"Our Core Values"

Sermon Transcript for January 13, 2002

By Rev. Dan Sinkhorn

Scripture Reading: Matthew 2:1-12

 

This morning Reverend Mike wanted to help us begin a new year by remembering with the church family some of our core values beginning with our Mission Statement. So we’re going to visit that here in just a moment. But I do want to let you know, as I said earlier, Reverend Mike is sick this week. He meant to be standing where I am now sharing this message with you. Next week and the following Sunday he will be away on vacation, the Lord willing, and I will be giving the message. And I just wanted to let you know that next week we will be talking again, as we search our core values, and the things that motivate us as we walk through our Christian lives throughout the year. Well be talking next week about the second coming of Christ. And the following week we’ll just explore a little bit of the meaning and some of the things associated with His second coming and questions of whether that is very close or not. Are we living in the last days? So I look forward to sharing that together. And then in February we will be going through a series of sermons on an ordinary day in the life of Jesus. We’ll learn together some very practical steps to living the Christian life with the awareness that as Jesus promised He is with us always to the end of the age.

But today we visit our Mission Statement and our Philosophy of Ministry. Now, I want to begin by telling you that as a person who was in the business world for a number of years, mission statements were pretty important. They give us that guiding filter through which every thing we do is funneled. And I have to admit that my first appointment as a pastor after being in the business world, I was a little shocked when the little tiny folder full of supplies that was given to me contained a mission statement that was about two pages long and number one on the list was, "The men shall have breakfast together every Saturday". That’s not what I thought a mission statement ought to be. And we corrected that and faithfully recognized what we really wanted to be about. A mission statement should be simple and succinct. And I believe that Grace Church’s mission statement is that way. Our mission statement and the guiding philosophies that follow were hatched out a few years ago by a faithful group of people here in our church. And we’re going to take a few minutes to look through this. If you want to see a copy of this you can find one of these in one of the display boards out in the Narthex outside the doors. So I hope you’ll take a look at that.

Let’s start by looking at our Mission Statement. In fact, why don’t you just read this out loud with me: "The mission of Grace Church is to worship God; proclaim Christ as Savior; encourage growth in Christ as Lord; fellowship together; and care for those in need." And if you want to sum it up in a few words, you could just say, "Worship – Proclaim – Encourage – Fellowship – Care." That’s our mission. Our mission is then followed by twelve core principles. Now, I don’t know about you, but I discovered over the last couple of years of my life that I am a person of creeds. That I look to certain statements as guiding principles of my life. One of the earliest sayings I learned in my upbringing in the Catholic Church was the Apostles’ Creed.. And I later learned as a teenager that if people asked me what I believe, I could recite the Apostles’ Creed and cover all the bases. And so it was a creed that gave me a statement of faith. At that same point in my life I was also involved with the Boy Scouts. And I was very faithfully involved in that and learned all the things I needed to learn. And I’m still a big fan of the Boy Scouts. In fact I’m involved with the Boy Scout troops that meet here at Grace Church even now. And to this day I can still tell you that a scout is "trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent." This is a guiding principle, a creed, that I memorized and it became a part of my life. So that I hope, as you encounter me, you find that I am those twelve things.

We have a number of creeds that we can live by. Sometimes we come across them by accident. I have always enjoyed walking through cemeteries. I suppose that sounds bizarre. But you find some beautiful statements of faith in cemeteries. And in back of my little pocket Bible that I carry with me everywhere I go, I have written the epitaph that was written on a gravestone that I saw in Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville. Where this was a statement about the man who had lived 100 years ago, the way people remembered him. And I said to myself, that’s the way I want to be remembered. I want people to think of me that way. It became one of my creeds. And so we here at Grace Church have a creed that we have put together with God’s help through the Holy Spirit and we want to just look at that for a few minutes to see if these cannot be some guiding principles that we will live by as individuals and as a community of faithful believers.

