Compelling Convictions: Finding Our Future in a Modern World

A fresh look at our core values

In the twenty years since a group of Brethren in Christ pastors, educators, administrators, and laypeople first met to identify ten core values for the North American church, much has changed—including a worldwide pandemic; dynamic social movements for racial, gender, and economic justice; the continuing decline of the church in the West; vast advances in technology; and the worsening effects of global warming.

With so much happening on both the national and international stages, it seems vital that we as Brethren in Christ prayerfully reflect not only on our core values and their application, but on how those values might help our churches engage a dramatically new social context. Are these values merely sentimental slogans? Or do they constitute compelling convictions, genuine guiding lights orienting us and motivating our mission in a rapidly changing world? The answer to that all-important question depends largely on how we use them. In this forward-looking book, essays from Brethren in Christ pastors and leaders from across the globe call us into the future of the church—to unleash our creative energies, roll up our sleeves, and put these core values to good use.