Core Values: Intro Study
Aim
To introduce the concept of Core values and to explore the importance of community which is
integral to all the other studies.
You will need...
An apple, a knife, a pen, a Bible
Starter
Examine your apple for a while.
What do you notice about your apple? What do you like/dislike about it?
What do we value about apples? When buying apples what are we looking for?
Companies invest a lot in making apples look shiny, uniform and brightly coloured
Cut your apple in half.
What do you notice?
When we find the core we find the seeds of change and life.
Ironically we often throw the core away, or fail to notice it.
What does this exercise teach us about church?
Does the concentration on the outside have anything to say to us?
Do we make enough time for what is at the core of our life together in Christ?
As we go through the next few studies, our prayer is that we will become clearer about what is
at the core of our faith, and life as a church and hopefully there we will find the seeds of change and
life. (You can eat your apple now!)
Prayer
Offering ourselves to God, pray that we will be open to new ideas and new possibilities and that
we will learn much in the studies that will be of value in Gods Kingdom.
Values
List some values you hold or adhere to in each of these three areas.
Home Work Church
Does the list reflect the real core values of the church, or is something missing?
At the end of our series of studies we can come back to this list and see if we have changed our
ideas.
Following Jesus
Foundational to each of the Core Values for a Gospel people is the phrase Following Jesus in...
The idea is that if we really took the things that Jesus said and did as the template for our lives as
individuals and communities then we would be very different and have a more significant impact
on the world around us.
Read some of the call passages (eg Matthew 4.18-22, Mark 2.13-17, Mark 10.17-21)
What does the phrase follow me mean to you?
How significant is this call to people today?
How much of church life is centred around helping people to do the things that Jesus did?
Why does so much of our worship material focus on the risen and ascended Jesus, rather than
on the earthly ministry of Christ?
What happens to our witness if we omit the hard sayings and controversial activities of Jesus
from our agenda?