Verve Value 3: Belong TO Become
I mentioned awhile back that at Verve we recently went through a long process of naming our values. We felt very certain about our values – what it is that impassion and guide our decisions and makes us distinctive from other churches – but we wanted to give them words. Clarifying a church’s values bring unity, provide momentum, and help future generations understand and stay true to the original vision of the church.
We named five values, and I thought I’d share them over the next weeks. If you’re from Verve, you’ll recognize these values because we live them out everyday. If you’re a pastor from another church, hopefully reading our values will help you to think about your church’s values.
Our third value is:
Belong TO Become
· We create a culture of grace and invest in relationships, believing it’s the best way to lead people into God’s grace and a growing relationship with Jesus.
In most churches, if you show up you’re expected to behave. It doesn’t matter if you don’t believe in Jesus, we expect you to behave like you do. No smoking, cursing, drinking, or voting for Democrats. Then we hope you’ll get to a place where you believe in Jesus. Then, once you believe, you can belong.
At Verve, we reverse that order. If you show up, you belong. You’ll be befriended, loved, and accepted immediately. Then we hope you’ll get to a place where you believe in Jesus. Then, once you believe, and only once you believe, will you be expected to start behaving. It’s at the point when you invite Jesus into your life that you can start becoming everything God always meant for you to become.