Core values are crucial for intentional living, culture creation, and spiritual formation (disciplemaking). We have a set of core values that guide us as individuals and an organization. We remember our core values by the simple mnemonic PRAISE GOD.
PRAISE GOD stands for Passion, Relationship, Authenticity, Intentional leadership, Simplicity, Excellence in service, Growth, Ownership, Disciplemaking.
Our core values serve two complementary purposes:
1) For Hiring and developing talent as well as for evaluating and rewarding job performance
2) For Spiritual Formation (at both individual and corporate levels).
Our core values are not laws that we try to live out on our own, in the flesh. They are a way of life that will be produced in our lives when we collaborate with and rely on the Holy Spirit. Our values create and sustain a culture that is a vehicle or tool for spiritual formation as well as on the job effectiveness and productivity within the area God has called us. Our culture helps us to do our greatest work while at the same time also growing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man (Luke 2:52).
Core Values
1. Passion | Be passionate about God, self, and others (through the work we do).
2. Relationship | Build Kingdom Relationships for Kingdom purposes.
3. Authenticity | Be humble and model Authentic Kingdom Character.
4. Intentional leadership | Think ahead, foresee challenges, and create a winning strategy.
5. Simplicity | Pursue simplicity. Declutter and maximize what matters.
6. Excellence in Service | Deliver WOW through selfless service.
7. Growth | Pursue learning and growth.
8. Ownership | Take responsibility for your actions and think and act as owners do.
9. Disciplemaking | Evangelize to expand the kingdom.
10. PRAISE GOD | Foster a culture of praise, thanksgiving, and generosity.
**Note that our core values can be stated as commands (be this, do this, have this), and affirmations (we are this, we do this, and we have that).
For each core behavior to be ingrained and become automatic and second nature, each team member performs corresponding spiritual practices or kingdom practices (spiritual disciplines), core meditations, and affirmations. Core meditations and affirmations transform the mind and our thinking and turn core values into core behaviors that we see daily. Each of the core values also has corresponding spiritual disciplines that will help us grow in each core area.
As you study each core value, ask yourself:
- What does this core value mean to us?
- How does this core value look like in action as we live our day-to-day life? What behaviors should we be producing as we live out this core value daily?
- How do we hold each other accountable for living out this core value? How will we evaluate adherence to this core value?
- What impact does it have on how we work? How will it change the way we live and do business?
- In what ways did Jesus model this core value?
- In what ways am I living out this value, helping others do the same, and moving our ministry forward?
- How might it be misinterpreted?
One day, a crowd asked Jesus, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” (John 6:28). Jesus’ reply was quite interesting. He told them, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent” (John 6:29). The work of God, Jesus said, was to believe! Someone might think this doesn’t make sense. That would be until you read what James the apostle has to say about believing. He says in James 2 that “faith without works is dead.” The idea is that for our faith (belief) to be right, it must produce the good works that God has destined for us to do (Eph. 2:10).
What is God’s work here at the Kenneth Acha Foundation? What must we do to do the works God requires? The work of God is this: to believe in our core values, live them out fully, and produce results. That’s it! Remember that our core values start with a passion for Jesus, others, and our work.