People matter. They matter to God, and therefore people matter to us. We care for each individual. People are unique with different stories, experiences, and needs. As a team, we want to understand the truths that are universal while responding in personal ways.
I once heard that if you want to know what someone values you can look at their bank statement and their calendar because what we value, we spend our time and money on. Recently, the Faithful & True team has been discussing our values. In this season of transition, we want to be clear concerning what is important to us because we want to be an organization that makes decisions and charts our direction based on our values. Over the next several blog posts, we are going to be communicating these priorities.
People
To begin with, we have identified both people and relationships as something we value. It seems obvious because of the work that we do, and yet it is helpful to clearly name it. People matter. They matter to God, and therefore people matter to us. We care for each individual. People are unique with different stories, experiences, and needs. As a team, we want to understand the truths that are universal while responding in personal ways.
There is a complexity to this truth because we acknowledge some people with whom we work have made choices that have been very harmful and hurtful to others. People in pain who have hurt others matter to Faithful and True. We want them to know that there is a safe space for them. We welcome and include people who have hurt and betrayed others. So many of the men who come to the workshops are consumed by their shame, and one of the lies they believe is that because of what they have done they don’t matter to anyone. We want to be clear that everyone matters to God. We are taught in the scripture that there is nothing that we can do that separates us from the love of God.
It is also true that the people who have been hurt by betrayal matter to us. Their pain and stories matter. We want to be a safe space where people can come and be heard in their pain, and because they do matter, we want to invite them onto the journey of transformation and cast a vision of hope. Many in the beginning of the journey believe there is no hope and that they will always be defined by their pain. We want to be the voice of hope that reminds them God is bigger than any pain they have experienced.
Relationships
We also value relationships. The relationships between spouses, parent and child, friends in community, and colleagues matter. We are continually reminded that the one aspect of creation that was not pleasing to God was that someone was alone. Community and connection are foundational to whom God has created us to be.
We also acknowledge that relationships are complex and cannot be forced. There must be space to choose a relationship and also not to choose a relationship. At Faithful & True, our desire is to be with people as they navigate the complexity of relationships. The Faithful & True team recognizes that we are often hurt in the context of our relationships and through God’s plan we are also able to experience healing in the context of relationships.
For more information about these Faithful & True values, listen to our podcast!