path and then introduce our guardrails.

Glorifying God by Word means not just any word, but by the Bible, God's Word. We developed this idea by saying we are Bible-focused, historically rooted, and Christ-exalting. A church, as a community of people, can put many things at the center. We choose to put the Bible at the center. Of course, so do many other churches. It is not unique.

We further define this Bible focus as historically rooted and Christ-exalting. Many cults are Bible-focused. They aren't groups that glorify God, though. We have an historically rooted Bible focus that reaches all the way back to the apostles and prophets and the early church of the New Testament. We trace that line through the history of the church right up to the present day. 

But how do we know if we are tracing the right lineage? Jesus Christ is the King and head of the church. A church that exalts him, as he is revealed to us in his Word, is on the path to glorify God.

Word - Bible-focused, Historically rooted, Christ-exalting

The next word is Welcome. A welcome is something that is extended. It is held out freely. It is not an invitation attached to a sales pitch for our organization. Many churches invite, but they do so from the standpoint of a salesman, using invitational tactics. Instead, our church extends its welcome from the stance of an ambassador. We are ambassadors of Christ. We extend our welcome as if Christ were making his plea through us - be reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:20). It is a warm invitation, not a pitch. It goes to people across generations, from children to adults. It goes to those who already walk with Christ and to those who are walking apart from him. We glorify God by welcoming others.

Welcome - extending a warm invitation to every generation and background

The third word is Witness. The clearest and earliest example of the church on mission is in the book of Acts, which begins and ends with the phrase "proclaiming the kingdom of God." Everything between those bookends exemplifies that proclamation. 

God calls his people to bear witness to his work of creation and redemption. So we, too, proclaim the kingdom of God in all its fullness. This is more than being knowledgeable about theology and more than being people who can win at Bible trivia games. To witness is to turn head knowledge about God into heart knowledge of God, a relationship of love that grows deeper in every person through the teaching and service that we do every day. We glorify God by bearing witness about him.

Witness - proclaiming the kingdom of God, turning head knowledge into heart knowledge through teaching and service

The mission is the path we walk as a church. Nobody walks alone. It's easy to see from these definitions that church is a team sport. But what about the idea mentioned earlier? Nobody goes off trail!

Values keep us on trail. Values are the guardrails of our mission.
We identified six. We illustrated them with particular verses from Scripture.

The Bible. We are serious about the Bible. Scripture is sufficient, clear, authoritative, and necessary for knowing God and making him known to others. (Psalm 119:105, 130; Romans 10:17; 2 Timothy 3:15-17)

Love. We love others through actions and service, inside and outside our doors, locally and globally. We seek to be genuine (authentic) people, learning, growing, and living lives of faith together in community. (John 13:34-35; Romans 12:9-10; 1 John 4:19)

Boldness. We hold firmly to our faith and live it out courageously. (Joshua 1:9; Psalm 23:4; Proverbs 28:1; Luke 12:4-7; Romans 1:16; 1 Corinthians 16:13-14; 2 Corinthians 12:9; Philippians 4:6; 2 Timothy 1:7)

Humility. We view ourselves with sober self-assessment - created in God’s image, enslaved by sin’s deceitfulness, set free by Jesus Christ, walking in new life by faith - empowered to serve and love others with a “blessed self-forgetfulness.” (1 Corinthians 4:3-4; Philippians 2:1-4; 2 Timothy 4:5; 1 Peter 5:6)

Hospitality. We strive to welcome everyone (person to person and face to face) with warmth and compassion, regardless of their background or whatever they bring with them. We respect questions and the people who ask them. (Leviticus 19:33-34, Matthew 7:7-8, Matthew 25:37-40, Hebrews 13:2)

Historic Faith. We didn’t invent Christianity, but we are connected to what has been passed down from the beginning. As a particular local church, we are rooted in the Reformed and Presbyterian tradition. (Romans 1:16-17; 1 Corinthians 11:23; Ephesians 2:8-9; 2 Timothy 2:2; Jude 3)

How do these values act as guardrails? Think of them in pairs. One on one side of the road and the next on the other. Each pair works with one of our theme words.

The Bible and Love are Word values. We might become so serious about the Bible that we make the mistake of the Pharisees of old and leave out the love of God. Or we might have a wrong-headed view of love that comes unmoored from the Bible. Together, these guardrails keep us on the path to glorifying God by the Word.

Boldness and Humility are Witness values. God's people are called to proclaim the kingdom boldly to the world. However, that is never outside of a deep humility that acknowledges our own citizenship in God's kingdom as a gift of free grace. Even the faith by which we believe was a gift applied to us by the Holy Spirit. We must be both bold and humble in order to glorify God by our Witness.

Hospitality and Historic Faith are Welcome values that go together. At first they may seem contradictory, but many churches welcome people to the family of God yet never thoughtfully explain their particular family tree. How is our local church connected to the larger church across the world and across time? Unfortunately, many churches present themselves as if they invented Christianity. Not us. We are recipients of the good news. It is our responsibility to pass down what was passed to us.

Values are the guardrails that keep us on the path as we travel to the destination. Values keep us from taking a shortcut. They give us a unique footprint as we walk.

Nobody goes off trail!
Nobody walks alone!