fit to live

Each January Lighthouse downshifts with a series of sermons that remind us of who we are, what we are called to do, and where we get the motivation for all of this.  There is a common refrain in the Petrine epistles of calling the believers to ‘remember’ since part of being human is forgetting.  This year we broke from the lectern and communicated the basics in a Q&A format.  I thought the first question was blogworthy: 

MLK Jr. once said, “If a man hasn't discovered something he will die for, he isn't fit to live.”  We believe we need to remind ourselves of the things we are willing to die for, for in them we find the things we are willing to live for.   The things you are willing to die for are called values or core values.  

I was surfing the web and I came across a mega-church website and that had 12 Core Values--things like: ‘Irrelevance is irreverence, Expect the unexpected, Pray like it depends on God and work like it depends on you, Do it right and do it big.’  All this got me to thinking about how most churches have core values—Simple Church has 4, Elevation has 10, and Saddleback has 5—how many do we have and what are they?”

What follows was my rationale for not having a bunch of core values.

Values are valuable for two reasons—first, it gives outsiders a profile of the identity of the organization or individual; and second, it gives insiders, a metric for holding true to this identity and maintaining its value.  So valuing something so much that you would lay your life down for it is the same vim and vigor that runs through your veins for living life.

Having said that I have an aversion—theological in nature—to creating values, willy-nilly, for the things we ought to do.  No matter how noble, good, and loving the activity may be its just not sustainable.  When we look to that which expends the energy to be the source of energy we are like a string of Christmas tree lights plugging into itself and not into an outlet.   

There is a dysfunctional bent within humanity to etch our values on totem poles and then worship what we ought to be doing. The more noble the list is the better we feel about ourselves.  (You know how you feel at the beginning of a year as you write out your goals and values?)  Businesses brand it on brochures, individuals scrawl it on resolutions, and even churches publish it on websites.  Generating a list of five or ten activities and efforts and then saying, ‘This is what we value,’ makes us, as humans, feel good for two reasons:  (1) we have control over what we wrote down, so we feel we are in control.  (2) Because the values are valuable to us we feel valuable, significant and even worthy.  

There is a potential problem with this.  If we tether our values to our actions then our worth is hobbled to our ability.  What happens when we don't accomplish what we value?  Or what happens when we do accomplish what we value?  This results most often in pride (when we accomplish our values) or shame (when we fail to accomplish our values).    

For example, lets take the core value of “pray like it depends on God and work like it depends on you.”  I’m not even sure where to begin with this!?!?!  When we say our core value comes from praying, we are saying we are worthless if we do not pray.  Now, as anyone who reads my blog knows, I practice the spiritual disciplines—prayer, fasting, et.al—so I am not taking aim at prayer.  I am taking issue with prayer being a core value. If prayer is where I get my value and worth, then I have taken Christianity hostage and thrust it into league with every other manmade religion.   

How so?  Religions place value in human activity and effort.  Islam has its Five Pillars and Buddhism has it Eight Noble Paths. Salvation for these religions—in its generic sense—comes through actionable values.  Even Judaism had the Ten Commands, graciously given through Moses (John 1:17).  Each of the three religions mentioned teach some form of good deeds such as honoring parents or giving to the poor.  Every culture has some version of the Golden Rule.  And yet, no one is keeping it.  We know that there is a right and wrong, we know there is justice and injustice, there is good and evil, but we are powerless to live these values!    

 When churches come up with core values and its nothing more than an activity list we have essentially tethered our worth to our work.  So I am saying the church should not follow corporate norms on this point or follow religous decorum and write out a bunch of values based on the things we are going to do.  That is not what the church is and that should not be how the church defines its worth or how it re-presents itself.

Next Blog I will get into what how we understand values to work within the church ...

Comments

[Roger Yadon]

Great blog post, I like where you are going with this, and I think you are quite possibly the coolest human being alive :), but I think you are being a little hard on churches for having written core values. Although I agree that it is harmful to tell people their worth is rooted in performance, I don’t think this is what a church is doing if they say, “we value praying like it depends on God.”

In everyday language the word value refers to the intrinsic worth of something, how precious or important it is. So if the church says, “We value praying like it depends on God,” then they would be saying either that prayer has inherent worth, or that praying gives worth to the person praying.

But if a pastor teaches people “we value praying like it depends on God.” Then, I’m speaking in terms of world view and systems of belief. In this case the word value should be understood by its social definition, which is entirely different than everyday use.

Sociologically value is essentially what I see as good. And Belief is what I hold to be true. Because of what I believe about a certain thing, I may hold one or many corresponding values.

So in this sense there is a belief that predicates the value: “we serve a good, glorious God who hears our prayers;” therefore, “we value praying like it depends on God.” Not we are more important because we pray.

Belief => is what we hold to be true
Value => What we see as good

So while my worth only comes through Jesus Christ. I can still value prayer, study, evangelism, community, etc... Because I see them as good based on what I believe about God.

Values are about belief systems, not methods. I think sometimes leaders are so concerned about being seen as having a plan that they list as values, their strategies, tactics, and action points. And that is where we get way off course.

[Jeffrey Garner]

Roger, good response and thank you for pointing out how you see differences in belief and value. I found your distinction helpful in understanding where you were coming from. And whereas I believe the Gospel should not only the object of my belief (what I hold to be true), but the epicenter of my value (all that I see as being good) and the focus of my passion (the goal upon which I keep my eyes); I humbly admit I am still coming to believe the Gospel and realize that there are so many areas of my life that I have resisted its power.

I enjoyed your well thought out response. And the pushback was valuable, at the very least to helping me clarify what I am saying and at the very most revealing to me how arrogant I sounded.

In response, rather than jumping ahead of myself too far let me just say two things (1) in the upcoming blogs (which are already written) I will unpack a bit more, (2) my blog is written with a view to how God is calling us to lead our church in our city, which we do with great conviction, I am carefully attempting to think critically of the North American Christendom without condemning the church. My hope is that the Beloved in San Francisco gain a perspective on how valuable the Gospel is, and in order to do that I needed a foil, a juxtaposition, a Michael Jordan (for the next NBA hopeful), a Peter (for the BD) and church values became the foil for the the value of the Gospel. Although its not the case in every church community, and not blaming anyone but myself, I found most of my value in what I did for God and that drove me to radical fervor and passion on moment and utter burnout and fatigue the next--my burning bush moment (seeing something burning up without burning out) was when my motivation, value, vision, passion and belief flatlined in the Gospel perhaps I am not saying this right I am still trying to find the words and articulation since its so fresh, but with your help and others I sure it will come. Love you buddy!

[Roger Yadon]

Jeff, I love your passion and insight. Hearing about what God is doing in the community is always inspiring, and it gets me pumped to be a part of the same body. I'm looking forward to the future posts, and i can't wait to get a glimpse of your value for the gospel.