Intimacy with God is at the heart of everything
I have been thinking quite a lot about our values lately as we look to launch Mosaic Sheffield. We have definitely bought into the five core values that we share with Mosaic LA, but I have been wondering whether we need a sixth. But, before I go into that, here are the five:
Wind – COMMISSION (Mission is why the church exists)
- The Church is a movement, not an institution
- Every follower of Jesus is commissioned by God
Water – COMMUNITY (Love is the context of all mission)
- The Church is relational, not programmatic
- Every follower of Jesus is part of a larger community
Wood – CONNECTION (Structure must always submit to Spirit)
- The Church is empowering, not controlling
- Every follower of Jesus is called and connected uniquely to serve
Fire – COMMUNION (Relevance to the culture is not optional)
- The Church is incarnational, not esoteric
- Every follower of Jesus celebrates communion with God
Earth – CHARACTER (Creativity is a natural result of spirituality)
- The Church is transforming, not conforming
- Every follower of Jesus grows in Christ-like character
Essentially, the question that I have been asking really is, “is there enough within these values to stress the importance of intimacy with God”? A conversation with my friend, Daniel, and a recent conference with John and Carol Arnott have really helped me see within my own life the need to have intimacy with God at the heart of everything I do. I am reminded too that the great commandment is a command to love God with everything we’ve got. And Jesus too showed us the pathway to a loving, intimate relationship with the Father. It is clear that the power and fruit of Jesus’ ministry flowed from His intimate relationship with God.
The closest these five values get to emphasising this place of intimacy is Fire, but I am questioning whether this is explicit enough. So the thought that I am working through at the moment is adding an additional value that is our first value:
Cloud – CALLING (Intimacy with God is at the heart of everything)
- The Church is a bride, not a building
- Every follower of Jesus is called to love God and enjoy Him
Well I would love to know what people think about this so let me know your thoughts…
February 7th, 2006 at 4:37 pm
I agree, Sam. Actually, I’d ditch the first five and make your sixth one the only value. Intimacy with God transforms the most unlikely people, the hardest stone heart. The fact that I’m still here is a demonstration of God’s daily and very intimate care… even with my steady resistance. He outwaits me.
A couple of good books, both by Brennan Manning:
“Ruthless Trust,” which talks about this very issue;
“A Glimpse of Jesus,” which may be even more shocking.
February 7th, 2006 at 5:20 pm
Sam, I hope you don’t mind me saying this but CLOUD doesn’t strike out as the others do, its a bit woolly!
Can I suggest ORE or even CORE - at the centre, at the heart - ‘Intimacy with God is at the heart of everything’
February 7th, 2006 at 5:25 pm
Thanks for your comments, Larry. And I’ll look out for those books.
Pete - what do you mean by whooly?! The thinking behind “cloud” is the way it used to represent God’s presence, glory, etc. And are you suggesting ore/core as an alternative to “heart” or as alternatives to “cloud”? Or something else?!
February 7th, 2006 at 5:29 pm
Also, just to say, I am more concerned about thoughts on the idea of the additional value rather than the wording so much - though thoughts on both will all be appreciated!
February 7th, 2006 at 5:42 pm
wow, haven’t fully digested the elemental imagery of the cloud, but I like where you’re going with it in the description… church as bride… takes on richer meanings than what I typically think…
February 7th, 2006 at 8:16 pm
Sam, I haven’t gone slavishly with the Mosaic LA core values, I do hope they are expressed in what we envision for Edinburgh. I suspect that the folk at Mosaic LA might say that devotion, worship and intimacy are expressed in all other core values, especially character being expressed in creativity. Creativity here is not just speaking about “arty” creativity, but the expression in and through our character of the fact we are a new creation. I guess that would cover being passionately creativity in our relationship with God. Sounds like a good question to ask at Origins when you go!
February 8th, 2006 at 12:19 am
Sam, when I talk about CLOUD seeming woolly, it stems from my design background. To me a cloud suggests something that can get in the way of creativity. We used to use the phrase - BLUE SKY THINKING - no clouds to interfere with the process of ideation. And as I said in one of my recent posts on Less is More, I think we as followers of Jesus need to become more transparent. We need to get away from all the stuff we carry around with us that clouds the issue.
I suggested ORE (mineral or an aggregate of minerals from which a valuable constituent, can be profitably extracted.), as it is found in the EARTH. As with the other 5 areas OREs are God given and something which in their many forms support and enhance our lives. ORE is close to CORE and the CORE is at the heart of anything. Forgive the play on words here.
