Well, last night and part of today, I watched more of the core values videos and read some of the readings suggested via PDF; so let me go ahead and continue on with some of my notes from the video testimonies that were shared by the professors on the next 4 core values. 

Core Value #3: Mercy and Justice:

Definition: Social engagement fueled by mercy for fallible humanity and the quest for justice in personal, communal, corporate, political, and international contexts.

• To care about the things God cares about
• Sharing His attributes and character
• “Works of mercy are a means of grace” John Wesley
• The opportunities to do justice and mercy are opportunities to be transformed
• Justice is getting what you deserve
• Mercy is getting what you don’t deserve

Core Value #4: Church and Academy

Definition: Conversation with the local congregation of gathered believers and creative dialogue with scholars both of the faith and those not of the faith who can provide important insights through historical, sociological, psychological, cultural, and philosophical analyses.

• It’s necessary for the church and the seminary to work together
• It may seem that they are in opposition, but they are to balance one another
• They are a partnership in serving God

Core Value #5: Local and Universal

Definition: Embeddedness in a particular local community and commitment to the global expressions of the Faith.

• How and where does God want me to go and make disciples?
• Let God challenge our local and  universal paradigms
• Have you been on a short term mission trip?  It will show the local / universal distinctions
• How do we translate the love of Jesus when we don’t know the language?
• Ever extending frame of refrence; learning from other cultures to become people inter-connected for Christ.
• Picture a Hubberman Spere in relation to the body of Christ extending outward:  We get “stuck together” in worship on Sunday, but we expand outside our walls and ourselves, and  at the same time we are still connected as a body working together. (Daryl Smith)

Core Value #6: Believers and Humanity

 Definition: Justice and mercy offered in the name of Christ must have a specific concern for believers, in particular as the redeemed, and humans more generally as those who bear the imago Dei and are sought by God.

• If I didn’t have a child, I would have never met other parents where I can have conversations about God or introduce prayer.
• Meeting others and sharring the love of God with them because we have a mutual connection through our children.
• What it means to be a Christ follower; our lives, our mission, our evangelism
• It’s not something so far away, but right where you are
• Go out of your way to have non-christian frineds
• We’re clues of Christ-followers that ought to lead persons to Jesus Christ.