Cross of Christ Fellowship: 6 Core Values

When planting a church, it is vital to consider your core values (ideas and motivations which shape and define the way your church operates). Aubrey Malphurs helped me to consider this in his book “Nuts and Bolts of Church Planting” (a vital read for all church planters).  Every church has events, ideas, and priorities which shape the way it looks and functions; we’re best off admitting this is true and then deriving our values from God’s Word.  This is what we have sought to do with Cross of Christ Fellowship. Our six core values are gospel centrality, Bible, evangelism, community, ministry, and worship.

First, we are gospel-centered, recognizing that the gospel is to be believed not only at conversion, but throughout a Christian’s life (Rom 1:15-17). We need to constantly preach and apply the gospel to our lives.

Second, we emphasize the Bible as God’s revelation of Himself. This means that we will preach and teach from the Bible and seek to apply it all areas of our lives (2 Tim 3:16).

Third, we are passionate about evangelism.  This means that we regularly and strategically seek opportunities to share the gospel with the lost and train Christians to be bold ambassadors for Christ (2 Cor 5:20).

Fourth, we strive for authentic fellowship, seeking to bear each other’s burden and stirring up each other to love and good works (Gal 6:3; Heb 10:24-25).

Fifth, we partake in mercy ministries, seeking to meet the needs of the poor or disadvantaged in our community (Acts 2:43).

Sixth, we are believe in the importance on worshiping God both corporately on Sundays as we gather together and through our lives (Rom 12:1-2).

What core values shape your church or church plant? Would you add or take any of these away?