Core Values: Excellence
In working toward my doctorate I have read numerous books on church leadership and organizational structure, and there appears to be much confusion as to what defines a core value. There is a lot of ambiguity, disagreement, and contradiction on the subject, and that is partly due to the fact that individuals are blurring the lines between an organization's core values, and an organization's purpose, mission, vision, strategy, and methodology.
This confusion is prevalent in our churches. For example, churches often list activities such as worship, prayer, Bible reading, fellowship, etc. as their core values. However, in my personal (and as humble as possible) opinion, I would argue that those activities are not core values. Those are spiritual disciplines that should be valued and should be characteristic in the life of every individual believer and every church but they are not core values.
A core value refers to an organization's behavioral values. It's a church's personality. It's what makes one church distinct from another one. This has little, if anything, to do with style (i.e. traditional vs. contemporary). There can be two contemporary churches next to one another and still be extremely different because they have different core values and/or prioritize different values.
Core values determine how you do what you do. All churches have worship services, but core values are what make one different from the other. All churches have a mission, but core values delimit and delineate the manner in which the mission is carried out. Core values are the characteristics that drive a church's culture.
At Anthem Church we have eight core values:
I'm taking the time to comment on each of our core values. The previous post was on celebration. Today, I'm commenting on EXCELLENCE.
The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:31 - So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Clearly, Christians and churches should do all things for the glory of God. But that's not what this verse teaches. Here, we are told to do all TO the glory of God. Everything we do is to be done with excellence because we are doing onto the Lord.
When it comes to serving God, good enough isn't good enough. The biggest enemy to doing things with excellence is "good enough." The greatest obstacle to serving God with excellence is letting a "good enough" attitude to crepe into our thinking.
We recognize that perfection on earth is unattainable. We have all sorts of limitations that prevent us from perfect excellence. That being said, as followers of Jesus we don't settle for good enough but strive to the best of our ability, in complete reliance upon God, using all the gifts and resources He has provided to do things with excellence.
Aristotle once said, "Excellence is an art won by training and habituation...We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit." Excellence isn't a one time action. It's a habit that characterizes a person's life; and that habit is one driven by the acknowledgement that good enough just isn't good enough.
We communicate something important to others when we strive to serve the Lord with excellence. We communicate our love and reverence for God. We communicate God's greatness and that He is worthy of our best. It is a good witness to the world when we strive to do all to the glory of God.
Our motivation for working so hard to do all things with excellence is the gospel. God gave us His best. In love God sent His Son. In love Jesus gave His life. In love the Holy Spirit directs us. And one day God Himself will usher us into His presence, a place characterized by glorious excellence.
So Anthemers let's strive to do all that we do with excellence. In all of our various ministries, let's work to do all things to the glory of God.
In awe of Jesus,
Pastor Rick
This confusion is prevalent in our churches. For example, churches often list activities such as worship, prayer, Bible reading, fellowship, etc. as their core values. However, in my personal (and as humble as possible) opinion, I would argue that those activities are not core values. Those are spiritual disciplines that should be valued and should be characteristic in the life of every individual believer and every church but they are not core values.
A core value refers to an organization's behavioral values. It's a church's personality. It's what makes one church distinct from another one. This has little, if anything, to do with style (i.e. traditional vs. contemporary). There can be two contemporary churches next to one another and still be extremely different because they have different core values and/or prioritize different values.
Core values determine how you do what you do. All churches have worship services, but core values are what make one different from the other. All churches have a mission, but core values delimit and delineate the manner in which the mission is carried out. Core values are the characteristics that drive a church's culture.
At Anthem Church we have eight core values:
- Celebration
- Excellence
- Responsibility
- Teamwork
- Alignment
- Vision-Focused Ministry
- Gospel-Change
- Urgency of Mission
I'm taking the time to comment on each of our core values. The previous post was on celebration. Today, I'm commenting on EXCELLENCE.
The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:31 - So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Clearly, Christians and churches should do all things for the glory of God. But that's not what this verse teaches. Here, we are told to do all TO the glory of God. Everything we do is to be done with excellence because we are doing onto the Lord.
When it comes to serving God, good enough isn't good enough. The biggest enemy to doing things with excellence is "good enough." The greatest obstacle to serving God with excellence is letting a "good enough" attitude to crepe into our thinking.
We recognize that perfection on earth is unattainable. We have all sorts of limitations that prevent us from perfect excellence. That being said, as followers of Jesus we don't settle for good enough but strive to the best of our ability, in complete reliance upon God, using all the gifts and resources He has provided to do things with excellence.
Aristotle once said, "Excellence is an art won by training and habituation...We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit." Excellence isn't a one time action. It's a habit that characterizes a person's life; and that habit is one driven by the acknowledgement that good enough just isn't good enough.
We communicate something important to others when we strive to serve the Lord with excellence. We communicate our love and reverence for God. We communicate God's greatness and that He is worthy of our best. It is a good witness to the world when we strive to do all to the glory of God.
Our motivation for working so hard to do all things with excellence is the gospel. God gave us His best. In love God sent His Son. In love Jesus gave His life. In love the Holy Spirit directs us. And one day God Himself will usher us into His presence, a place characterized by glorious excellence.
So Anthemers let's strive to do all that we do with excellence. In all of our various ministries, let's work to do all things to the glory of God.
In awe of Jesus,
Pastor Rick
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