HEALTHY CHURCH: Values>Practices>Results

      It is very important to be guided by biblical values. They serve as filters of how you live your life and how you will lead your ministry. How do you do that? Consider writing down those principles that will determine how and where you invest your time and energy. Values determine practices, and your practices determine your results, which are the goals you are working toward. Your values shape and mold your priorities. When clearly written down, they serve as a sifter to help you determine where you will and will not devote your efforts.

      Another way of viewing values is to see them as the “rules of the road” for you on your journey. Values help you make day-to-day decisions. Your values are not what you say they are. True values are what you are actually doing. Your actions and behaviors are proof of what you really value. Actions do speak louder than words, and leaders are required to lead by example. Be a leader by setting aside a time to have a prayer retreat in order to be directed by God’s Word and the Holy Spirit. My wife and I went through this process to determine the values that would drive and direct the rest of our lives.

      My prayer for you is that this simple course of action will be a blessing to you and will create a document to guide and direct your life. It should not be a static document but one you will revisit regularly and serves as your life map. As you pray, ask God to give you 10-12 biblically based values that speak directly to His calling on your life, then prioritize them to 5-7 (no more than 10) non-negotiable values. Write 2-3 descriptions of each value that determine an action to live out that value. Find a quote that explains and supports each value. This will help define the value and embed it into your heart.

      First the value: “My spiritual walk with you, Lord, is my first priority. I will pursue a close, intimate relationship with You by striving to abide in You every day and to live in obedience to You.” Now, write out 2-3 descriptors: “I am committed to protecting my quiet time and spiritual disciplines daily by always asking: What are you saying to me? What do you want me to do about it? I absolutely refuse to allow the tyranny of the urgent to keep me from what is of the greatest importance to you, Lord. I am committed to obeying God’s call on my life, regardless of what others may think, a lack of immediate affirmation or instant results.”

      Next, find a quote that supports the value and the descriptors. Here is one from Wayne Cordeiro: “Being in God’s Word may not change me in a day, but being in His Word daily will change me!” Then, ask God to direct you to a passage in His Word that will be the foundational truth for that value. A great passage for a commitment to personal devotionals and living them out could be James 1:22-23 (HCSB): “But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his own face in a mirror.”

      Look for this biblical principle and value written out in a different way that speaks to your heart directly. Here is one I found on this quiet time value: “Leaders must correctly handle the Word of God to keep their lives, churches and ministries on track biblically.” The beauty of writing out a principle (original or not) that clearly restates your value, reinforces that value and causes it to become a part of who you are, not only what you say. This is the power of application by stating what you will do, not what you plan or hope to do. “I will” statements help to create obedience.

      Another valuable example is prayer, and how this value determines your practices. “Prayer is my value to listen to you regularly, Lord. I will pursue you in prayer through Praise, Repent, Ask and Yield.”Description #1: I am committed to “persisting” in prayer, knowing you hear and answer us. Description #2: I absolutely refuse to give up on talking to you and listening to you, knowing that the “urgent request of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect.” The quote that spoke to me is, “Prayer is not preparation for the battlefield, it is the battlefield!” (E. M. Bounds)

      John 14:12-14 (HCSB) is one foundational passage to prayer as a value, “I assure you: The one who believes in Me will also do the works that I do. And he will do even greater works than these because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in My name, I will do it, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.” The Power Principle from Dynamic Church Planting International training states: “Prayer is the indispensable source of God’s power and wisdom in each phase of church planting.” That also applies to pastoring, being on staff, leading a ministry or being any serious disciple of Jesus Christ.

      As a filter, values enable you to build divinely determined boundaries. Henry Cloud said this about developing boundaries in our lives: “When we create boundaries, we aren’t saying to the world, ‘I can’t help you.’ Instead, we’re saying, ‘I must focus intentionally on the specific things God has placed right now in my direct influence.’ By saying ‘no’ to people and things not contained within God’s distinct vision for our lives, we’re actually saying ‘yes’ to His sovereignty. He knows the best way for His will to be accomplished. For us to assume we can handle more is rebellious and counterproductive!”

      Healthy Christians and healthy churches do not just talk about biblical values, they write them out and then live them out daily.