Great Church Values

Valuing the 8 Values of The Redemption Movement

In 2009-2010 we put into words a church mission statement, a ministry approach, and long term plan. In 2012, we realized that we were missing a key element to our church identity: Values. Now, with a newly-minted official set of values, we hope to strengthen all of our ministry visions and plans.

Any random group of people can be given a singular task, and everybody can start off energized to see the task completed; but, unless every person equally values the same truths, conflicts will naturally arise, and the task (and even the group itself) will fall apart.

Moreover, having every group member share the same values still isn't good enough. Churches provide us with a clear example of this. It's painfully obvious that there are too many different church groups to keep track of, yet they all share the same Christian doctrines, and even values to a lesser extent. Despite this, people of shared faith are able to find significant enough differences to justify division. I suggest that church divisions aren't for a lack of believing in good doctrine, or even holding similar values; instead, churches divide because they value certain values more than others. A valuing your values, if you will.

Therefore, it's important for a faith community to prioritize their values. As recommend in Philippians 1:27 and 2:2: "stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel." "...then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. (NIV)" Considering how important strong church values are, here are the 8 values of The Redemption Movement, ranked from 1-8:


1. We are centered on the truth of the Gospel.
Mark 8:34-35, Acts 20:24, Romans 1:16-17, 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

2. We are striving to grow in Christ-like character.
Romans 13:14, Colossians 3:9-15, Philippians 2:3-5

3. We are authentic in our worship.
John 4:23-24, Romans 15:17, 1 Corinthians 10:31

4. We are committed to healthy relationships.
Leviticus 19:18, John 13:34, 1 Thessalonians 4:9, 1 Peter 1:22

5. We are empowered and gifted to be servants.
Acts 1:8, 1 Corinthians 12,13, 2 Corinthians 13:4, Galatians 5:13

6. We are creatively influencing culture for good.
Genesis 1:25-29, 31, Romans 2:6-7, 12:2

7. We are compassionate towards our community.
Matthew 25:35-36, Luke 14:15-24, James 1:27

8. We are simple in both lifestyle and methods.
Matthew 6:19-34, Mark 10:17-31, 12:41-44, Luke 16:1-15

The interesting thing about values is that, whether they're written down or not, they exist in a person's heart. Making a clearly defined list serves to strengthen a person's values. Even though we waited until 2012 to make our official list, these values were actually surfacing in our hearts back in 2009. Defining and ranking our church values has been a valuable and revealing experience and I'm sure it will make us a stronger church.

I encourage individuals to soul-search and create their own value list, and if your values happen to line up with the values of The Redemption Movement, then I invite you to join us and "contend as one man for the faith of the gospel."