Core Values

Mark Batterson from NCC (Author of "In a Pit.....") shares some thoughts on the core values of NCC:

Honestly, we didn't have core values when we were getting started. The driving motivation was simple: try to create a church where unchurched people can find Christ. I know church planters are taught to identify their core values before launching and there is nothing wrong with that. It's a good exercise. But let me say something that might sound heretical at first earshot: I think your values should change! It's counter-intuitive so let me explain.

Its one thing to write down values and hang them on the wall. It's another thing to discover your values in the trenches of ministry! It is discovery by doing! You won't really know what you value until you do what you're doing for a while! So I have always viewed our core values as a rough draft. They are amendable. Our basic DNA or churchprint won't change dramatically, but I would like to think that we'll discover new values in five or ten years as we mature as a church.

Here are a dozen core values that guide us at NCC:

1. Expect the unexpected

2. Irrelevance is irreverence

3. Love people when they least expect it and least deserve it

4. Playing it safe is risky

5. Pray like it depends on God and work like it depends on you

6. Everyone is invaluable and irreplaceable

7. Everything is an experiment

8. You cannot out give God

9. Maturity does not equal conformity

10. Go the extra mile

11. It's never too late to be who you might have been

12. Do it right and do it big

QUESTION: What do you see as the core values of OAG?