The Story of Us | South Everett’s Core Values (Sacred Relationships)

Speaker: Lauren Phillips
Date: February 19, 2023

Sacred Relationship | We are committed to healthy, vibrant and family-centered relationships; both with God and with others. We are created in God’s image; designed to thrive in relationship with God and with others. We value healthy and vibrant relationships within our congregation, with visitors, neighbors, and with our city. This health and vibrancy comes from God who has moved towards us at all costs through the person of Jesus. It is our commitment to move towards one another with a similar demonstration of love, courage, grace and humility modeled by Jesus, especially when conflict arises in our relational pursuits. We aim for reconciliation and restorative practice in our relationships, not perfection.

Core Behaviors (We Will): 

Pursue Jesus. We will pursue Jesus daily, recognizing that He alone gives us the ability to serve and receive from others. We will seek out and establish time in the Word, prayer and fellowship.

Establish accountable relationships.  We will engage each other in the messy details of life, during and apart from our regular gatherings, while receiving and extending grace. We will choose vulnerability over passivity and will speak truth to one another within the context of love, acceptance and forgiveness. 

Assume trust. Where there are gaps in information, we will assume trust and approach the appropriate people while asking the right questions to arrive at clarity in a timely manner.

Listen. Our aim in listening is to arrive at understanding, not to prove our point. We will be slow to speak and slow to become angry. 

Live generously and pursue interdependency. Understanding that we can’t accomplish very much on our own, we will each carry our portion of the load. We will make generous sacrifices, whenever possible, for the good of our congregation and our community as a whole. These sacrifices are related to our time, talents and / or financial resources.