We’ve been taking a little time out during our services to look at who we are as a church and where we are going. We looked at our history, we looked at the mission Jesus called not only this church to but the world wide church, which we are certainly a part of. We really want you to hear the story of Silver Creek, which each of you are clearly a part of. Your stories are what make our collective story possible. Our request was that you send us your stories. We still want to hear what God has been doing in your life and where Silver Creek might be a part of that. Even if you think we know it, please take a moment and send us a quick email. Your stories are essential, we will beg but we’re hoping you don’t make us.
This morning we want to begin to narrow our focus a bit around the mission that we talked about last week. The mission being to help people transform their lives to become more and more like Jesus. The Bible describes this as becoming a disciple. Becoming a learner of all that Jesus is and does and then allowing choices and actions to be transformed into the image of Jesus.
The Bible is packed full of descriptions, examples and directions for what a disciple looks like. We believe that Jesus narrowed it down into five key ideas, or major areas that guide us both as individuals and as a church. These five areas give us the clearest understanding for how we are to measure, gauge and guide all that we do as a church. We’ve labeled or identified these five ideas as our core values. Our look at the core values will be brief in these short talks. You can get a more in depth description by listening to our recent sermon series WHY, which you can find on our web site.
Here’s what is beautiful about our core values. We didn’t create them. We didn’t dream them up. They are laid out for us in scripture. What’s very convenient is that the core values give direction to transformed disciples of Jesus, and at the same time they give us direction, focus and guidance as a church. That means that what we are trying to accomplish as a church, is what also needs to be accomplished in our individual lives. There’s no awkward tension or battle to fight, there is no conflict surrounding something that is great for an individuals because it is also great for the church as a whole. We want the five core values to be lived out and evident in the lives of people at Silver Creek and in Silver Creek.
Our five core values are Invite, Worship, Connect, Serve and Train.
From our perspective and planning there is a natural progression or process that might occur in individuals as the core values impact their lives. We are going to walk you through that process as we explain these Core Values over the next couple of weeks. It all begins with Invite. An individual receives an invitation to begin a relationship with Jesus that will transform every part of their life. The invitation that an individual receives is most often from someone else that has already started to walk through life with Jesus. It’s not the job or responsibility of those that do the inviting to make a person receive or accept the invitation but rather to simply invite people to what we discovered to be true in our lives.
As a church we want to provide multiple avenues and opportunities for you to invite people you know to events and programs that will directly Invite people to know Jesus or help break down barriers that might prevent someone from receiving the invitation. When we bring in Taproot Theater, our students go to Wild Waves or we put on a Trunk or Treat combined with a Chili cook-off. Our goal is to create a non-threatening environment for you to invite people where they can discover that church isn’t a dangerous place, it’s not a boring place, it’s not a place that requires them to change, just in order to be here. We want to be about transforming the way people view church and this is a good place for them to be. We want to create a culture that will allow people to be open to what the church might have to say about life.
That in times of need or when people are spiritually questioning, they will consider Silver Creek a safe place to find answers. We also provide invite events that are exciting, fun and engaging where Jesus will be clearly presented. The best two examples of that are KidFest and our Easter Egg Hunt both are combined with FUSiON creating incredible mornings with lots of ways and reasons to invite people to attend. At FUSiON a life virtue, that was lived out and demonstrated by Jesus, is presented in multiple ways. There aren’t events or activities that we create or provide where someone new isn’t welcome. People can step into Silver Creek in really any thing we do.
We do however want to be strategic and intentional with events, activities and programs that we provide. We want to create the best chance for positive responses when you bring a friend to an Invite Event. If every time we announce an event, we say, “Don’t forget to invite a friend”, it becomes background noise and you’ll miss it and tune us out. However, because we will only encourage you to invite friends, neighbors and family when we’ve intentionally designed an Invite Event, you can know that when we offer an Invite opportunity that “it’s go time”. This is it. This is where we step up, find some courage and invite that person that we’ve been praying for.
As individuals we each should be looking for opportunities and ways to invite people to discover what we’ve found to be true in Jesus. As a church we want to be providing ways to help that process and creating natural entry and starting points for the people you invite.
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