This series will explore the values that shape missional communities at The Austin Stone.  These values are rooted in the gospel and driven by our motivations to love God and love people.  In this series, I will explore:

• Why Values?
• The Word
• Prayer
• Demonstrating the Kingdom
• Declaring the Gospel

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Missional Community Values

I’ve written plenty on this blog about missional communities: why we pursue them, what they do, how to coach them, and so on.  I’ve also introduced the “Missional Community Roadmap” below, which serves as a guide to our training, coaching, and assessment.

There is a layer to what we are doing that I haven’t unpacked yet, and I want to spend the next few posts working through our core values as we pursue missional communities.  But why have values in the first place?

Values, quite simply, flow from our motivations and desires.  If God has done a work in us to receive the gospel by repentance and faith, then we are given a new heart with new desires and motivations – we will love God and love our neighbor.

Values give some shape and direction to our motivations – if we love God, we will value what he values.  If we love people, we will have specific ways that we love them.  Gospel-driven, Word-centered values are the product of new motivations and desires that come from our new identity in Christ.

As we pursue loving God and loving our neighbor together in communities on mission, there are four core values that drive our life together:

1. The Word of God
2. Prayer
3. The Demonstration of the Kingdom
4. The Declaration of the Gospel

These values are rooted in our new identity as redeemed sinners who have been adopted into the family of God.  I’ll dive more deeply into each one individually over the next few posts.