"Our Core Values"
Sermon Transcript for January 4, 2004By Rev. Mike Beck
During these first two weekends of 2004, I’d like to dialogue with you concerning our mission, our core values, and some things I believe are critically important to embracing the future God has for us at Grace Church. It will be more of a “conversation” than a sermon. But I think it is valuable for us at the beginning of the year to stop to examine who we are, how we are doing, where we are going, and what adjustments and steps forward are needed for us to get there. Let’s begin by reading together our mission statement that is found each week on the front of our bulletin: 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.
Supporting our mission statement are twelve core values that together form our philosophy of ministry here at Grace. These principles guide and shape our ministry and decisions. They explain who we are and why we do what we do. And so I want us on this first Sunday of the year to revisit these twelve “core values”. In doing so, my prayer is that we will understand more fully what God wants us to be as His church.
Quality and excellence honor God and inspire people. Little things make a difference. To use a phrase I was taught growing up, “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right.” Everything we do is an offering unto God. For that reason, we strive to do it to the best of our ability.
The proclamation of the gospel must be linked with opportunities for persons to respond in significant and meaningful ways. The Alpha Course this week is a good example of this core value. This ministry invites persons to respond to the claims of Christ in a non-threatening environment. Be in prayer for this important group that begins on Thursday.
Church leaders are to train, enable, empower, and motivate people to be in ministry that utilizes their spiritual gifts. The Biblical model for leadership is not the Pastors and the staff doing all the ministry while the congregation sits on the sideline. Leaders train, empower, and motivate you to discover your spiritual gifts and then use those gifts in the ministries of the church. Steve Wakefield and the fifteen members of his Youth Ministry Team model this core value so well.
Involvement in missions outreach, both locally and around the world, is imperative to our calling as individual Christians and as the church. If our attention, friends, is focused inward…I hate to say it, but I think in the majority of churches in America today, their attention is focused inward. If that’s taking place, we’re just a religious club. When our attention is focused outward is when we are “the church”. Because of our Capital Campaign earlier this last year, we didn’t have our annual Missions Conference. But I am so pleased with this church. Even though we didn’t have a Missions Conference in 2003, you kept right on giving to missions because you understood it’s a core value. It’s who we are.
And in terms of this core value, if you want an example to follow, watch our youth. Why is it in 2003 that thirty of our youth went on a youth mission trip, but only four adults did? I think it was last Friday night, Steve that I watched the bus leave. On the bus were 25 of our kids and five adult leaders taking the 30 or 40 blankets that you had graciously given out to the Lighthouse Mission. They fed the meal; they wiped off beds. One of the areas we need to go forward in the coming year---sometimes it’s easier just to give your money than it is to give yourself. We need to grow in that area. Mission is core value.
Time is a valuable resource for people today, and it must be respected. If you’re in leadership at Grace, anytime people give you their time, they are giving you the most precious possession they have. Make sure you are prepared and ready to honor the gift of time.
Prayer is the underlying foundation for all of our ministries. If you’ll notice that one is listed first for a reason. We sincerely believe whatever God wants to do at Grace Church it begins with people praying. Perhaps the most important groups at Grace Church. And if you haven’t yet found a group to be a part of, haven’t found a ministry, let me urge you to join one of our three Intercessory Prayer groups. You’ll never be put on the spot to pray out loud unless you are comfortable in doing that. But there is a group that meets at 1:00 p.m. on Monday here at the church. There is a group that meets at the Wesley Center at 3:30 p.m. on Monday. There are a group of men that meet at 7:15 a.m. on Saturday to pray. One of the best things that happened at Grace Church in 2003 is when Pastors decided that during the time of prayer, it might be good if we’d shut up a little more and let people pray. To give people those moments of silence, do you realize this basket is all of the prayer cards that have been turned in in the year 2003? Every one of these cards has passed through twenty or more hands of people who have prayed for those needs. Who have celebrated those joys. Prayer is the foundation for all that we do.
Caregiving is the responsibility of the entire church family and is best accomplished through networks of loving, caring relationships. Look at that carefully. Your Pastors and your staff are always involved in caregiving. But in a large church, it can still be a high touch church if caregiving is seen as the responsibility of the entire church family, not just the paid staff. We made a wonderful shift in that ministry in philosophy in recent years. We are a healthier church because of it. The Caring Ministry Team, those lay people that meet on Monday morning at 10:00 p.m. to extend the ministry of caregiving, means so much for me and so much for this church. If you are looking for a ministry, if you are looking for a small group to be a part of, that’s a good one. But it’s probably always helpful on the first Sunday of a new year to remind you, we want to be a caring church. But Reverend Dan and I do not have on our desk a crystal ball that flashes neon lights automatically if you are in the hospital or have some need. Let your needs be known to us so that we can minister to you and so we can mobilize the networks of caregiving here at Grace. When you choose to be involved in a small group, you extend the opportunity for caregiving to be provided for you in your time of need because of that connection.