ORE is also a military acronym for Operational Readiness Evaluation. Actually there are quite a few others, but one I like is Overhaul, Rebuild, and Exchange; could be a good plan for ailing churches.
February 8th, 2006 at 12:10 pm
Lon - I don’t think we often think of the church in terms of a bride, but it does capture the sense of intimacy God wants with us I think.
James - I don’t have any doubts about devotion, worship and intimacy being there undergirding each of the five values at Mosaic, I guess for me I am just thinking that I’d like this to be something that is more explicit in our core values rather than perhaps just assumed.
Pete - Thanks for your comments. The problem I would have with something like “ore” is that, for me at least, it isn’t a memorable image. I want a memorable image that helps people remember and capture the essence of the value.
February 8th, 2006 at 4:21 pm
all I can think of is captain planet.
February 8th, 2006 at 4:27 pm
Who’s captain planet?! And why does this post make you think of that/him?!
February 8th, 2006 at 4:58 pm
earth, wind, fire, water, together we summon Captain Planet! or something like that. Old cartoon.
February 8th, 2006 at 7:12 pm
Captain Planet was all I could think about, either! OK, Sam, time for an American pop culture lesson.
Captain Planet was a cheesy-yet-fabulous-in-retrospect cartoon here in America. It was a not-so-cleverly-disguised attempt to indoctrinate children into the belief that we must care for our environment. This was pointless, as it is easy to accept the idea of conservation and it doesn’t need any sugar-coating, and it was not a particularly educational cartoon either. I think they would have done better to simply put that money towards educational programs in elementary schools. And it was obnoxiously self-righteous.
The cartoon featured five children, from different continents, selected by a woman called Gaia, who represented Mother Earth or something and looked a bit like a woman from in India dressed as a goddess of some sort. The children each had a ring, with the power of one of the elements: earth, wind, water, fire and the fifth one, for some unaccountable reason, was “heart.” Generally, they just did good things like plant trees and teach school children to recycle, but sometimes a big disaster would happen, and then Gaia would summon them. Then they would use their power rings to defeat the bad guys, who were invariably named things like “Sludge” and who were continually dumping toxic waste near schools or in water supplies. They could each conjur their element: the kid for earth could cause landslides, etc; water could channel water with the force of a fire hose or stronger; wind could blow things about, and fire…well, I think that’s rather self-explanatory. The kid with “heart” could talk to the animals…but really, he was just comic relief. Never actually did much to help.
When the kids got in over their heads, they would beam their rings together and this weird voice would say, “When your powers combiiiiine, I am Captain Planet!” And they would temporarily lose their powers, but this super hero called Captain Planet, who was basically Superman with a bright blue crew-cut and allergic to toxic waste instead of kryptonite, would magically appear and save the day. Wretched cartoon, actually. But every American kid of my generation remembers it and can say the whole “Earth! Fire! Wind! Water! Heart! When your powers combiiiiine…” bit.
February 8th, 2006 at 7:17 pm
My bad, he had green hair. It was his skin that was blue. And I’ve found out a bit of trivia: It was Whoopi Goldberg who did the voice of Gaia. Here’s a website in case you want to see pictures:
http://www.turner.com/planet/
-Mel
February 8th, 2006 at 10:37 pm
how did you get this cool skin?
February 8th, 2006 at 11:23 pm
Hey Niza, the skin/theme is now available in your “Look and Feel� section when you’re logged in to your blog.
February 9th, 2006 at 12:45 pm
Hello Sam,
It looks like some good conversation going on here. As I thought about what you were questionning it took me back to Origins last year, and to the five environments that express Mosaic’s values - I was a “tour guide” with others at Origins exploring the five environments. When I thought about this I realised it’s already there. It’s wood - connection - structure must always submit to spirit. Jesus said ‘I am the vine, your are the branches, remain in me and I will remain in you’. Earlier in John’s record he had told the woman by the well that Father is searching for worshippers who will worship in spirit and in truth - this is the intimacy the Father craves.
Good conversation.
