At CHCC, we've identified five aspirational values: grace, authenticity, worship, holiness and other-centredness.

Grace

The word 'grace' is tremendously rich in meaning, and impossible to define succinctly. It covers so many ways in which God expresses his kindness and love towards people who really don't deserve it.

'Grace' always conveys the idea of a special kind of pure, uncorrupted and non-corrupting power imparted by God to the recipient. It can take many forms, but it is always good and always given as a gift that goes beyond strict justice.

In the Bible, grace is usually attributed to God. Apart from God, humans are naturally ungracious, but with the Holy Spirit working in us, we are transformed to be more godly and to express grace also.

Authenticity

An authentic person refuses to wear masks to cover the truth about their sin, their hopes and dreams, their beliefs, their vulnerability, hurt and shame, their gifts and abilities. If you're committed to authenticity, you won't tell little 'fibs' to make yourself look better or allow others to believe what is not true about you like Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5. Instead, you'll habitually tell the truth. Pursuing this value, you won't be concerned about keeping up appearances like King Agrippa in Acts 26. He hid his beliefs and questions behind a veneer of respectability. An authentic person is willing to share their feelings, reactions and true circumstances in life with transparency.

An authentic person doesn't just go along with the crowd like Pontius Pilate, trying to please the majority. Instead, they have courage to stand up for what is true and right. Authenticity rejects false humility and self-depreciation such as Saul displayed in 1 Sam 10. It rather acknowledges God's blessing, unselfconsciously offering a contribution according to the type and measure of God's grace received.

People don't come in two varieties: 'Authentic' and 'inauthentic'. We're all a mix of the two qualities. The question is whether we are growing in authenticity and actively pursuing a more authentic approach to life.

Worship

Throughout the Old Testament the biggest threat to the value of true worship was idolatry. It's the sin that the prophets railed against the most vehemently. This is because it takes the natural and right tendencies of the human spirit for worship and misdirects them towards things that are not worthy of such adoration and service.

Today we don't hear much about idols and idolatry. It's assumed that all that sort of thing faded out centuries ago. But the truth is that the essential elements of idolatry are still with us in Australia in the 21st Century, perhaps stronger than ever in the way they draw us to give our hearts, souls, minds and strength to things other than God. Some contemporary signs of idolatry are workaholism, materialism, greed, jealousy, freemasonry, controlling behaviours, religiosity, pride and self-justification.

True worship rejects idolatry and delights in God above all other things. It gives full allegiance to God first, and only serves other people, causes or things as those commitments are directed by God and are pleasing to him. And true worship goes further, seeking that the activities of worship ' singing, praying, giving, serving, etc. ' are carried out with enthusiasm and integrity that befits the One who is worthy of all honour, glory and praise.

Holiness

God is the only one who is holy in himself. It is God's presence in our lives that is the source of our holiness. Other things become holy when they are in right connection to the Holy One. So holiness is not the way to God. It is rather the result of having come to God. Holiness is God's life in us.

We have been given a position of holiness through Jesus (Colossians 1:22, Hebrews 10:10). We don't need to perform for God's approval. But this doesn't let us off the hook of personal responsibility. The crucial Biblical teaching is that holiness is both sudden and gradual.

We still make every effort to be holy (Hebrews 12:14 and 1 Peter 1:15,16). We do still sin (1 John 1:8) but it is not to be habitual (1 John 3:9). We choose to offer ourselves to God and actively co-operate with him to gradually grow into what he has made us to be.

Other-centredness

The Bible teaches us that God can be defined by one essential quality: love. Love is giving; it is flowing out towards others. The most direct opposite of love is not hate, but self-centredness. Those who are self-centred know only how to get. They are takers. They are self-willed, immature and devoid of love except for themselves. Paul spoke about such people in 2 Timothy 3:1-5.

To some minds, it seems entirely reasonable that in a hostile world people should look after themselves first. But this is not the way Jesus took, and those who follow him will find they are walking a different path too. God's heart is for others. He so loved the world that he gave his Son.

The essence of Christian spirituality and mission can be summed up simply as other-centredness. As Christians, we centre our lives on Jesus ' understanding that we find Jesus not only in his glory at the right hand of the Father, but also in his incarnation, among the people and situations we meet every day. In this way, we develop a heart like God's.

Why the emphasis on values?

It's easy to say we value something. Words may be cheap. We discover what something is really worth to us by what we are prepared to give for it. The things we value most are the things we would give our lives for. And what would Jesus give his life for? You and me.

Jesus said, 'Greater love has no one than this: that he lay down his life for his friends.' But he went even further, as Romans 5:7 and 8 says, giving his life for people who were not good people, and not even his friends, but actually at that time his enemies.

The values of Jesus were ordered around what he said were the greatest commands of all - to love God and to love people. To bring together the greatest loves of his life, he went to the cross, finally securing peace through sacrificial love.