Mission Movement

We did an exercise as a staff where we were to pretend that we were at lunch with someone talking to them about our church and on a napkin we needed to write our mission, values and strategy. It was reassuring to hear that when it came to mission we were for the most part aligned; however, there were some different perspectives.
The real challenge came to discussing our values…not because we agreed or didn’t agree, but because you can see that our hearts as a staff prioritize each value differently. What might be important to one, may not be to another. But the most interesting debate in my eyes came to the values of Excellence and Creativity. Half the staff saw Excellence as the highest value (of course after loving God) and then the other half of the staff saw Creativity as the highest value (of course after loving God).
The argument for excellence was that no matter what we do we plan, process and proceed in a way that demands excellence and nothing else. That with all risks we measure out foreseeable consequences and benefits.
The argument for creativity replied that we wouldn’t be moving in the direction that we were moving if it weren’t for a drive to take risks, to think outside the box, to go above and beyond. And even if it were crappy, if we believed that it moved us in the direction God wanted us to go, we would do it and if we were mistaken we would learn.
In the end it was decided that both creativity and excellence go hand in hand when it comes to this church. One moves the other, one is the left foot and the other is the right foot. But, what drives our desire to be creative and excellence in the end comes from our mission which is to Love God, Love others and Make Disciples.