First Church of the Nazarene’s Core Values
1) To Be a Grace Giving People & Place
2) To Provide Relevant Worship
3) Community Outreach
4) To build Christian Community through Small Group Ministry
5) To Build Disciples
6) Team Ministry
7) Striving to do all things with Excellence & Quality
8) To Value People and relationships above programs and buildings
To Be a Grace Giving People & Place
In Matthew 18.21-35, Jesus>relates the parable of the Unmerciful Servant.
In the parable a servant owes a debt to his master that is beyond anything he can hope to repay in a lifetime. When the servant begs for mercy and for more time to pay the debt, the master simply forgives the debt. Thereafter, the servant goes out and grabs a fellow servant who owes him $20 by the neck and has him thrown in jail because he can not repay the $20. That’s when the master steps in to inflict punishment upon the first servant, throwing him in jail until he can repay every cent.
At the end of the parable Jesus summarizes:
“This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.” (Matt.18.35)
This parable teaches us that:
1) We had a large debt – our sin – that we could never repay.
2) If we do not treat others with the same attitude of forgiveness and grace that we have received then we will receive the same treatment as the first servant – judgment and condemnation.
When we live out this parable, forgiving others the way the master forgave the first servant, we begin to extend forgiveness and mercy to others. We will give grace to others. We give forgiveness to people that don’t deserve it. We serve judgment on people, no longer having a “they should know better” attitude. Our approach to people outside of the Kingdom of God becomes one of love and forgiveness, not judgment and condemnation.
I believe what Phillip Yancey says,“The world thirsts for grace. When grace descends, the world falls silent before it. ” It is our goal at First Church to quench that thirst for grace in our world. We have opportunities everyday to give grace to others. People are especially looking for grace when they come to our church. Every person who knows us or attends our church will be able to read the signals we give off. People will know whether or not we are extending grace or judgment in their direction.
The question is: Will we give grace or judgment? Will we be people of grace?
To Provide Relevant Worship
I recently had the opportunity to speak with a person who has visited our church on a regular basis. One of the things she likes about our church is that each time she comes to church and worship she feels like she connects with God and with others. “Everything from the music to the message connected with where I was living.”
To provide relevant worship…..means that our worship services connect people to God in the place where they are in life.
To provide relevant worship is to provide the opportunity for a person to enter into God’s presence in our public worship services. It means having a worship service that connects with everyday real life. It’s coming to a place of understanding that we can all invite God to be a part of every moment of life. When we come to church and feel like the worship connects with where we live everyday, we are more likely to allow God to connect with where we live everyday. So it’s our desire to provide worship that is relevant to everyday life.
Ultimately, providing worship that is relevant to our world is discovering a dynamic equivalent to methods of worship that have been used in the church for years and connecting them to the experiences of everyday life in a way that is meaningful and theologically sound. Relevant worship still focuses our attention on God. Relevant worship still challenges us to worship God in Spirit and in truth. Providing relevant worship does not accommodate the message of the gospel to the world’s standards. It simply uses words and methods and means of communication that the world we live in understands.
Another aspect of providing relevant worship is balancing the needs of new Christians who are still trying to “get” the whole purpose of Sunday Worship service and the needs of long-term Christians. Ultimately, we are called by God to enter into Worship - where we will discover it’s about Him, what he has done and will continue to do in our lives - and not about us.
Enter worship ready - prayed up and expectant for God to move.
Community Outreach
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit come son you;
and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria,
and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1.8
When Jesus ascended into heaven he left the disciples with these instructions about being witnesses. It was an essential part of being a disciple.
If we look at the geographical aspects of this call we can apply them to our lives in the following ways:
Jerusalem: The place where we live and work everyday. The geography and the location is different for all of us; some of us will be witnesses in Milwaukee, others in Brookfield, for others, for some Franklin or even Racine.
Judea: Would be the>Greater Milwaukee Region. We are to look for ways to advance the kingdom of God in this entire region.
The ends of the earth: Since October we have been talking about the Jesus Film Trip to Honduras that will take place in August 2008. Continue to pray for fertile soil in the lives of those who see and hear the Jesus Film. Some from our church will travel there; most of us will support them through our prayers.
In July our youth will travel to Juarez, Mexico to build a home and witness with their lives.
So…how are we doing? Are we being the witnesses God has called us to be? Are we reaching out to those around us who need to experience the love, hope and joy of following Jesus Christ?
Can’t we assume that our church would be interested in outreach to the community? NO! We can’t make assumptions about our Core Values. We have to be intentional about outreach. We have to be intentional about reaching our community – both where we live and near the church building. We have to continually look for needs we can meet in people’s lives. And then begin to find ways that we can meet those needs.
