Core Values are our deepest held beliefs, reflecting who we are and what we hold dear. They are powerful, motivating forces in our lives, calling us to commitment and adventure. They are sometimes called our intersubjective reality, reminding us that whether or not we can articulate them, these core values are always there, like each heart beat and every breath. In fact, our core values are generally taken for granted more often than not.
Godly values enhance the most rewarding vision for life by providing direction, and so their absence can be costly: Where there is no vision the people perish.
At Oak Park, these three very distinct Core Values make us who we are:
Loving God
Above all else we seek to obey the Great Commandment, to love GOd with “heart, soul, mind and strength”(Luke 10:27). We try to express this in everything we do, from personal and corporate worship to the way we relate to one another.
Loving Others
Luke 10:27 also tells us to “love our neighbour as ourself”, which means we not only love our friends and those close to us, but we also extend that love to strangers, including people in our immediate community, our city, country and even the world. Everyone we meet during the daily course of our lives provides us with a chance to show God’s love. We want to love the way Jesus loves!
Serving the World
We are on a mission, a journey to bring the Good News of Jesus Christ to a lost, lonely and hurting world. We do this through some very purposeful outreach programs such as the Heart for Home Mission in Haiti and Inn from the Cold to name a few (you’ll find others on the sidebar).
