MARCH 15 & 22 - Staying on Task - Values...Beliefs...

STAYING ON TASK

Organizations – just like people – sometimes have “wandering mind syndrome.” They begin with a clear sense of who they are, but begin to lose their focus.

Scripture reminds us that the church is like a building – in which each of us must be careful how we build on it – and we must be clear that foundation is Jesus – that’s not up for a vote.

We have gone through a process of clarifying our core values at BUMC. In our exercise, by far the number one response was LOVE. That is not really surprising, for the Bible makes it clear how important love is:

JOHN 15:9, 12. "As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love…Love one another as I have loved you."

1 CORINTHIANS 13:13. The greatest of these is love.

We kept love as a part of each of our five core values:

• SPIRITUAL GROWTH. Helping everyone to grow in the love of Christ. So our target audience – can be anyone – and our task is to help that person GROW in Jesus.

2 PETER 3:18. Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

• TEAMWORK. Serving together in a fellowship of love. If you are a part of this church family – you are not a spectator – you are not a consumer – you are part of the team.

Jesus said that to be one of his followers – we must deny ourselves – and take up our crosses and follow him (Matthew 16:24).

• WELCOMING. Offering an atmosphere of acceptance and respect in a loving manner.

HEBREWS 13:2. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers.

• OUTWARD FOCUS. Sharing God’s love beyond ourselves. Jesus put it pretty bluntly (Luke 15:7) – There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents that over ninety-nine righteous persons. Elsewhere he reminded us that if we only love those who love us back – that is no big deal at all. Love must be shared beyond ourselves.

• INTEGRITY – reflecting God’s love in our words and deeds. So it’s not so much what you do as HOW you do it.

TITUS 2:7. Let everything you do reflect the integrity and seriousness of your teaching.


From there we moved on to BELIEFS, the beliefs that are our foundation. This is not a complete statement of doctrine covering every theological issue. Rather these are the core beliefs that we rely upon as an anchor during difficult times, and that help us to stay on task!

Here are the five core beliefs our team came up with.

• God is all powerful and ever present.

• God loved the world enough to send Jesus to triumph over sin and death.

• All are invited to receive Christ as Lord and Savior.

• The Holy Spirit guides and empowers us in all situations.

• As followers of Jesus we are commanded to offer hope to a hurting world.

These five core beliefs help us to stay on task. They keep us from “majoring in minors,” getting off track by being caught up in things that really don’t amount to much. And when tough times come – they remind us where our hope comes from.