“PERSONALITY” CONCLUSIONS (FUNDAMENTAL VALUES/FV)
What is Revolution’s Personality? Do we look like a monastery, a church from the 1950’s, a modern church that is intellectual, or something else?
What is our style? We’ve discovered six fundamental values (FV) that make up the personality of Revolution Church. What are these six Fundamental Values? Just remember F.I.A.S.C.O. – Fun, Intense, Authentic, Straightforward, Community-oriented and Outsider-focused.
1. Fun – We like to laugh, enjoy ourselves, and rarely do we have moments where some kind of smile is not appropriate. Even in our most serious business meetings where deep arguments occur, people will crack jokes. That’s okay. It’s more than okay because it’s who we are! We have a big coffee bar, rather than a pot of coffee because it’s more enjoyable, the videos we show are comical, the sermons even regularly contain playful insults or jokes for no other reason than to get a laugh. We even have events like kickball and movies for fun. Early on in Revolution’s history adults used to play dodgeball in the sanctuary after church!
2. Intense – Nobody has ever accused Revolution Church of being “too calm.” During the sermons there will be yelling, or quiet whispering – but both are passionate calls to pay attention, learn, and change. The music is loud and extreme, or powerfully quiet. There aren’t many moderately quiet songs that produce boredom. Our HeBrews coffee bar has always had many options and strong drinks. Not because we’re trying to be a restaurant, but because one pot of coffee in a Styrofoam cup is monotonous. There are deep emotions in what we do and strong challenges to the way we live and act. Our personality is somewhat potent. Instead of saying, “Let’s think about this a little bit, if you like.” we’re more apt to say, “This is amazing! And it’s true! You absolutely must change your life because of it!” This trait would probably be best described as intense or formidable (even if is a quiet moment).
3. Authentic – We are who we are, and we’re not trying to be something or someone else. We don’t like pretense or make-believe personality traits. We want to know that the people who join us are being real about who they are and why they’re here. For that reason, we try to be who we are. This involves admitting when we’re wrong, not pretending like we’re perfect, and honestly acknowledging we have struggles. At the same time, the church’s “authenticness” is seen in our styles. We don’t have people wear suits to church because none of us wear suits outside church. We play loud rock/pop music because that’s the style we listen to all the time. It’s who we are. We decorate our sanctuary with passionate colors and decorations instead of white or pastel walls because we’re all bored to death with blank walls. Everything from our spiritual behavior, to our practical outcomes are authentic.
4. Straightforward – Revolution Church does not hide the truth. Except for that one time a guest speaker forgot to zip his fly. Then everyone hid the truth until he got off stage. Brilliant. But generally, we tell it like it is. Even if this means some people are offended. We don’t try to offend, and in fact we try to be nice about it, and obey the Bible when it tells us to be gentle about certain things. But, we do not sacrifice truth just to pretend to get along. Many people have said that Revolution isn’t a place you can be for long without feeling a need to change. This is precisely because we’re honest about reality. We will confront sin (and forgive!). We will preach hard truths (and help people live them!). We don’t beat around the bush when answering questions. That’s who we are.
5. Community – Bonfires, kickball games, movies, standing around church for hours after we’re done, and our focus on being with people from Church at times besides the church service are all part of us being a social group. A guy might be described as a “people person.” This type of person doesn’t like sitting by himself – he’d rather be with other people. Listening to a lecture isn’t as good as a lively discussion. This is Revolution’s personality. This is why we have questions and answers during the sermons – to see what other people are questioning. We have many community events simply because we like to hang out. Our focus on community is critical in how we develop our ministries. Any ministry that fails to be social in some way, ends up failing. We simply enjoy people too much to work alone.
6. Outsider-focused – With everything we do, we should keep in mind the people who are (1) outside of the Church and (2) outsiders from the rest of the world (as in, they don’t feel like they fit in). We want them to fit in here, and know that we’ll accept them even if the world doesn’t. It doesn’t mean God won’t change them, or that we won’t teach them what God says… but we’ll love them.
This also means that, in everything we do, we keep in mind how someone outside our Church would react. Whether we’re decorating the Church, picking a song, deciding where our Growth Group should meet, or how we invite people – are we doing things in a way that would help an outsider become part of God’s Kingdom?
