My Values
Nick Dimmick
Grace - I believe that the Christian life begins and continues by grace through faith in Christ alone. Therefore, our appreciation of this most marvelous truth of Godʼs love and grace is the best motivator for following Christ obediently. (Galatians 3:1-3 / Ephesians 2:8-9)
Bible - I believe that the Bible is true, our ultimate authority, culturally relevant for life today, and an essential catalyst for significant change in our lives. Therefore, it is imperative that we learn to feed ourselves with it on a regular basis, and honestly wrestle with it as we teach others to follow Christ in every area of life. (Matthew 4:4 / 2 Timothy 3:16)
Prayer - I believe that God invites His people to pray in order to enjoy Him and to hear His voice of affirmation, conviction, and direction. I believe that God hears and answers our prayers according to His will. Therefore, prayer is the foundation upon which the lives and ministry of a church must be built. (Colossians 4:2 / 1 Thessalonians 5:17)
Relationship - I believe that life-change happens best in the context of rich, others-centered relationships. Nothing reveals better the quality of our relationship with the Lord than the quality of what we offer in our human relationships. Therefore, in order to love well, we need to be in deep authentic relationships. (1 Corinthians 13:1-3 / Galatians 5:13-14)
Discipleship and Mission - I believe the whole mission of the church can be summed up within discipleship. Jesus commissioned us to make disciples of all nations, but we tend to produce programs rather than disciples. If we focus on building programs, leaders, and even churches, we will likely succeed in these goals, but miss the point of our mission. If we focus on making disciples, we will naturally get strong leaders, appropriate programs, and thriving churches. In recent years, the Missional Movement has risen in the West. While this is a great step in the right direction, I believe it will eventually fail if it puts the foremost emphasis on any mission other than that of making disciples. (Matthew 28:18-20)
Outreach - I believe that those without a personal relationship with Christ matter to God. Because God values every person, we all should be involved both locally and globally in His purpose of bringing individuals into a living and hopeful relationship with Him. Therefore, we are to develop creative and free environments and loving relationships where individuals can puzzle over, ponder, and pursue God. This requires a willingness to sacrifice our consumer mentality of selfishness with our time, energy, and resources. (Luke 15 / Colossians 4:5-6)
People - I believe that every believer should be intentionally serving, ministering, and courageously risking involvement in othersʼ lives as Jesus did. God has designed His church to grow and function on the basis of spiritual gifts. Therefore, we should encourage and equip all Christ followers to discover, develop, and use their spiritual gifts through the Spiritʼs empowerment and direction. (Ephesians 4:11-16 / 1 Peter 4:10-11)
Authenticity - I believe that God desires us to be honest and transparent in our relationship with Him and each other; which results in passionate, real worship, and ministry that entices people to follow Christ more fully. (Job / The Psalms)
Maturity - I believe that the goal and normal lifestyle for every believer should be full devotion and continuous growth in Christ-likeness. Therefore, salvation is but the first step on the road to spiritual maturity that should result in believers reproducing themselves in others for His kingdomʼs agenda. (Philippians 2:12-13 / 2 Timothy 2:1-2)
Stewardship - I believe that everything was created by God and is owned by God. Likewise, our material possessions are from and belong to God. When God chooses to bless us with money, possessions, success, or free time, our appropriate response is to offer these blessings back to God for His glory and service. I believe that, as followers of Jesus, we should be giving back to Him a minimum of 10% (a tithe) of our incomes. We do this not because God or a church needs our money, nor out of guilt; but rather, we give because God gave to us. (Matthew 6:21 / Acts 20:35)
Worship - I believe that we are to honor God with passionate praise and worship through our daily lives of devotion and growth. Therefore, we worship by giving all that we have to God, every day of the week, for His glory. (Psalm 100 / Romans 11:33-36)
Creativity - I believe that God created everything out of nothing and continues to create and recreate to this day. As people made in His image, and as believers re-made in Christ, I believe that we should be creative personally and as a church. I think Christians should be the most creative people around. (Genesis 1 and 2 / 2nd Corinthians 5:17)
Excellence - I believe that God calls all His children to do everything as well as possible. I believe the church should be characterized by people giving their best in service to God, and that this will be made evident by the excellent results produced. No one can be great all the time, but we can do better than we usually do. Let us be as diligent about our holy work as the world is about its unholy work. (Colossians 3:23)
Innovation - I believe that God is calling His people to do a new thing. God has lead His people to “do church” in new ways throughout history. I think the church in America is in a transition time, leaving the old ways and inventing the new ways. What will the new church look like? I donʼt know, but Iʼm eager to find out. I pray that the church in America will experience a true revival and begin to impact our world the way God has called us to. (Isaiah 43:19)
Courage - I believe that the Christian life is dangerous if lived well. Specifically, we need to be courageously diving into each others lives in ways that are scary and messy. We spend too much time on the surface, afraid to go deep, and this robs us of true friendship, mentoring, and transformation. (Proverbs 27:17)
Service - I believe that service is central to living the Christian life. We are to have the attitude of a servant, considering others as more important than our selves. I believe God is raising up a new generation of followers who will restore the churchʼs role as a servant of the community. (Philippians 2:1-10)
Simplicity - I believe that church should be simple. As our world gets increasingly complicated, I believe the church should promote a way of life that is counter-cultural in itʼs simplicity. Rather than offering every conceivable service or product, the church should emphasize those things that are foundational for spiritual growth. (Acts 2:42-47)
Focus - Similar to simplicity, I believe that the church should focus on doing a few things really well, rather than doing a whole lot of things with mediocrity. Focus pours the energy and resources of the church into just a few things so that they might have a great impact. I believe the church should focus on large group worship, small group discipleship, strategic service, and outreach. (Acts 2:42-47)
