Key: Foster a culture of praise, fun, thanksgiving, and generosity.
We will never take God’s blessings for granted. We will always show gratitude.
PRAISE (or PRAISE GOD) is our tenth core value. It gives a mouthpiece to the first nine. In the first nine core values, we praise God by being and doing. Here we praise Him with our words and our gifts. We praise God by speaking words to him from our heart, which is something we cannot measure or judge. However, another core component of speaking praise to God is to praise his children (his greatest love and work of art). We praise God by praising the good in others. The good in people comes from God’s “genes” in them. Though we have all been corrupted, that God gene still produces a lot of God-like characteristics. When we praise that, it grows. We want to create a culture of praise that glorifies God. We also praise God by giving generously and sacrificially to his work, especially to the place he has called us to serve.
Sample Behaviors for this value:
- Create praise and fun at work.
- Praise the good you see in others. Praise the gifts God has put in them; that makes the giver look good. Praise often, genuinely, and generously; Embrace and promote a culture of praise. We catch people doing something good and praise them.
- Thanksgiving/Gratefulness. In everything, we give thanks (1 Thes. 5:18).
- Give Generosity. i.e., Gives generously to the ministry God has called you to serve. We believe that if God has called someone to serve somewhere, he has called them to give generously to meet the needs if they exist.
- Celebrate life. Celebrate each other’s lives. Rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord always (Phil 4:4).
- Praises God through a lifestyle of worship.
**When people praise us, they are praising the God within us and his grace working within us. It’s an acknowledgment that God is at work within you. It’s not something to go to our heads and make us proud but something to rejoice about and give God thanks that his work within you is growing and others are noticing.
Q: How am I fostering a culture of praise, thanksgiving, and generosity in our ministry family?
Bible Verses
- “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” (Phil 4:4).
- “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thess 5:16-18 NIV).
- “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thess 5:18).
Helpful Resource
https://www.sagu.edu/thoughthub/the-superpower-of-praising-others