February 9th, 2006 at 1:19 pm
Thanks Geoffrey. I hadn’t seen intimacy so powerfully in the “Wood” value before. As I said to James above, I can definitely see how intimacy with God is at the heart of all these values and it is, for me, the value that undergirds all the other values. But what I am trying to work through at the moment is just whether that needs to be stated more plainly and centrally. Can the value that undergirds all other values afford to not be explicitly mentioned? Mission, community, serving, worship, and character are only going to be fruitful when they are flowing from a foundation a deep intimacy and relationship with God. I guess I am searching for the right way to communicate that.
Looking forward to everyone’s continuing thoughts and contributions!
February 9th, 2006 at 2:22 pm
Perhaps you have put your finger on the something that is important: ‘intimacy with God is at the heart of all these values’. Does this truth need to be stated as something separate or does it need to be understood as being formed or shaped when all of these values are expressed, both in the life of the Christ-follower and the Christ-community. I know that when I was wanting to mark out values as directions (east (evangelism), north (nurture), etc.) I had to conclude that all of these directions (and all points in-between) were what made us fully devoted worshippers of God. Everything though has its limitations.
February 9th, 2006 at 6:38 pm
I would agree that intimacy is assumed as the heart of each of Mosaic LA’s core values. That said, however, I really like your idea of adding a 6th — or perhaps it actually ought to be the first one — of Intimacy with Christ. During my time on a church plant team, we worked on solidifying the core values and came to the conclusion that, for us, we needed to switch Commission and Community. For us, Love comes before Mission. Without it, there is no Mission; no reason for it anyway (this is one of the things I love about Mosaic’s core values — they can be revisited, re-shaped and reorganized to be most relevant to the local community’s cultural bent).
But I still felt we didn’t completely capture the core essence of what we all felt, discovered and learned through our own journeys: that before community can be created, Love must first rock the world of at least a few on an intimate level. Individual intimacy with Christ is what creates the culture, the Ethos, of community. At least one person in the community has to have a relationship with Jesus that is growing more intimate each day. That one person’s life of intimacy (even if not very deep yet) can, and most likely will, influence the rest. Its like its the most basic and fundamental element; like Hydrogen or something.
Yes, intimacy with Jesus and an essential part of the rest of the core values, but I think it needs to be brought out as a value in itself. I say, “go for it.”
Oh, and I like the idea of the cloud. At first I felt a little like Pete, it felt a little to “fluffy”… not as strong as the others, or as strong as, say, “rain” or such.
But the more I thought about it, the more I liked the analogies I saw. Clouds bring a dynamic range of weather — from the dramatic downpours and snowstorms and lightning, to the calming, soothing showers, and cool shade on a hot day. They are blessings that cover the sun when its hot and also frustrations that obscure our view as fog. I don’t know about you, but my intimacy with Christ has brought all those dynamics into my life.
At the same time as they bring us all these various solid flavors, just try to hold or touch or squeeze a cloud. Can’t do it. Can’t define it as a “solid” non-ethereal element. So too is an intimate relationship with Jesus.
Does this make sense?
February 9th, 2006 at 7:47 pm
Yes, it does make sense, Lu. As you always do.
I like the cloud image. It’s one that God himself used with the Israelites. Clouds can’t be contained by ropes or words. It’s a good model. There are words, there are symbols, and there’s our real, living God. As a symbol, a cloud helps keep us from confusing the map and the territory.
Thanks for speaking from your experience, Lu.
February 9th, 2006 at 8:15 pm
Sam,
Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. Alex and I just got in last night from an IMN event in Miami.
I LOVE the idea of this additional value. I also like the cloud image. It speaks to me of the mystery of that intimacy. He dwell in clouds of deep darkness, etc.
I think this is not only a good but a necessary addition to the mosaic value plane.
February 9th, 2006 at 8:50 pm
Lu - Thanks for those thoughts, really good stuff. You really opened up my eyes to a whole load more thoughts flowing from the image of cloud.
Dean - Thanks for getting back to me. And you’re right, this additional value does feel like a necessity. How was Miami by the way?
February 9th, 2006 at 8:55 pm
Miami was great! We’ll have to Skype on it .. too much to tell.
Yes, necessary. I’ve always needed that aspect to be a part of our values. I’m actually re-writing The Spring’s values right now, so the question was timely.
In case you’re wondering, I’m re-writing because I sense a definite church-focused “reaction” in the original wording of the values. I’ve happily moved beyond that now and want them to reflect that.
February 9th, 2006 at 9:35 pm
Hey Mel, just realised that I never said thanks for giving me the low-down on Captain Planet! Much appreciated!
