Indentifying Core Values of the New Expedition
By Ken Willard
All churches have core values. Your ministry, no matter how old or how new, is operating now with a set of values. Our role as leaders in the church is to invest the time and energy to identify those values and to use them wisely as we make ministry decisions and guide us toward God’s vision. Even with a system in place to let you know when you are straying beyond one or more of your core values, you will likely face storms in your ministry which could put those systems at risk.
The core values you discern for your ministry are too important for you to let anything distract you or force you to cross over the line. While it is true that all churches have core values, Author Ken Willard thinks there would be very few of them that have ever gone through a process of intentional discernment to identify those values.
Core Values is on of 23 titles that make up The Greatest Expedition series, leading to healthy, growing congregations.
Chapters include:
- What Do I Pack?
- Preparation
- Let’s Get Started
- Discerning the Core Values
- Core Value Discernment (Prayer, Research, Survey, Leadership, Assemble, Communicate)
Ken Willard has poured years of ministry leadership experience into the pages of this resource, which is filled with adaptable and customizable concepts for churches of any size, setting, and circumstance. Significantly, the emphasis of the book upon the non-negotiable role of ongoing prayer to fuel congregations as they identify their core values provides what’s foundationally needed to jumpstart an exciting next season.
Sue Nilson Kibbey
Director, Bishop Bruce Ough Innovation Center
Ken Willard has given us a gift: a step-by-step tool for any church needing to discern values that can guide their decisions as they make disciples of Jesus Christ on their journey of The Greatest Expedition. I highly recommend this book if you wonder how you go about discerning your local church’s values and then living out those unique values in your unique mission field!
Gloria Fowler
Dir. of Congregational Dev. and Transformation, Louisiana Conference of the UMC
There are seasons in the life of every church when, for various reasons, church leadership feels as if the church is stuck. The church may be “stuck” because it uses all of its resources on a plethora of ministries that lack purpose or direction. It may be stuck because key informal leaders are resistant to creative ministry opportunities. The church may be stuck because there is a lack of clarity about a new way of being to which the church is being called. Ken Willard has offered practical, easily implemented tools for church leaders to guide their congregation in a spiritual process to clarify purpose, values, and direction so that the congregation might move forward with a well-defined vision and mission. The process Willard outlines can be used in a variety of contexts to garner support and shared ownership of ministry and mission throughout a faith community. I commend this book to all who may feel stuck or moving and want to ensure they are moving in God’s direction.
Bishop Cynthia Moore-Koikoi
Western Pennsylvania Conference of the UMC
These little books in The Greatest Expedition series are gifts to the church, just as Ken is. In this piece, he guides churches through a step-by-step process of establishing core values, which he also calls a boundary for the church. What a helpful metaphor for values. Easy to read, accessible, and practical. It’s what many leaders are looking for in these hectic times. A great resource!
Derrek Belase
Executive Dir. of Connectional Ministry, Oklahoma Conference of the UMC
As a church planter, pastor, and now developer, I frequently refer to the core values of the organization I lead to guide my teams, especially when difficult conversations become necessary. In Identifying Core Values of the New Expedition, Ken Willard offers a timely, practical, and accessible resource for an organization to identify and develop its core values and understand how an organization lives into these values. In this season of great change, now is a crucial time for a book like this!
Owen Ross
Dir. of Church Development, North Texas Conference of the UM
In these pages, your church leaders are invited to quality time with a seasoned ministry development guide. Ken Willard has walked with hundreds of churches down the road of helping them clarify what on earth they are seeking to do and why they care enough to do it. The longer your church has been around, the more likely you are flying on autopilot and steadily losing altitude. Ken Willard can help your church soar again.
Paul Nixon
Author, Cultural Competency; Co-Author, Launching a New Worship Community
Core values are operative in every organization, whether or not time is taken to name those values. Ken Willard lays out a simple yet powerfully effective process for making the invisible known. All churches can benefit from this review of Identifying Core Values.
Jaye Johnson
Dir. of Congregational Excellence, Iowa Conference of the UMC
Ken Willard’s Identifying Core Values offers an extraordinarily insightful and practical guide to all Jesus Christ followers, the Christian church, and its current and future leaders. All leaders, members, and participants in the mission and ministry of Christ’s church who genuinely strive to discover who God is calling them to be and find consistency, accountability, and guidance for living into and staying on track in their Christian identity. I believe every leader will greatly benefit from Willard’s prayerful, biblical and systematic process to Identify Core Values.
James L. Friday
Dir. of Congregational Excellence, South Carolina Conference of the UMC