Dec 28, 2015

Core Values

Rob Appel

Executive Director

 

Commitments that everybody lives by — Our nonnegotiable

Last month I wrote about the General Conference

sessions in July 2015 and the General Council sharing the “Vision Map.” This document laid out for the reader and viewer four distinct areas that the General Council believes define and move forward Seventh Day Baptists as we advance God’s Kingdom. The four sides are:

Mission — The reason for our existence

Core Values — Commitments that everybody lives by that are nonnegotiable

Focus — What is the most important thing we do day in and day out

Culture — Society we must create to realize our potential

For over 300 years, SDBs have been commissioned by Jesus Christ to use our gifts and resources to share His gospel. Today, we continue to advance His mission in North America in a unique way. We believe that this Vision Map generally demonstrates the way in which God has been and will continue to work through us to make new disciples and transform us into greater Christ-likeness.

During the next four months I will be attempting to explain the four sides of the Vision Map. This month we will lay out the Core Values.

Core values are our guiding principles. In his book, Leading from the Sandbox, author T.J. Addington explains Core Values this way: These guiding principles clearly delineate the road we must follow and concrete guidance along the way. (Yes, pun intended) These are our Core commitments that we all agree we can live by. In doing this we will also identify our nonnegotiable areas. To get clarity on our guiding principles it may be helpful to ask these questions:

• What are the nonnegotiable items that apply to our

Conference of Churches?

• Around what things must we have absolute alignment by everyone?

• What principles, if followed, will keep our Conference on a safe path?

• If you had to describe the most important principles of how we do what we do, what would they be?

Below are the guiding principles that the General Council came up with to describe the Seventh Day Baptist Core Values.

Core Values

Bible and Spirit Led

The Bible is the Word of God and our standard for our faith and practice. We expect the Holy Spirit to inspire and lead us as we fulfill our mission.

 

7th Day Sabbath

We are a people who lovingly observe the 7th day Sabbath (Saturday) as a day of blessing and rest.

 

Local Church Focus

Our membership is made up of local churches who have the freedom and responsibility to worship, educate, and share the Gospel. We provide support to and through local churches.

 

Our Heritage

We exist because our forefathers were faithful in preserving our unique heritage. We will continue to remember our past to inform our present and plan for the future.

 

Although the General Council stuck with these four Core Values, many others were discussed. We have many areas that we would “fall on the sword” for, but these four areas, we believe, explain who we are and what we believe guides us all.