February 10th, 2006 at 12:39 am
No trouble. Lessons on speaking Americanese are gratis to those who comment on my blog.
February 10th, 2006 at 7:13 am
Through all this discussion I’m seeing CLOUD in a different way. I still struggle with it a bit and the following passage from Jude uses clouds in a negative way.
“These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualmâ€â€shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprootedâ€â€twice dead.” (Jude 1:12)
But then the positive words from Exodus.
“By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night.” (Exodus 13:21)
“So the cloud of the LORD was ………… in the sight of all the house of Israel during all their travels.” (Exodus 40: 38).
One good thing about all of this Sam, it’s made me read and cross refernce my BIBLE, and I need to do that more!
February 10th, 2006 at 8:08 am
Glad to aid your Bible study, Pete! I think for me, the use of cloud in the Bible is overwhelmingly positive and is typically indicative of the presence of God. Along with many of the others thoughts people have added during this conversation, I think this could well work for us.
February 10th, 2006 at 9:45 am
Sam
I remember reading about these values in 2003. I bought a book in the US called, “an unstoppable force” Back then didn’t know who Erwin was!!!
These values are timeless and Divine. I remember how my heart resonated with these values, and they still do!!!
I like you addition. It makes sense and it is true! You must have gotten it from God! I’m excited for you guys!!!
February 10th, 2006 at 1:46 pm
I walked through the door of Mosaic and the person standing there greeted me with a smile. In the courtyard there were booths set up for this and that, and the people attending them also greeted me and seemed to be enjoying what they were doing. They didn’t act like the usual church drudges.
Inside the foyer were some stands with prints on them. Beside each print was a word–earth, fire, etc–with an aphorism writen beneath. I had no idea what they meant.
I took a random seat in the auditorium, and the assistant pastor came and found me there. We’d met by Email, and he followed my trail from the courtyard so he could say “Hi.”
I went to Mosaic looking for something. I knew God was long gone, but perhaps the church could offer something like the friendship I’d had years ago. What I got instead, started subliminally by the greeters and continued by everything else I saw there, was the presence of God among these people.
How much had that to do with the stated “core values?” I don’t know. I was there because Mosaic had been described to me as a church that supported creativity, which made it unique in my experience. I stayed there, and started working with them, not because of the core values but because of the way the people expressed the Holy Spirit. There was life in that place, people following God and expecting him to do good things in their lives. There was none of the anxious entreaty prevalent in other churches–”Oh, God, if you can see fit to let a crumb drop from your table for us to pick up”–but honest knowledge that God was there and leading.
The cloud of God suffused that auditorium. Even I could feel it, and three weeks later God got me back.
February 10th, 2006 at 3:43 pm
Sam,
Did you hear the recent restatement of the core values Erwin did at Mosaic a couple of weeks ago. It will be helpful for you as you get started.
The core values are the positive peer pressure felt at Mosaic. We are who we are because we embrace these values over policies and practices. For me, intimacy with God permeates all of the 5 values. We are on mission, we love, we serve, we celebrate, and we change our character all because of our intimate relationship with God. Without that intimacy none of the others would happen. For me extracting intimacy out of the 5 diminishes their impact. Intimacy with God is more than a value, it is the essence of who we are.
Our core convictions emphasize this intimacy. They state the following:
The Bible is God’s authoritative word to us.
Jesus is the only hope for a lost and broken world.
The local church is God’s agent for redemptive change.
Every Christian is called and gifted by God to serve the Body and seek the Lost.
The Church is called to whole earth evangelism.
Just some thoughts…
February 10th, 2006 at 4:02 pm
Eric, thanks for your comments! I can definitely see how having the additional value as just one of the rest could diminish the impact of it as really being more than a value (I like how you put it: essence of who we are). At the same time I do want to being very strongly communicating “intimacy with God is at the heart of everything”. I feel like that needs to be stated explicitly and, even with those core convictions, there doesn’t - for me at least - seem to me an explicit enough mention of intimacy with God being the essence of who we are. I guess I’m just wanting this to be something we communicate very clearly and don’t let it just be assumed.