1. Prayer is the underlying foundation for all of our ministries. Prayer is so essential. Let me tell you something. Prayer is what we do when God asks us to get outside our comfort zone and stretch. What are we doing these days, what are we attempting in the name of God that is a little beyond our ability? I don’t know. Maybe you don’t know. But I can tell you that when you get a call at 7:30 a.m. in the morning saying you’re doing the sermon, suddenly you’re outside your envelope and you need prayer. So at 8:20 a.m. or so this morning Deanna Miles stood with me in the corner of the Narthex and prayed for me so that I could fill in those mighty big shoes of our Senior Pastor. Prayer is essential especially for people of faith who step out in faith beyond what seems comfortable and normal.
2. Worship should be culturally relevant while remaining biblically sound. That is a mouthful of really important principles. Worship should be culturally relevant. We seek as a church, and particularly as worship leaders, to bring worship to all of the people in this community of faith throughout the week that meets the needs of the people who come here. It occurred to me this week as I was having conversation with Sandy Adams, our church secretary, that people come to church because they’re needy. That sounds really obvious, I suppose, but people come to church because they are needing something. They need relevance. The number one talk in the ALPHA course, the first talk that ALPHA participants hear, is "Christianity—boring, untrue, irrelevant?" You see, for non-Christians it’s hard to believe that what we do here on Sunday morning and Wednesday nights is relevant. And so it is our job as Christian people worshiping together to make what we do relevant, to deal with the life and the living of the people who need God’s help desperately. We can look at Jesus’ example for that. And yet it is essential, as we look at Jesus’ example, that we make sure that we are biblically sound as we make it culturally relevant. Quite simply that means that even while we offer many different styles of worship and different opportunities for people to worship and grow and be nurtured in their faith, it is essential that we’re not putting on a show, that we’re not doing a song and a dance just to attract them. It isn’t our intention to fill the pews with bodies; it is our goal to fill heaven with believers.
3. The church exists to minister to the needs of our congregation and to reach out to persons who are not yet a part of our fellowship. I think stained-glass windows are beautiful. I grew up in the Catholic church and seen some of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. But in my mind what that statement says is that our windows ought to be clear. That our air-conditioner should be turned off and that we should have screen doors and windows so that the world outside this church knows that there is something going on that they can be a part of. I’m speaking figuratively, of course. So how do we do that? We get involved with people around us in our workplace, in our community, in our various activities and we invite them to be a part of our fellowship. It is essential; this is not a closed group. It is not a club exclusively for those of us who are here now. I see empty spaces that need to be filled with hungry, hurting people who need the Lord. And it is our responsibility as saved believers to get out there and meet them and bring them here. And using the tools and resources in this wonderful community of faith, invite them in to a saving relationship with Christ.

4. We are sensitive to the needs of "seekers" in all of our activities and decisions. You will notice as we go through this list that all of them are intricately meshed together and it will seem as though we’re almost repeating ourselves as we say these things. But since many of those people that we seek to invite inside are people who are looking for the Lord, they are looking for answers, it is essential that we are all sensitive to their newness to the things of religion and faith and their inexperience. It is essential that we are all aware of how uncomfortable and awkward this experience may be for them. It might be a good idea to try and imagine the tremendous courage that it takes to walk in to a place like this for the first time – maybe for the first time in their life. And we must be aware that these are bold, courageous people who are seeking the Lord. And it is our job to make them comfortable and welcome. So that the things we do by rote because we do it every week this way are new and fresh to them and we make sure that they are comfortable. That’s why we print the numbers for the various prayers, like the Lord’s Prayer, in the bulletin. It is the reason why you need to look around you each Sunday as you get here and sit to worship and see those people sitting near by. Do you see someone you don’t know? Do you see someone who seems awkward or uncomfortable? What can you do to put them at ease? Help them to experience this. And can you be patient with people like me who stand up here and say things that seem so elementary to you but for that new worshiper is an essential piece of knowledge that will help them have a better experience. That’s what that means.

4. Quality and excellence honor God and inspire people. I hope that as you come here to worship and participate in other activities, you see how hard we try to make this the very best that we know how to make it. It is our desire that every little thing be in order. Not because we are perfectionists, but in the spirit of those craftsmen and gifted people that helped Moses build the first Tabernacle, we seek to do it for the glory of God in a way that will bring praise and honor to God. And it says to all the people who come here this is important stuff we’re doing. To us this is a matter of eternal life and death.

As a candidate for ministry I went from church to church as a lay speaker in preparation and I visited many, many churches small and large around the country in southern Indiana. And one of the things that is very telling about a church is when you looked at their bulletin board. The first church I served, I regret to say, the newest thing I could find on their bulletin board was dated 1985. And this was in 1996. So, what does that say is important to them? It is essential that we make our environment fresh and new and that we make our spirits reflect the seriousness and sincerity of what we do.