Reaching New Berlin and the surrounding area…
About 22 years ago the decision was made to move First Church to New Berlin. We continue to look for intentional ways to be a part of the community of New Berlin. Continue to pray that we will have an impact on the lives of the residents of New Berlin. As we pray God will continue to open doors for us to witness to the good news of Jesus Christ.
To Build Christian Community Through Small Group Ministry
“When he ordained his followers to be salt and light in this world, Christ expected the fellowship they would form to become a distinctive community that would serve as a model for the world. This would require that Christians be different not only in their individual lifestyles but also in the way they relate to each other.
Community 101, Gilbert Bilzekian, pg. 49
It’s our belief that every Christian needs to be involved in some sort of smaller group gathering outside of Sunday worship. It’s our belief that every follower of Jesus needs a group of people that they gather with regularly for prayer, Bible Study, mutual encouragement and accountability. We also believe that Small groups are not an add-on ministry but are an essential part of who we are as followers of Jesus called First Church of the Nazarene.
Since we believe in Small Group Ministry enough to make it a core value and not an add-on ministry, we changed our service schedule in 2005 to make room in our lives for small group time to happen. Therefore we stopped having Sunday night church and started having Sunday night Small Groups. Since that time other small groups have begun to meet during the middle of the week as well.
Some may think that small group ministry is the latest fad, but that is not the case. Small groups began with John Wesley in the 18th century. Wesley discovered that real life change or transformation happened when a person built a close connection with other Jesus followers. He encouraged his group to form groups of 10-12 and called it a CLASS and groups of 3-4 and called it a CELL. These groups studied the Bible, prayed together and wrestled with questions of life and faith. And that’s what happens in our Small groups as well.
We want to build a healthy and strong Small Group Ministry. Each and everyone of us, pastor and people alike, need a group of Christians with which we can share the ups and downs of life. It’s this living of life together, rather than in isolation, that makes us different. We share, we care and we have prayer.
I would encourage everyone that has a desire to grow in their Spiritual Life to join one of our small group gatherings. They include Sunday morning Sunday School, Tuesday AM or PM Bible Study or one of our three Sunday night groups.
Just drop a note to Pastor Earl in the offering and he’ll help connect you to a group that might be right for you.
To Build Disciples
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations…”(Matt. 28.19)
“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” It’s a very old adage, but it continues to be true. We believe that it’s important that we develop a plan for Spiritual Growth that can be articulated to any person that attends or joins our church. It’s so important that we don’t want to assume that it will just happen. We believe that if we can provide a road map to spiritual maturity many will take advantage of the guidance and grow into fully devoted, sanctified followers of Jesus Christ. When this happens we will be fulfilling the Great Commission.
It’s not enough for us to help people start following Jesus - we want to teach people how to keep following Jesus, how to be disciples. We do this in a number of ways. We encourage people to attend worship, we encourage new Christians to enter into the discipline of reading God’s word; we use tools like the Transformation Journal to help with this endeavor. We also encourage new followers of Jesus to take advantage of Sunday School and Small groups as places to learn how to follow Jesus. Beyond that we have also identified some basics that new Christians need to learn that we have put together in classes called: “Growing Christians,” “Finding My Ministry,” and “Fulfilling My Ministry Class.”
We consider some of these Christian habits “Markers” on the spiritual journey that indicate a measure of growth. Some of these we have already, others we list here as reminders. Markers include:
- Attending Worship regularly
- Attending Sunday School Regularly
- Joining and Participating in a Small Group
- Daily Bible Reading and Prayer
- Giving a regular offering
- Beginning to tithe 10% of your salary
- Giving above the tithe to World Evangelism through Faith Promise
- Finding a ministry at First Church
- Learning to share the gospel and doing so
And at the heart of it all is new followers of Jesus learning to hear and obey God’s leading, God’s direction for their life. We understand that God moves in our lives through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Team Ministry
“The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore to send out workers into his harvest field." Matt. 9.37-38
T - Together E - Each A - Accomplishes M - More
If you have ever served as the chair of a committee, especially at the church, you know how committee meetings go. The Chair comes with an agenda of things that need to be accomplished, having done everything in their power to prepare for the meeting with good ideas and thorough reports; hoping to enlist the help of other committee members, only to leave with more work than when she or he arrived. But not on a real team; on a real team everyone has a role and a responsibility to fulfill.
Team Ministry starts by asking, “What’s the purpose of our team? What are we are trying to accomplish?” Once the purpose is established, the team can begin to define the roles of players needed to effectively accomplish its purpose.
The next step in the process is setting goals that are attainable, measurable and reasonable. The goals set by the team then become their own measuring stick of effectiveness.
