Culture is Vision, Mission, and Values in Action
Cultural principles in practice:
Presence is more important than performance.
Our ministry plan and use of time reflects this emphasis. Our “programs” are to lead to presence.
Investing in people who invest in people.
Our budgetary emphasis with staffing reflects this.
Let Jesus wash your feet. Soul Care is key to your work here.
We are all just as much in need of the grace and blessing we hope to administer. What are early signs you're overloaded?
Urgency isn’t the same thing as importance. Move at the speed of trust.
And remember how Jesus, who above all could have demanded, chose to invite. Even in the most urgent-feeling moments in ministry, invitation is what you have to offer people in Jesus’s name.
We tell the truth.
Direct communication is a high value that was hard won. Trusting relationships are built on being honest about our own expectations and the story we tell ourselves and how that intersects with someone else’s expectations and the stories they tell themselves. Questions are a powerful tool to disarm where those expectations run up against each other and listening well allows us to then tell the truth seasoned with grace (Col 4:6).
We are learning to take Jesus seriously and ourselves less so.
Serving from a place of joy is the goal. Laughter is medicine. Play is vital. And we can’t go far walking alone.
We are a place where you can work through hard things and grow.
Vulnerability leads creativity.
Forbearance and forgiveness go together.
Wisdom is gained when we learn which is called for. Do I need to bring up this hurt or forbear it? Meaningful relationships that last longer than a short season require both and All Souls is a place to learn this art of friendship through life’s seasons.
No one of us has all the gifts needed for this community
…so we work in tandem with the rest of Christ’s body. This includes other churches and neighbors and organizations.
“The work is mysterious, but the work is important”— actually, though.
Cultivating God’s Garden City is chiefly God’s work. We are invited in as participants to a work that is far greater than our capacity. Entering pastoral work is a public statement of dependence upon the Holy Spirit to empower you to have the character (fruit of the Spirit) to bless His people (with the gift of the Spirit). We work hard and from the heart but we cannot force growth to happen. See Tim Keller’s article “Ministry and Character” on Redeemer City to City’s website, where he describes fruitfulness as a key way to evaluate ministry rather than simply “faithfulness” or “success.”