Worship should be culturally relevant while remaining biblically sound. Now, in a very diverse church like Grace that one is a challenge. It’s why we have multiple styles of worship. Hear me carefully, friends. The message hasn’t changed in 2000 years. We are not watering down the gospel. But the methods we use to proclaim that age-old message must change as the society around us changes. In early November we were traveling out to New Jersey to do a wedding and we stopped at a friend’s church in Pennsylvania. We have known Bill and Chris, we became good friends through our years during seminary, it’s a good church filled with loving people. But Bill, on the morning we left, took us over to show us the church building. The lobby was small. We walked in to the lobby and immediately I said, “I’m sure this church contains wonderful, loving people, but I’ll bet that they are not making much of a difference in this community in reaching new people for Christ.” Do you want to know why I knew that? I simply looked at the pictures on the lobby wall. The most recent picture was 40 years ago. Here was a church living in the past where tradition was everything and tradition has its place. But the very pictures on the wall said, “We really live in the past here. We’re not concerned about effective ministry in the present.” The next one ties in to that. And it’s really two statements, but I need to break them down into their two statements.
The church exists to minister to the needs of our congregation. Put a period there. That is vitally important. As a part of Grace Church, we have a responsibility to provide meaningful worship experiences--Opportunities for you to grow in your faith, to care for you in your time of need. We take those responsibilities very seriously, but in that core value having acknowledged the first half of it, don’t miss the second half. We also, it says, are to reach out to persons who are not yet a part of our fellowship. For you see, ultimately the church is not about “us” and our needs. It’s about ministering to the needs of people who have not yet come to know the Christ who means so much to us. So in that light our next core value is important.
We are sensitive to the needs of “seekers” in all of our activities and decisions. That large space behind the sanctuary, if you’ve been in the church all of your life, you know that the church’s term for that is the narthex. But that’s a church term. What if you haven’t been in the church all of your life and the preacher stands up front and says, “Following the service, in the narthex…”? And you’re thinking, “Where in the world is that?” Which is why we try to use lobby. People understand what a lobby is. Let me ask you this. How many of you have grown up and been a part of church all of your life? Raise your hand; raise it proudly. My hand goes up. Thank God for that! But having thanked God for that, acknowledge now that we need to put on a new set of glasses. The world doesn’t look to most people like it looks through our glasses. Most of the world in which we live have never darkened the door of a church. They don’t know the church language. So the question is, if that person walks through these doors to join our fellowship, can they relate in some meaningful way to what is going on here or does it seem like a totally strange environment?
We’re sensitive to the needs of the seekers which is why during the Lenten season as we have planned our messages I’m not sure how much you have heard about Mel Gibson’s upcoming film, The Passion of Christ, but the reviews I’ve read—some of those reviews by non-Christian folks—who have said when the film ended, “I could not get out of my seat. I was so moved.” There are going to be dozens of people here in Franklin that are going to come to Grace Church after they have gone to see Mel Gibson’s film, The Passion. Are we going to seize that moment? We’re going to try to. Some of our sermon titles during Lent relate directly to that movie. Who was Jesus? Why did Jesus have to die? There’s going to be a mini-series where we look at the four main characters in that movie seeking to be relevant to what is going on around us.
Acceptance of Christ as Savior must be followed in discipleship ministries where persons learn to honor Jesus as Lord in all areas of their lives. Hear me carefully. You can receive Jesus as your Savior in one second when you open the door of your heart in faith to Him. But for Jesus to become Lord, that takes a lifetime. That involves our participation. Here is a summer example. Can you give yourself a suntan? No, it takes the ultraviolet rays of the sun to give you a tan. God is the one that works in our life, but you get a suntan when you go down to a tanning booth or you lay out in the sun and you expose yourself to the ultraviolet rays of the sun. That is how Jesus becomes Lord, when we participate with Him in that process. Which leads us to our last core value.
Lives are best transformed in small groups. Your life can be touched in worship in a special way but this core value don’t miss. The transformation process usually happens when you choose to be in a small group. Two of the most wonderful Christmas presents that I received didn’t have a package or a bow on it. I got a call one day in early December; it was a gentleman in the Disciple Bible Study class. He called and he asked me if I was free for lunch and I said, “Yeah.” And he said, “Let me treat you to lunch.” So we met at Appleby’s. Now preachers always worry when somebody says that to you. What are they upset about? He’s an executive in a large company here in Franklin, but he wanted to have lunch with me. He’d taken a new step of faith to be in the Disciple Class and he wanted to tell me what God was doing in his life. He wanted to tell me the opportunities for ministry that God was giving to him. And he said this to me, he said, “People at work are telling me that I’m different.” That’s what church is to be about. David Stephens used to say, he was my pastor, “God accepts us just as we are, but he never intends for us to stay that way.” The change process God wants to bring happens best in small groups.
And then also coming out of the Disciple group, Mickey and I got this card. It was following when we had the Disciple group over to our home. And this gal said, “What a wonderful experience of fellowship I had. I have never experienced anything like this before with church. But most importantly in my love for the Lord, I know God has directed me to Grace Church, I know I am where I am suppose to be, I feel truly blessed and full of love for my church family. I give thanks to God for always teaching me and for showing me what I was missing.” Do you want to know why that happened? This person made a decision to be in a small group.
So as we close this morning I invite you to take out this bulletin insert. It says “Get Connected”. Lives are best transformed in small groups. In light of that core value, we invite you to get connected with a small group here at Grace during 2004. Our Friendship Eight groups aren’t overly spiritual but some exciting things are happening within them. The next round starts in February. If you want to get to know some new folks, sign up to have dinner with them over four months. The ALPHA course that I’ve mentioned, the Caring Ministry team, our prayer groups, some small groups this year throughout the year where we will re-visit the five purposes we studied in The Purpose Driven Life, Sunday School classes, music ministries, Bible studies, United Methodist Women’s groups, opportunities to strengthen your marriage. Lives are best transformed in small groups. What small group will you be a part of this year?
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