They define us. They inform us. They are our guiding principles...
Love, Unity, Faith, Commitment, Partnership and Purpose
Love
Love is our highest value. Love for Our God and love for the people God places in our lives, including those who are harder to love. We believe the people in our lives who are harder to love are there to teach us how to love beyond ourselves. They are a gift from God to teach us to love as God loves. Jesus said in John 15:12, "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you". Now some will exercise the theology of Tina Turner and say, "What's Love Got to Do With It" and our reply at Greater Destiny is EVERYTHING. The Apostle Paul said without love, we are merely sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. We won't boast that we have great programs, great pulpiteers, or even a great physical building, but we can say that we have great people who are filled with the love of God.
Unity
The church is the most divided place on Sunday with denominations, race, and socio-economic status taking precedence over the Word of God that says, "One Lord, One faith and one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all." (Ephesians 4:5-6). We need more unity in the Christian community and so we are so excited to see such diversity on Sunday morning with folks who have a mindset that says, "can't we just get along". At the end of the day, we are all children of God who bleed the same color and 'collectively' our job is to work together to advance the kingdom of God.
Faith
Every church operates on something. Some operate on the flamboyant style of the Pastor, or on a mega budgets, or the ability to rely on the traditions of "this is how we always have done it. The Bible says, "Without faith it is impossible to please God" (Hebrews 11:6) and so guess what??? Greater Destiny made the radical decision and decided that we will operate on faith because we want to please God. We decided we will trust God, even when we can't trace God. We decided that we will walk by faith and not by sight. We simply see the invisible, believe the incredible and achieve the impossible.
Commitment
Remember back in elementary school when you wrote a little note to someone you liked and said, "do you want to go with me? check yes or no" AND if you got a YES reply you were so excited? Well, that is how Greater Destiny feels about the commitment we make to the Lord Jesus Christ, His Word, His Work and His Witness. We are committed to not just being hearers of the Word but doers of the Word. The Lord's got our back and we have one another's back in the good times AND the bad times.
Partnership
So many churches are looking for members to boost their numbers, but we are excited to have 'partners' at Greater Destiny. People who will roll up their sleeves and partner with us to do the work of the ministry. Members are part of a club, but partners are part of a vision and destiny so excuse our country dialect if we happen to say, "Howdy Partner, welcome aboard". We not only want to partner inside the 4 walls, but we want to partner with the community, schools and even the other churches in the area to spread the good news about our risen savior. Partners in this company receive dividends that are OUT OF THIS WORLD and never go bankrupt!
Purpose
Solomon tells us "Where there is no vision, the people will perish." (Proverbs 29:18). Greater Destiny is a purpose and destiny driven ministry pushing people to realize their full potential in Christ. Do we miss the mark some times? Absolutely, but the beautiful thing is that we get back up and keep pressing because we know that greater is coming and that God works all things together for His purpose. (Romans 8:28)
