Why State Why? Top 10 Reasons to Articulate Values
On a recent post, Revisit Your DNA, I was asked by Kevin Rossen if it’s worth even stating values. I wish this was a silly question, but it’s not. It’s easy to run into weak examples of values articulation and more importantly, feeble efforts at developing leaders. In such a context it is worth examining the whole idea.
Placed in context of vision and clarity, values, or what I call missional motives, define 1/5 of the equation. Of five things we must be clear on, the question of “why we do what we do” is critically important. I think of values as springboards for daily action, the glue of the team, and collective soul of the church. Why should you state what you value?
- Enable your ministry to do more of what it does best
- Define the basis of good decision-making in order to release leaders
- Free your church to say no to things other churches do
- Connect people emotionally to the stuff that never changes
- Facilitate change easier because the core ideals are clear
- Attract more people (staff, leaders, members) who share your motives
- Filter out people who don’t share your values (blessed subtraction)
- Demonstrate God-honoring unity AND collective personality
- Increase trust by making what’s most important more concrete
- Create enthusiasm because everyone knows “why we are going to win”
The technical definition of values in Church Unique is “shared convictions that guide decision-making and reveal the strengths of the church” Remember, a river without banks is just a large puddle. What matters most in your church or ministry?
Thanks for the shootout and the follow up blog post. I resonate quite a bit with #9 because I’ve seen how crippling it is for a church to not have everyone on the same page about the direction and values of the church. This seems especially true for people in leadership positions, either paid staff or volunteers. If they and the higher level leaders don’t have the same ideas of where they’re going there is likely to be trouble.
Thanks again for challenging my thoughts!
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