OTTAWA VALLEY VINEYARD -Core Values
INTIMATE WORSHIP
Worship is our highest value. It is something we choose to do in response to who God is. It is really for God and not for us, but the great mystery is how blessed we are when we do it. Worship is interactive and can be a bit spontaneous. As we connect with God and express our love for Him, we experience His love for us. Though we enjoy songs sung about God, what we love most is singing simple songs to God.
Most important is the condition of our hearts. Style doesn’t matter much as long as it is honest, enjoyable and understandable as an expression of our community’s local culture.
We think that the expression of emotion in worship is pretty natural, but we’ll always take time to explain why we’re feeling what we’re feeling for anyone who’s watching.
THE MAIN AND THE PLAIN
We value simplicity. We aim to have the church’s energies and activities reflect a simple, balanced approach to community life. By keeping our focus on following Jesus, and telling His story we (and those who watch us), will be spared distraction over non-essentials.
We value the bible basics and aren’t keen on getting caught up in controversies. We also recognize the value of church history for its encouraging and humbling lessons.
AUTHENTIC RELATIONSHIPS
We place a high value on “being real”, appearing to be what we are and being what we appear. Honest relationships are a safeguard from a phony church culture and from hypocrisy. We are all people with messes of lives trying to become a little bit more like Jesus. We try to improve ourselves because we’re grateful for what He has done for us, not because we think it makes Him love us more.
We value people and relationships over programs. Programs are created to serve the people. People don’t exist to serve the programs.
EVERYONE BELONGS
We believe that a group should be defined by its centre, not by its borders. If you are interested in getting to know Jesus better, then you are just like us. It doesn’t matter what you wear, what you know, how much you earn, how perfectly you live or if you speak in religious language. If you’re focused on Jesus, then you belong.
We may at some time do membership, but it would never be a club with special benefits, it would just be your way of letting us know that more than just belonging, you wish to contribute your time and resources to the church’s growth.
EVERYBODY GETS TO PLAY
God can and does use anyone – the brand new Christian to the mature disciple. God gives a lot of “beginner’s grace” to people who start ministering in His name. We believe in training, but that it is important to start “doin’ the stuff” right away. You don’t have to be special; you just need a willing and humble heart. There is lots of room for mistakes and we’re all learning. Who’s the minister? ...everybody!!!
NATURALLY SUPERNATURAL
We value the supernatural well explained. God is real. We welcome and seek the power of the Holy Spirit to heal and touch us on every level be it physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual…whatever. We welcome emotional expression in worship and prayer. We welcome the expression of spiritual gifts as service to the community. However, we want to approach these areas thoughtfully and ensure that we don’t diminish these great experiences by engaging in by false hype, “group psychology”, or “religious emotionalism”. We want to walk in balance. We’ll pray hard with our eyes open.
Our style will tend to be laid back and “dialed-down”. We don’t want to take ourselves too seriously. We acknowledge that we are human and sometimes these things are a bit beyond us. We want to leave lots of room for God to work, and lots of room for our mistakes. We’ll always try to explain what’s going on for anyone who might be uncomfortable.
SHARING
God’s love is practical. We will always encourage those who have resources to share with those who need resources. God calls everyone to give faithfully and at times sacrificially. For some that means loonies and for some it means millions.
FUN
Sometimes, we as Christians take ourselves a bit too seriously. Loving God and loving people ought to be extremely rich and lots of fun. We know that life is not always easy, but even hard times and hard work can be filled with joy when we invite God into them.
