Fellowship Church's Core Values

Every church, like every person or organization, has core values that it embraces and upholds. They are the pillars that hold the building together and defines who they are. Often, the pillars on the outside are different from the ones you notice when you are on the inside.

To a those outside the church, especially those who do not have a history with the evangelical-type church, the core values include 1) Faith in Jesus as the only way of salvation; 2 Belief in the Bible and accepting it as literal (including a literal heaven and hell); and, 3) a commitment to evangelizing the lost. These three pillars go hand-in-hand. If there is no afterlife and the Bible is not even true, what credibility does Jesus have and why even encourage others to also believe? But if the Bible can be trusted, then Jesus is the only option, and it is important that we as believers share with the world the only legitimate serum for the disease of sin that plagues all of mankind. 

Those three pillars are huge and are pretty big objects for some people to get around. They are fairly standard, however, in Bible-believing churches. Christians who have accepted these values or pillars often want to know about the pillars you often don’t visualize until you are on the inside.

To those dear and wise individuals, I commend you for seeking out a church where you are like-minded. While we cannot and do not even want to claim uniformity among our congregation, we do value unity. It is wise to seek out values in a church that are in line with the values of you and your home and it is wise for a church to publish what they really stand for.

Coinciding with the pillars out front, there is also an inside pillar of authenticity and truth. We want people to be real and to be really going on in their Christian walk. We value the truth, we seek to live the truth, and we are truthful with one another. Hypocrisy, when exposed, is challenged.

Also supporting this ministry is active participation. Every member is given the opportunity and even expected to get involved. A chain is only as strong as the weakest link and we want to build up one another. Every believer is called and equipped to be a special part of the church. Just like a human body, every part has an important role. While excellence is important in all we do, professionalism will gladly be sacrificed in the name of involvement and to let other members, especially the younger ones, develop and begin to utilize their gifts from God.

A third value, or pillar in our church, is the exaltation and protection of the family. We do not want to see the family destroyed, redefined, or abused. The institution of the family actually preceded the instituting of the church and should take precedence. While we know many people do not have families, and the church becomes their family, we want to build up homes, exalt marriages that last, and hold up as examples children who honor their parents.

A fourth pillar, among probably many others, is closely tied into the third pillar and is the expectation that men should provide leadership both in the home and in the church. What type of rascal would send his wife down to check on a noise or confront an intruder in his home at 2 am? Any man that has any amount of self-respect would be the first one to deal with such a matter. In the Scriptures the Apostle Paul used two non-cultural reasons for why men should take the lead in fighting spiritual battles (1 Timothy 2:13-14 ), and godly male leadership should be expected today. As males and females work together, God is glorified and a God-ordained order is modeled to the world.