Loving Relationships are the key to team success. While every team has a goal or a project to complete, the key to every good team is good relationships. Therefore every team meeting is also a time to connect relationally, care for and encourage other team members. Ministry teams are places to serve and belong. And the teams at First Church are always looking for more team members. (Just ask a trustee: Marla Blom, Jim Lucas or Tammie Davis.)
It’s our goal for Ministry Teams to work interdependently to fulfill our mission,
“To touch everyone with the Love, Hope and Joy of Following Jesus Christ.”
So here are some fitting name changes….
Old Name New Name
NMI Council Missions Team
Sunday School Board Discipleship Team
Music Committee Worship Design Team Children’s Council Children’s Ministry Team Kitchen Committee Fellowship Team
Striving to do All Things with Excellence & Quality
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, 24since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Col. 3.23-24”
Ford Motor Company’s slogan, “Quality is Job One,” reinforces the idea that people want quality. One of the hallmarks of an education at Olivet Nazarene University is the Christian excellence that is taught, lived and modeled for students. But what exactly does it mean to strive for excellence and quality in all things? And can a church our size, strive for Excellence?
Let’s try to get some handles on this Core Value.
First, striving for excellence it is not a search for perfection or performance. It’s not about having perfect singers or perfect sermons. However, it does require preparation. Any time we volunteer to do something for the church we should make sure we take the time necessary to be prepared. Most of us don’t want to hear a sermon that was thought about for an hour or less. And most of us don’t want to sit in on a Sunday School lesson that received only 15 minutes of preparation.
Throughout life we are tempted to say, “Oh, that’s good enough. What’s it really matter anyway.” We believe that what we do here as the body of Christ matters greatly – what we do here has eternal consequences. Therefore, as much or more than any other place we serve in life, what we do for the church should be given our very best.
Second, it is not about size or money. So many times we think excellence is about having enough money to do things the way XYZ church does them. “If we had that technology, or that talent or that number of people then we could be excellent.” That’s not it at all. At the heart of striving for excellence is asking the question, “Did we do the very best we could with the resources we had available to us?” Excellence is based on our setting and our abilities, not someone else’s.
Third, quality sometimes requires doing fewer things and doing them better.
So many times in church life we get the feeling we have to try and do everything. When we do try to do everything with limited resources – people or financial - we spread ourselves too thin and quality suffers. Therefore, a huge part of striving for excellence and quality is saying no to some things that we can not do and do well. God does not want mediocrity, he wants our very best.
In summary, striving for excellence and quality in all we do at First Church starts with us as individuals. As we remember that “It is the Lord Christ we are serving,” our gifts or service, teaching or giving will improve to a level of excellence and quality.
To Value People and Relationships Above Programs and Buildings
For through Him we both (Gentiles & Jews) have access to the Father by one Spirit. (Ephesians 2.18)
Core Value #8 – It’s the spirit of UBUNTU. Ubuntu comes from a South African saying in Zulu. The saying goes, “Umuntu ngumuntu nagabntu.” Translated literally that means, “A person is a person because of other people.[1]” What this means to us as a church is that people are always our first priority. In the spirit of UBUNTU we make people into people when we slow down and acknowledge them. When we take the time to notice people in spite of our busy schedule and the tasks that have to be done to “do” church we value people.
You may be thinking, “Isn’t that the way the church is supposed to be?
Isn’t the church supposed to be about noticing people, their hurts, their needs, and their desire to be loved and appreciated?”
Yes it is, but even in the church we can lose sight of the value of people in the sight of God. We can get caught up in running our program and fail to acknowledge a person, the very person for whom the program was designed. We can get protective of a building we have worked hard to remodel and keep clean and drive someone away, especially a child, when we value the building over their person. We have stated this as a Core Value because we want to be intentional always about valuing people.
But it also has another aspect. There may come a time when you have to choose between showing up for a job you promised to do at church, or sitting down to cry, or share with a person in crisis; a person in desperate need of a personal representation of Christ. In a case like that – choose the person, not the job or responsibility. Sure, something will go undone for a day, but you will be where Jesus would be if you minister to the needs of the person. God has not called us to build programs; he has called us to love people.
We take the time to state and explain our core value towards the people for which Jesus died to redeem. It is the heart of the longer passage of Eph. 2.14-22. It is at the heart of the incarnation – Jesus coming to earth to live among us. It is God’s heart for humanity. And so we strive to articulate and live out God’s plan for humanity. We strive to fulfill our mission: “To touch everyone with the Love, Hope and Joy of Following Jesus Christ.”
[1] Peter Senge, The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook, Pg. 3.