John 6:63 (NKJV) The letter kills. The words I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. Together, as a community in Christ, we share a common faith, as well as common values, i.e. motivations (why we do what we do). The values of God are a deposit of His Spirit in us.# Our standards, prayers, and labors are drawn from these virtues. Values are things worth living for, fighting for, and sacrificing for. Is the list below exhaustive? By no means!* However, these are our core values, roots of life, far reaching and touching all corners of the faith. Allow these statements to encourage and challenge you to greatness for God in Christ.
We value the unborn and their right to live.
We value the seasoned and the quality of their lives.
We value the eternal and abundant life offered to man in Christ.
To value life is to value existence and the purpose of it in the Lord. When a person loses the respect for and sanctity of life, unless we cherish life, we will behave no better than the animals we were given by the Lord to steward. Looking into natural and spiritual creation is to look into the face of our Creator. That God gave us life is the basis of discovering how to receive and live our lives. To love life is a life fulfilled in the will of God.
We value the rule of God in the hearts of men.
We value the position of the Church as the first fruits of the Kingdom.
We value the demonstration of God’s Kingdom: His love, authority, and order in the earth.
To value the Kingdom of God is to express our never ending devotion to God. We celebrate the unquestioned rule of our Heavenly Father. All human pursuit finds its context under the mighty hand of God. From “Our Father” to “Give us this day” to “Forever and ever, Amen!”, His will becomes the originating and deciding factor in all we do. Submitting to Christ as Lord establishes vertical authority (Who is in charge and why), defines proper priorities, and reveals the wisdom of God to all governments, principalities, and powers.
We value the universal Church, the body of Christ throughout the ages.
We value the blessing that God commands upon the brethren that dwell together in unity.
We value local assemblies of faith who make disciples and lift a godly standard within their communities.
We value our common union in Christ. We must be willing to strengthen and defend the fabric of human relationships (from marriage to friendship to laboring together), embracing and serving each other in Christ. The interdependence of human beings, especially in the household of faith calls for our laboring together. The cohesion of our community, our churches, our families, and our lives are expressed within communion. We commune together as Christ Jesus brings whosoever will to His table. We sabbath together, resting in Him.
We value the illumination and revelation of the Holy Spirit.
We value the gifts of the Spirit of God which teach, inform, and direct us.
We value what the Lord brings to each of us in prayer and meditation, worship and teaching.
To value the prophetic is to value the whole of God’s dynamic communication with His people. The Lord speaks clearly by the Holy Spirit. We embrace our Heavenly Father's revelation as essential to a true relationship with Christ. We can obey only what we know God is clearly saying to us. Discerning God, seeing and hearing Him, in this life then, is all important to us, as disciple of Christ.
We value the written Word of God: keeping it without compromise.
We value sharing the gospel with the nations and passing our blessing on to future generations.
We value holiness and godliness with a servant's heart, transparent motives, and a faithfulness to God's call.
To value covenant is to place worth on our relationship with God and His purposes through Christ Jesus our Lord. In the Canon of Scripture and our ongoing living walk with Him. God gives us defined boundaries and borders with a clear calling and firm footing as sons of God. Therefore, we walk in the steps of Jesus, that our selves, our families, our marriages may reflect Him. We share the Gospel, that all nations of the earth may, as we do, look for “that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ”.
We value God’s grace to always receive and abundantly give the love of God.
We value restoration in Christ, tangibly serving the infirmed, the outcasts, the weak, and the poor.
We value righteousness and godly traditions, being committed to sowing these into our families and our society.
To value justice is to do what is right by God and man. The love of God must have practical expression or it is not real. The mercy of God, the withholding of execution, of final judgment, allows us to bring healing and deliverance to people. By creating time, God has given us opportunity to illustrate His benevolence and good will throughout the earth until the return of Christ and the end of all things. Charity begins at home, but will spread around the world through us.
We value the unique and preeminent place of Jesus Christ above everything else.
We value Jesus Christ as the risen Son of God, God in the flesh, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
We value Christ as Lord of this life, the Giver of Eternal Life, as Him to Whom we must give an account.
To value our Lord Jesus Christ is to affirm His “one of a kind” nature. By the design of our Heavenly Father, we will be conformed to Christ's image. Christ is our destiny, our hope, our soul's anchor, and the reason we live. Jesus elevates our discussion to Heaven and brings forth Divinity to the earth. We are so dependent upon Him, so alive through Him, that we cannot live apart from Him. He is the peak, the plumb line of the heart, the reality of life, the greatest of all values and the standard from which all is measured.
*Among these values, subjects such as“Faith” and “Love” are not given individual statements. These and other vital truths do appear within and throughout these value statements. The seven values given are distinctive, as written, to this gathering. They are essentially as written when River Crest Church was founded in 1998 and are more descriptive of us today than ever. A stated value is not something that we should merely want to be true or makes us look trendy, but are the real motivators behind what is done. Values are the clearest expression of the heart, and reveal the hidden roots of a person or a group. Before the Lord Who judges us, these are our main values as a community of faith. Our doctrines are orthodox historically and in accord with our denominational covering, therefore they do not need us to restate them, but reprint them. Thank you
– Pastor Jim Pelletier 1998, revised 2005, revised 2011