You can tell a lot about an organization by what they value. Walmart values cheap goods. Chickfila values customer service.
Our Values at Surge help guide us and dictate what we do. We used the name of our ministry as the acronym.
S – Safe Place – the term sanctuary means a place of safety. Our ministry is a bully free zone. Many students come from homes where they are berated by their parents, bullied at school and picked on by their siblings…we make sure this is one place where they are safe.
U – Understanding Culture – We strive to know what is going on…I passed young and cool a long time ago (actually I was never cool anyway) but we will want to know the landscape that our audience lives in so that we may minister more effectively.
R – Relentless pursuit of the lost – We believe that teens in our culture are what the International Mission Board refers to as an unreached people group…in that less that 2% are reached with the gospel. That may be an exaggeration but not by much. We are not satisfied until all students have had the opportunity to hear the gospel.
G – Growth of the Spirit – We encourage discipleship through Bible study, mentoring and worship.
E – Exciting environments – From the front door to the bathrooms we strive to make sure that the youth ministry environments are excellent. We don’t have leftover couches and old tv’s sitting on folding tables. We don’t do it at all if we can’t do it with excellence.
As students come through our ministry we hope that these values are evident. We evaluate them several times a year and are not afraid to change, add or subtract something from our ministry if it begins to deviate from our values.
Sean Rheaume 