Core Value #3

As I mentioned earlier, the way I present these core values for FCC is not quite a finished product, but certainly captures the spirit and essence of how we hope to accomplish our mission as a church.

The third core value for our community of Christ-followers flows directly from what happens when a person or group of people begin pursuing a relationship with God on a daily basis. It relates to how the Holy Spirit will open our eyes to the "helpless and harrassed" people surrounding us where we live. Matthew 9 begins and ends with how Jesus expected his church to connect with those we see everyday in our community.

CORE VALUE #3: "Serving Our Community" OR "Loving Our Community"
(We haven't settled on which word works better as a core value; "serving" or "loving")

There are those people who are naturally compassionate and automatically see the needs and hurts of the people around them and they are often moved to take action. But lets be honest, most of us are oblivious to the needs of those around us. We need the Spirit of God to open our eyes and to put a burden on our heart to reach out to these people and to love them. These people are those in our community we see everyday in the stores, in the restaurants, standing in their yards, walking down the street, and looking for answers about why life is the way it is. They are lost and they don't even know it. They are hurting and they aren't sure why.

At FCC, we are located fairly close to the center of town. I can take a one mile walk around the block and pass the homes of well over a thousand families. A sad truth is that poverty is epidemic in our community and it completely surrounds our church's property on all sides. Another sad truth is that most of us drive right by this poverty every Sunday morning so we can gather together for worship and never even give the slightest thought to how we might actually serve and love the community surrounding us.

As I see the example of Jesus unfold in scripture, I can't help but think about how he might respond to those in our community. I doubt he would spend much time at all hanging out in the church building with the other believers. To be a true disciple of Jesus, I need to start walking in his footsteps. Our church needs to start walking in his footsteps. It is time for us to stop DRIVING BY our community each Sunday and to start SERVING and LOVING our community.

A super-natural result of "TEACHING GOD'S WORD" and "TRAINING GOD'S PEOPLE" is that the Holy Spirit will open our eyes to see that our mission to make disciples must start with "LOVING OUR COMMUNITY".

It is easy to "go to church" each Sunday for worship. It requires very little effort and time for most church-goers. Loving Our Community is MUCH more difficult and requires considerable time and effort and sacrifice. Let's face it...most of us would never take this step on our own. This is not a natural core value for most believers. But for true disciples who have been transformed by the Spirit of God, this becomes a super-natural core value that cannot be ignored.

The leadership of FCC has a passionate desire to let our community know we love them and want to serve them in any way we can. We want this because it is the only way we can bring glory to God in Monroe. It is the only way we can ever hope to make new disciples - and THAT is our mission.

The forth and final core value we are working toward at FCC is how we complete the Great Commission. This final core value is what I believe Christ is waiting on his church to accomplish before he returns. I will discuss it further in my next post.