Churches produce a lot of paper. Most churches you go into have mission statements, basis of faith documents and all sorts.
It’s often the process that led to the document that is more important than the document. If the mission statement is left in a rack in the hope that someone will pick it up it probably wasn’t worth the effort, but if it expresses the heartbeat of the group then it will constantly be used. So anything we produce for our youth group must be a living document.
Values have been described as filters that guide decisions and actions. Someone else called them ‘things we would die for’. They are the non-negotiables which shape all we do. They also guide us about which course of action we should take. Sometimes they can appear a little too vague but they should enable us to ask questions about what we are doing and whether we need to change direction. For example, ‘We regularly teach the Bible in an age related style’ is a value that opens up many issues. 1. Are we teaching the Bible or our own opinions? 2. Does our ministry happen every week — is it at the core of what we do? 3. Does our current practice speak into the lives of the young people? (It is possible to teach the Bible in a way that youngsters simply do not understand and blame them for being non-responsive.)
