You can get to know any organization by understanding its mission, vision, and values. A mission statement spells out what an organization does. A vision statement reveals what it pursues. Core values define what an organization is in its character or personality.

GFA’s directors met several times in 2020 and hammered out the two defining statements and our seven core values with accompanying explanations of each one. These values are an expression of the key character traits we desire to develop at the very center (the “core”) of our identity. Organizationally, these qualities communicate the “ambiance” GFA desires to permeate all our ministries. We want the Lord to develop these values in the center of who we are, so that they become part of our organizational demeanor. When people think of GFA, by God’s grace, these qualities ought to come to mind. Personally, these seven values are part of the Christlike character we want the Holy Spirit to continue developing in us. Of course, these seven traits are not the only important qualities in our lives either organizationally or personally, but we do want these seven core values to define our identity for the glory of God.

This post is the first in a series examining GFA’s seven core values, and this first article goes to the core of the core: Biblical.

Core Value #1—Biblical: We base all doctrine and practice on the inerrant Word of God and preach, teach, and defend the fundamentals of the faith.

The sixty-six books of the Bible are the inspired, inerrant words of the only true and living God. As a result of this fact, they are our final authority in all matters of doctrine and practice. “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16–17, NASB1995).

Pragmatism begins by assessing the way a certain teaching or practice might be perceived or received. But we do not start with the desired result, even a good result, and work back to whatever would bring about that outcome. We don’t let the world or even other professing Christian groups determine our mission based on false views of compassion or humanitarianism. We don’t poll the sinful culture around us to figure out how best we might make the message of Christianity palatable to people who by nature hate Christ. Nor do we insist on carrying extra-biblical American church traditions and practices into other cultures.

We go to Scripture, and we let the written Word of God define and shape all that we believe and do. At the core, we are Bible people. By God’s grace, this must be our identity.

Consider three practical applications of this core value. First, we must tenaciously guard the centrality of the words of God in every aspect of our lives. The Bible gets the central place in our personal lives, in our families, and in our ministries. Even with all the demands of life, we must be willing to arrange our schedules and even cut out good things, if necessary, to take in more Scripture. This should shape our informal conversations, our personal walk with the Lord, what we do during worship services and prayer meetings, our evangelism, our discipleship, and our mentorship of leaders.

Second, we must proclaim all the words of God in our culture, even the points which are most attacked or misunderstood. If biblical is at the core, we will not avoid even the most challenging topics or the ones that are most likely to be rejected or maligned or create issues in some way. We must not shy away from anything in the Bible! We preach the exclusivity of Jesus Christ. Probably in every place in the world, including the United States, it does not “win friends” to proclaim, even with the compassionate heart of Christ, that all people are condemned to eternal punishment in the Lake of Fire and that the only way to the Father is through personal faith in the second person of the Trinity, the Lord Jesus Christ. In places dominated by a false religion, that statement is even more offensive. But we proclaim this truth directly from the Bible! We could add to it other challenging topics such as repentance, child-rearing, church discipline, literal, six-day creation, holiness, obedience to all of Christ’s commands, and dozens more. If we are to be biblical, we must preach and teach all of it.

Finally, we must always pursue Christ Himself and real, heart communion with God through His words. The Scriptures, Jesus said, “testify about me” (John 5:39, NASB1995). We ought to develop consistent habits of taking in God’s words. But we must never be satisfied with mere consistency in reading the Bible. If we’re not pursuing Christ and seeking to walk with Him, then we’re not truly biblical, because we’re missing the whole point. We ought to approach the Bible personally, and in our families, and in our ministries, with the heart cry, “Dear God, enable us now to draw near and walk with Christ through these precious words of life.” That is what it means to be biblical at the core!