February 10th, 2006 at 4:06 pm
[…] Sparked by Sam’s post on intimacy with God as a church value, I’ve been thinking about church from two standpoints. One question is about what kind of church would revolutionize the world. The other question has to do with what kind of church would capture me. […]
February 10th, 2006 at 10:33 pm
It’s interesting that the discussion has shifted to looking at the whole set of values. I notice that MOSAIC core convictions as stated above do not specifically mention the Holy Spirit. In fact in this whole discussion the HS has only been mentioned once. We cannot forget the HS. We have a Tri-une God, 3 in 1. I have therefore taken the liberty of re-arranging the MOSAIC list to form a statement, which includes the HS.
‘Christians are called and gifted by God and, through His authoritative Word, and a personal (intimate) relationship with Jesus, are empowered by the Holy Spirit to serve the Body and seek the Lost through local and global evangelism.’
Some time ago I used an image of God in my xanga blog (www.xanga.com/intheson?nextdate=8%2f24%2f2005+15%3a50%3a46.460&direction=n), of Father, Son and Holy Spirit related to a triangle. I went on to suggest that as God’s all around us, He must hava 3-Dimensional (or even 4) quality! We are made in His image and we too are 3-dimensional. I therefore suggested a Tetrahedral form (4 triangular sides) as an image which visually unites all the elements of God + man. Three of the sides can be regarded as Father, Son and Holy Spirit leaving the one remaining triangle to complete the form. God wants US - YOU and ME to be that side, to complete the form. He wants to work together with us in unity. He gives us His Word, He gives us gifts and He wants us to use them to reach out and build bridges for the Kingdom.
I think I’ll re-post some of these images on vox.
February 10th, 2006 at 11:05 pm
I like what Eric writes and have printed this out so I can do some reflecting on it. The conversation is really good showing just how multi-layered the elements are and I would probably explore them further before moving to a sixth.
However, with the conversation moving, as you continue to more explicity express intimacy, what about air? Air is all around us and within us. Dallas Willard points out that the literal translation for “the kingdom of heaven” is actually “the kingdom of the heavens” - Hebrews believing in a number of heavens - remember Paul describing how ‘I know a man in Christ who … was caught up to the third heaven’ (2 Corinthians 12:2) - beginning with the heaven immediately around them: “Our Father, who dwells in the heavens, hallowed be your name …”. Where, then, is Father?
February 11th, 2006 at 9:00 am
Geoffrey, Eric’s thoughts have been very helpful, as have Alex’s via a separate email conversation. I am definitely sensing that adding something like intimacy with God as a separate value could actually serve to almost pull that away as being at the heart and essence of all the values. I am just trying to work through how that gets communicated though.
February 11th, 2006 at 3:16 pm
Great discussion!
I think I did a poor job making my point by listing our core convictions. Prayer, intimacy with God, the Holy Spirit, the Father, the Son, the Scriptures, etc. all fuel us on a daily basis. Without these, we could not do what we have been called to do (mission, love, serve, commune, and character transformation). Core values are not what we believe, they shape how we live together. For a link to a full listing of our doctrinal beliefs go to http://www.mosaic.org/faq.
Values are what create the ethos or environment a person experiences when they come to Mosaic. In other words, our values are communal expressions of what we are all called to do. Just a thought, but if you list what the community is to be about and what the individual is to be about, you send a mixed message. Some will grab hold of the individual values without ever experiencing the communal values.
Keep searching the Scriptures and asking the Lord to guide you to know how to express His heart for your community. What do you want people who do not know God or who walked away from God to experience when they step into your community?
February 13th, 2006 at 10:33 am
Thanks again, Eric. I feel like things are much clearer in my head with all this now. I like what you said about “Core values are not what we believe, they shape how we live together”.
The process of thinking through all of this has been really helpful. Thanks to everyone for all your comments!
February 13th, 2006 at 1:08 pm
Sam,
I like the concept a great deal. I agree that intimacy is the key out of which all the others will flow . . . The main thing I like is the solid “value & vision” you have for the church. God will use that in deep ways - I am excited to follow your journey!
mark
February 13th, 2006 at 1:10 pm
Hey - just saw your planting in the UK - I’m a brit living in the US - what’s the feedback your getting in the uk to all this? (mosaic?)
February 13th, 2006 at 1:54 pm
This has been an interesting conversation for me because, to be honest, I know almost nothing about Mosaic itself– I just know a few people who attend it. I grew up in the Cincinnati Vineyard, cleaning peoples’ toilets and handing out free Cokes.
I like the sound of some of these core values, although the elements seemingly attached to them were very confusing at first; I had to go to the Mosaic website and hunt around before I could even begin to make heads or tails of them. I think that they’re good, though, once you understand them; I’m very tuned into sensory stuff and I love nature, so being able to put a fundamental, nature-derived image with a value feels very intuitive to me.
