Living Stones
Growing People, Multiplying Leaders

E50 The Power of Culture

Our Tribe - Week 1

4 years ago

In the book of Acts we find the expression of the first Church of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem. The church was filled with signs and wonders, great fellowship, generosity, and God added to their fellowship daily! How many of us would like to be a part of a church like that?! Well if you flip a couple pages ahead to Acts 4:32, you’ll discover what I believe is a powerful secret to their success:

“All the believers were united in heart and mind.” Acts 4:32 NLT

The opposite is also true…

“Any kingdom divided by civil war is doomed. A family splintered by feuding will fall apart.” Luke 11:17 NLT

The Acts 2 Church was part of a powerfully unified community connected by shared values and purpose. The culture was so countercultural that people were drawn into their community. You see, if the culture isn’t right, nothing else really matters, and that’s because culture always wins!

If you have a great culture, your church will thrive. A great culture enables you to do great things!

In our current series: Our Tribe - we will clarify what Living Stones is all about! We will talk about the 7 things we value here, and how these values shape what we do! Our culture must be incarnated!

Our 7 values:

1. Daring Love: Love that is courageous

2. Bold Faith: Faith that believes for big things

3. Pregnant Hope: Hope filled with anticipation

4. Covenant Relationships: Relationships that last forever

5. Kingdom Generosity: Giving that overflows

6. Growth Mindset: Reaching our full potential

7. Increasing Excellence: Always offering our best

Launching in 1981 as just 30 people in a living room in Northwest Indiana, Living Stones has grown into a vibrant multi-generational church family. Stones are a product of God the Creator — formed in nature and no two are alike. As we come to faith in Jesus Christ, scripture tells us that we are like living stones in the hand of God and He is using us to build up a spiritual house. Our foundation was built on the work of nurturing and restoring healthy, biblical marriages. In continuing that mission, everything we do here at Living Stones is centered around loving, healing, and equipping individuals and families to grow into a greater likeness of Christ Jesus! By the Holy Spirit, we exist today to Renew Hearts, Restore Homes, Reform Culture and Reach the Nations with the gospel of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 2:4-5 ”As you come to him who is the Living Stone — he was rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious — you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house.” We are a family — misfits, hypocrites, creatives, addicts, reformers, over-churched, unchurched, wanderers — each of us a stone, uniquely crafted by the hand of God, made alive through Jesus, and now living by the power of the Holy Spirit. Together, we are Living Stones.