Core values

What are core values? Businessdictionary.com defines them this way. "Core values are operating philosophies or principles that guide an organizations internal conduct as well as its relationship with the external world." In other words core values are the foundational principles that help an organization become and be themselves.

Every organization has core values, some are stated and some are not. Below are some that are stated.

Lockheed Martin states that its core values are: Passion, Risk Tolerance, Excellence, Motivation, Innovation and Empowerment. Dow proclaims theirs to be Integrity, Respect for People, Outside-in Focus, Unity, Agility and Innovation.

Having just watched a documentary on Enron, while they might have had some stated core values, here are some unstated ones which seemed to be demonstrated by some (but not by all) of their employees which led to Enron's fall: Greed, Hubris, Secrecy, Power and Fear.

Church communities have core values as well. Sometimes churches are very good at stating those core values and allowing them to give vision and direction to the church's life. Too often however I believe congregations simply assume they know what those values are, do not articulate them and thus do not allow those values to play a formal part in organizing the life and work of the community.

As First Presbyterian Church we have core values. The issue for me however is that they are somewhat buried in our many statements (Mission, Vision, Focus and Inclusion) and thus are not readily accessible..thus not overly useful.

Over the next several weeks I will be mining core values from our statements for the purpose of helping us clarify our vision; that vision that speaks clearly to who God has called us to be and to what God has called us to do.

My hope is that this mining process will be helpful to other congregations as they seek to discern their own core values and use those values to shape their vision.

John