Recently, I ran across the values of a church, and then this amazing set of semi-core values. Notice how they reveal the spirit and personality of the church and its leadership. It is highly likely that this articulation of personality draws and develops similarly-wired leaders as well. I would attend!

Not every church needs a fun set of semi-core values like this.

But, every church’s culture is driven by its core values, whether they are stated or not.

A well-crafted, and stated, set of values…

…magnify distinctive strengths

…attract missional cohorts

…expose leadership mavericks

…empower consistent decisions

…reveal evangelistic personality

Many churches have a list of values that are uninspiring and meaningless, restating the obvious.

Few churches have values that enlist people to live Christ-centered, inspired and with meaning.

Put simply, values should be the cultural thermostat, not the organizational thermometer.

From experience, values that have been blindly copied from another church, or pragmatically pulled together in an hour or so, are a special type of thermometer.

Here are seven questions to determine if your team REALLY shares core values.

Start a conversation on crafting values that drive a culture of discipleship here.