It seems to me, though, that regardless of how you package your values, it is the people that will make or break them.
Perhaps, Sam, that is what makes intimacy with God so key: either it is there in the people, or it isn’t– you can’t fake that stuff forever. If it is there, people will sense that. And, it will have a profound impact on the way people interact with each other. How can the intimate knowlege of who we are in relation to God help but instruct us as to who others are in relation to God, and how they must then be treated? If the intimacy isn’t there then it will all just become a game to see who’s cooler than who and who’s holier than who.
Bottom line: Trying to live out any set of values without that intimacy is just an exercise in futility, so the values only come into play once the intimiacy is there– and if the intimacy is there, I’m pretty sure that the rest of the values would straighten themselves out eventually even if one of them wasn’t quite on-target.
February 13th, 2006 at 2:28 pm
Thanks for stopping by, Mark. I’m not sure that I can really answer your question about how well things are being received here in the UK in terms of what we’re looking to do just beause we’re so early in the process. In just conversations we’ve had one-on-one with people though, people are really excited about what we’re embarking on, even if not alway quite getting it. Well, the Christians don’t always get it…non-Christians seem to get what we’re trying to do much easier. Also, Erwin McManus (leader of Mosaic LA) has been over a few times now and has been very well received by church leaders.
February 13th, 2006 at 2:45 pm
Some great thoughts, Mel. Thank you. I do think that the values come across much clearer verbally than when they are just written down like they are on this post. When they are just printed words, it is very easy to end up just thinking, “you what?”!! I am much more comfortable conversing about our values in a context of dialogue then giving them out as a list on a piece of paper. I hope that out of that conversation though, people will find the images/straplines useful as a visual reminder/pointer to what we are about as a community and the type of community we want to be.
You’re right about the best packaged values being pretty meaningless if they aren’t being fleshed out by a genuine community of people who have a living and intimate relationship with God - both individually and corporately.
Thanks again for you thoughts.
February 14th, 2006 at 3:10 pm
More on people interacting with each other here: http://parke.voxtropolis.com/2006/02/12/angels/ How can we implement these core values to be “angels” in each others’ lives? Do these values start and end in our church community? What would it look like to really own these values and live them out, not just in small group, but while sitting in the bar watching the game (sorry, in the pub watching the match), while riding the bus on the way to work, while mowing the lawn and stopping to chat across the fence with your neighbor?
Presumably a lot of you are Mosaic-ites; anybody have some good stories about how one of these values has affected your interactions with those around you?
February 14th, 2006 at 4:45 pm
Hi Sam,
Forgive me for being a little late in joining this conversation (pressure of work - euch!) but I just wanted to affirm your additional value and the cloud metaphor. God comes in clouds - I’m sure you know all the relevant verses. Entering that ‘Cloud of His Presence’ must be the most significant moment in all of our lives, and I agree with all who have supported the view that it is out of this intimacy that we are empowered to be the community we are called to be. Yes, it’s implicit in the other values, but I think it deserves stating, and I think it should be number 1.
God bless
February 20th, 2006 at 3:39 pm
I always saw the 5 core values as community values that feed an intimacy. I’m not sure if I would add a 6th, but you could talk about gravity: intimacy that holds all the elements together in positive relationship…
Just a crazy thought.
SO..I subscribed to your podcast. I eagerly await all your wise words.
February 20th, 2006 at 4:42 pm
Nice to have you back commenting on my blog, Lori! We are sticking with the 5 values. It’s been a really useful process though thinking through it all and the combination of everyone’s comments here and some emails with Alex and Erwin have been really helpful. The conclusion I have come to is that I don’t want to make something that is the essence of each of the values something separate from them.
As to the podcast, I need to update the link as we’ve changed our domain name since I originally set that up. You’ll then need to resubscribe (not that I yet know when the first one will be up!)
February 20th, 2006 at 9:59 pm
[…] Inspired by Sam’s mosaic values discussion, i’ll be posting some missional values i wrote up a while back. I’ll be using trackback’s for the first time and posting in chunk the next few days as Parke suggests. They way they’re written up is not in stone, but the convictions behind them are very foundational to me. Please feel free to critique and comment. […]
December 1st, 2007 at 4:26 am
beautiful agony free sample