CORE VALUES
1. Intimacy with God
“You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13)
The original position of man was face to face with Father God (Gen 2:7) and we were created for his pleasure. Before the foundations of the world we were chosen to be to holy, blameless, abiding in love and adopted as sons and through the cross we have been redeemed to that identity (Eph. 1:4-5). Because of the death and resurrection of Jesus we can experience intimacy, communication and companionship with Him, if we share His love for righteousness. We do not seek heaven as though it were hidden in the clouds, rather, we recognize that we are temples of the Holy Spirit and ambassadors of our Father’s Kingdom (1 Corinthians 6:19; 2 Corinthians 5:20).
We know that without truly finding God, in fulfillment of Jer. 29:13, we cannot do what we do. We cannot love with supernatural, unstoppable love unless we actually experience the love of the Father for ourselves first. Our first purpose is to know Jesus in a passionate relationship with a love that is stronger than death (Song 8:6). Our first priority is not strategies, methods, projects or fundraising, but living the life with the Father that the world is so desperately longing for (Romans 8:19). When we find Him, we find and gain everything....Without Him, we can do nothing of real value.
Worship and intimacy with the Father is and will always be the foundational element of Shores of Grace. We consider it not only a great joy but also priority number one with the life of our ministry and the lives of our staff. As Paul said in Romans 12:2, a life surrendered, or a living sacrifice is our spiritual act of worship. Worship is a lifestyle.
2. Dependency on the Father
“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:4-5)
We are totally dependent on Him for everything, and we need and expect miracles of all kinds to sustain us and confirm the Gospel in our ministry. When facing great human need with our human frailties, we rapidly reach the limits of our resources, wisdom and love. We face overwhelming poverty, sickness, demonic attacks and every kind of evil. But with excitement and joy we aim beyond what we can imagine doing in our own strength. We value hard work, honesty and good stewardship, we will always be willing to do our part, but we know that all good things come from the Father and that he will provide far beyond the fruits of our labors.
Like Jesus, we seek to be one with the Father and so dependent on him that we can do nothing without him (John 5:19). We are walking adoption agents full of good news inviting all of the lost and broken to come to the banqueting table of the Father (Romans 8:15). As we often pray, "show me how to love, teach me how to see", we understand that he is the source of love and grace and we are merely joyful and humble vessels. Our goal is to be the smallest jars of clay filled with the fullness of Him to show the world that this amazing power belongs to Him (2 Corinthians 4:7). We believe we experience miracles because we value them and ask for them. We will always seek the combination of love and power; we do not have to choose between them, but can look forward to doing even greater works than Jesus, while remaining in His love (John 14:12).
3. Revival, Reformation, Revolution
“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5:17-18)
We recognize that the key to the nation is the one (Isaiah 60:22). We see and encounter Jesus among the least of these and the closer we are to them the closer we are to His heart (Matthew 25). We go to the neglected, the forgotten, the lonely. Not because it is our duty, but because it is our privilege and honor. The thought of restoring the lost sons and daughters to the Father was the joy that was set before Christ as He endured the cross (Hebrews 12:2). Likewise, we see the lost and the broken as the joy of Christ and we share in that joy as His body. We serve the broken, poor and needy, not in pity or sorrow but with the expectation of revival. They are history makers, reformers, leaders and lovers in waiting.
We believe that true revival should produce cultural reformation. Those who have been reconciled have also received the message and ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18). True revival is when those who have been revived begin to revive others in the name of Jesus. Likewise, those who have been revived should be overflowing with hope and creativity. Having been filled with the Holy Spirit and being children of the Creator, Christians should be most creative people on earth. The results of revival should flow into all aspects of society (communities, streets, marketplaces, schools, businesses, the arts, judicial systems).
When revival leads to reformation, we see a revolution of love. Jesus preached a revolutionary message of love; “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength...love your neighbor as yourself” (Mk. 12:30-31). Jesus taught that true love is sacrificial, selfless love- in giving one’s life for others (Jn. 15:13). As we pray for revival and reformation we seek to live this revolutionary love daily in the smallest of acts and in the greatest.
4. Joy in the Journey
“Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” (Rom. 8:17)
We believe that were created for the journey and that the Father is with us every step of the way. God is eternally good. The circumstances of life do not determine his faithfulness and he will use all things for our good (Romans 8:28). In storms we learn that he is our peace, in battles we learn that he is our refuge and when the arrows of the enemy are descending upon us we learn that he is our shield. We define radical faith as keeping your eyes on Jesus amidst the storms and battles of life. We do not seek out suffering but when it comes we rejoice knowing that Immanuel- God with us- never misses even one step of our journey. With Paul, we rejoice in our weaknesses, for when we are weak we are strong. Discipline and testing are necessary in the Christian faith to produce holiness and maturity.
We recognize that the world needs hope and we are the bearers of hope (Col. 1:27). As Paul taught, suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope (Rom. 5:3-5). In Christ, there is joy even in times of sufferings. The joy of the Lord is not optional, and it far outweighs our suffering! It is a defining pillar of the Kingdom of God which is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14:17). In Jesus, joy becomes our motivation, reward and spiritual weapon. In His Presence is fullness of joy, and even in times of trouble our joy knows no bounds (2 Cor. 7:4).
5. Urgency and Consistency
“Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross.” (Hebrews 12:1-2)
We have an urgency to see women and children caught in prostitution, exploitation and abuse set free. We long to see the lost come home, broken families restored and new families created. We never want the stories brokenness and abandonment to become “normal”, we must never become desensitized. We always want to have urgency in our hearts. However, we also understand that it is a marathon not a sprint and we desire to be consistent in love, commitment and service. We understand that consistency is one of the most powerful tools we have for reaching the lost and restoring the rescued. We fix our eyes on Jesus who walked the earth with both urgency and consistency. We choose to be like our Father who is more consistent and more faithful than the waves of the ocean and the morning sun.