5. The proclamation of the gospel must be linked with opportunities for persons to respond in significant and meaningful ways. This is the dilemma that Mike and I face each week as we bring worship and preaching to this congregation of people. There are those who have been here every week for dozens of years even and there are those here for the first time, perhaps seekers. And our challenge is to bring new and refreshing, fulfilling, nurturing experiences to those old-time worshipers even while we give opportunities to come for the first time to the Lord for those new worshipers, those new seekers. So our challenge as a church, not only in worship but in all of our activities, in all that we do, is to make sure that we create opportunities for people to respond to God. That we invite people to enter in to an active relationship with God for their personal fulfillment.
6. Acceptance of Christ as Savior must be followed by involvement in discipleship ministries where persons learn to honor Jesus as Lord in all areas of their lives. Jesus is our Savior and we don’t have any trouble accepting that. Most of us at some point in our lives will hit rock bottom and realize that we need salvation. And we pray that experience for everyone here. But the thing that many of us struggle with is Jesus as our Lord. Once He has saved us, He asks us to accept Him as our Lord and the ruler of our lives. And the church is empowered and required to provide opportunities for you to respond to His Lordship, to learn and grow as a believer, to develop your gifts and skills so that you can be an active partaker in the divine nature of God. So we seek to do that together as a church, to do it and to create opportunities to do it.
7. Lives are best transformed in small groups. Small group ministry is essential especially as this church grows. When you look in to the numbers associated with this congregation and it is an obvious thing that we continue to grow as a church and that growth will begin to double and triple and it will become more and more rapid as God’s gospel is proclaimed here and as God continues to bless what we do. And it will become so large that there will be people that you don’t yet know; perhaps it is already like that. My friend, Mike Beck, is remarkable because he knows almost all of your names; I ain’t that good. I’m trying. But he said to me the other day, "You know what, Dan, it’s getting to the point that I just can’t do it anymore." And if Mike can’t do it, I don’t know if anybody can. You see we’re getting to the point where if we don’t have little churches within the big church somebody’s going to fall through the cracks. Maybe you feel like you’re falling through the cracks. One way to cure that is through your involvement in small group ministries. We have courses and classes that you can participate in. It’s a great place to get to know others. You can get involved in different activities, like the choir, the bells, different men and women ministries. You can do it that way too. But I want to challenge you this morning to do something that you may not of thought of. It is a fact that people who worship in churches have a tendency to sit in the same place every week. It’s okay. Where I go to school with a couple of hundred other pastors, I noticed that they do the same thing. Here’s what I want to challenge you to do. Since you sit around the same place every week why don’t you look around you and make sure that you know all of those people in that little circle around you. There could be the beginning of a small group. Fellowship. You see because small group fellowship is not always about the classes and the courses and the studies. It is also about personal connections with other people so that we have friendships and fellowships. Where you sit across the room from somebody and say, "How is it with your soul?"
8. Church leaders are to train, enable, empower, and motivate people to be in ministry that utilizes their spiritual gifts. Small group ministries and courses that you get involved with are only the beginning of the fellowship that transforms you. You also need those opportunities to make yourself a newer, better person. It is our job as a church to make as many opportunities as we can for you to do that.
9. Caregiving is the responsibility of the entire church family and is best accomplished through networks of loving, caring relationships. You saw the caring ministry up here and you heard how they do their work. But that is not just their job. They organize themselves to do that in a very specific way. But each of us is called to do that so that we are aware of those people around us. Your network can begin with that circle of people sitting around you in the pew right now.
10. Involvement in missions outreach, both locally and around the world, is imperative to our calling as individual Christians and as the church. This is one of the best mission-giving churches I have ever encountered. We are, as dollars go, as big as it gets and thank God for that. Because of the ministry that’s being done here in this community all the way to the far reaches of this earth. You do that with your money. But I challenge you this morning to get involved...

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11. Time is a valuable resource for people today, and it must be respected. … this morning, that represents the caboose of our train for a very important reason. Because if we want you to do all of these things we just mentioned, it is our hope that you get involved in all of these things, but we are aware that it is difficult when you are not sure how long it’s going to take and whether you’re going to get done when you think you’ll going to get done. Well, as Joan Rivers would say, "Can we talk?" If I lead a group, I promise you it will start at the time I tell you it’s going to start and end when I tell you it’s going to end. And that’s our goal for every group and every activity. That you know what to expect so that you won’t hesitate to be involved. We honor your time and value it just like we value your gifts of money, your gifts of effort and prayer. And we honor your time and we will respect that. That is our common goal together.

 

Well, just let me conclude by inviting you to participate today in some new activities if you haven’t yet. At 10:45 a.m. there will be a Leadership class. We’ve already had some people coming through that and had great results and experiences. That can be found in Reverend Mike’s office. He won’t need it this morning. And we’ll have a class on the Social Principles that I know some of you might say, "Well, that sounds great." Social principles are very exciting. The United Methodist Church has a rich heritage of applying the very goals and principles that we’ve discussed in this world and bringing Christ to people through meeting their needs and responding to social situations. We invite you to get involved in learning about the rich heritage of the United Methodist Social Principles. And you can find that in the classroom that meets at the end of Price Hall I believe. No. Where? In the older High School Room. Down the hall, to the right, and the first left. Thank you Rich I appreciate that.

So these are twelve principles that you can live by and you can help us as a church live by. If you want to read them again you can find your copy of this in the display board outside the doors of the sanctuary. I hope you will do that; and I hope that as you do you will make it a guiding creed for your ministry here at Grace Church. And in response to God’s word let’s stand now and sing together "A Charge to Keep", #413.

 

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