Your Values Drive Behaviors

Pastor: Did you know that your calendar and your spending habits reveal more about your values than your sermons ever could?

Why It Matters: Mission drives beliefs, beliefs drive values, and values drive behaviors. This sequence isn’t just some abstract theory; it’s the reality that determines everything you do as a pastor. But here’s the catch: your stated values probably don’t match your actual behaviors. You can preach about the importance of evangelism, community outreach, and disciple-making all day long, but if your calendar and the way you spend your paycheck tell a different story, guess what? Your real values are on display, whether you like it or not.

Don’t take this personally. The same is true for your church (or any organization, for that matter). A congregation may claim its mission is to make disciples, but how it actually spends its time and resources may reflect reality. Are church activities primarily designed to engage the unchurched, or do they cater to keeping the regulars happy? Values determine priorities, and priorities dictate behaviors. Without clarifying and aligning those values, you’re steering the ship blindfolded.

Let’s face it: most pastors would say they’re “missional leaders” who are committed to disciple-making. And honestly, they genuinely believe that. But if we took an honest, hard look at their day-to-day activities – like meetings, worship prep, member care, and shuffling through the endless to-do list – what would we find? Probably a lot of time spent maintaining the status quo, with little energy left for the actual mission.

Here’s the hard truth: behaviors don’t lie. If you’re serious about fulfilling your mission, it’s time to get real about your values. This means evaluating what drives your actions and whether those drivers are aligned with your purpose. Until you do that, you’re just spinning your wheels.

Ready to take an honest look at what truly matters to you and your church? Let’s get to work.

The Sacred Sequence: Mission Drives Beliefs; Beliefs Drive Values; Values Drive Behaviors

Church Mission

Every church has a mission. Too often, church missions are vague and lack real direction … warm and fuzzy don’t reflect passion and purpose. Besides, let’s not kid ourselves. The church’s mission – its purpose – isn’t something we get to invent. Jesus already laid it out pretty clearly: Make Disciples.

To be fair, that mission statement implies two parts – make more disciples and make better disciples. Simple enough, right? But here’s where things get muddy. The second prong, “making better disciples,” tends to be heralded as the church’s core priority, yet the church seems to have forgotten that better disciples make more disciples. If your church isn’t growing, it’s time to question whether you’re hitting the mark on either prong.

Church Beliefs

Beliefs are where the rubber meets the road. What a church believes shapes everything. For instance, does your church believe your neighbors’ eternal destinies hang on becoming disciples of Jesus Christ? Or is discipleship seen as just a philosophy for better living? That core belief dictates the urgency of your mission. If it’s an eternity question, the stakes are astronomical. If it’s not, well … they’ll just keep running another book club with a cross on the cover.

A second fundamental belief revolves around the purpose of the weekly Sunday gathering. Is your church gathering primarily for worship and spiritual nourishment? Is it an educational hub where members are trained in the scriptures and the tenets of orthodox Christianity? Or is it a mission opportunity where seekers and visitors can discover practical and spiritual solutions to their real-world struggles by learning about The Way of Jesus Christ? Where they are befriended with the support of friendly, faithful members who serve as spiritual mentors? Each of these purposes reflects a distinct belief system. Churches that see gathering as a worship event focus on music and congregational edification. Those with an educational mindset prioritize expository preaching and doctrinal teaching. But a church that sees Sunday morning as a mission opportunity? That’s a church investing in outreach, evangelism, and new disciple-making. Your church’s belief about the purpose of gathering sets the stage for how your church lives out its mission.

Church Values

Finally, this is where values come into play. Does your church’s calendar and budget lean toward potlucks and pew cushions, or is it focused on connecting and outreach? If your church’s mission is to make disciples, then the potluck plan suggests its commitment to mission is lip service. Remember. Values drive priorities, and priorities drive behaviors.

Changing church values is not for the faint at heart. This is one of those areas where change must start at the top and filter its way down. Pastor, it starts with you and your vision. Cast your vision for new values with your board and your leadership team. Then, as a unified group, begin to make all your decisions through the lens of those values. Allocate resources based on the values. Create events based on those values. And hold each other accountable for maintaining a unified commitment to reflecting those values in every decision that gets made. When the leadership’s behaviors reflect the church’s missional values, in time, the church will follow.

Reality Check: The Pastor’s Values

Let me be honest … this is hard stuff. Most pastors I know claim they’re “missional leaders” who are laser-focused on disciple-making. But here’s a reality question: Do their behaviors back up that claim? Do yours? Because, let’s face it, behaviors don’t lie.

If you want to discover your true values, you needn’t look any further than how and with whom you spend your time. Your calendar and your to-do list reflect reality.

• Are you spending your time engaged in Pastor Fetch and doing the busy work the “church leadership” dictates? (As opposed to the biblical job description of the pastor … Ephesians 4:11–13 and Acts 6:1-3 come to mind.)
• Are you focused on sermon prep that caters to your congregation’s needs? (As opposed to creating sermons relevant for those outside the faith?)
• Is the bulk of your ministry hours devoted to some facet of member care? (Or are you out in the community, engaging with the unchurched and actively making disciples?)

How you set your priorities and spend your time is a better reflection of your actual values than anything else.

So, here’s an exercise: Track every task for two weeks, noting where your time goes and who you’re spending it with. Then evaluate: Are you reaching the unchurched or maintaining the status quo? Spoiler alert: if you’re spending more time in meetings and member-care than building relationships with non-believers, your values might not be what you think they are.

If we’re going to change our behaviors and our values, we can’t keep putting off the most important part of our mission until when there are no church meetings, no crises, and no one’s in the hospital.

Realigning Priorities

Once you’ve identified your true values, it’s time to face the next challenge: realigning your priorities to reflect the mission. I don’t want to sugarcoat this – it’s going to take intentionality and a willingness to break old habits. The first step? Take an honest inventory of where you’ve been.

Start by taking a look over the past year and ask yourself, “What did I accomplish in terms of my personal mission to make disciples?” Be brutally honest. Only count measurable results. Did you invest your time in activities that expanded the kingdom, or did you spend most of it putting out fires and maintaining church programs?

Once you’ve got the year in sight, break it down further: What did you accomplish last month? Last week? Yesterday? The closer you zoom in, the clearer the picture becomes.

Here’s a hard truth: If your daily actions aren’t aligned with the mission, your values – and your church’s values – won’t change. You can’t keep prioritizing the same old things and expect different results. Values determine your priorities, and priorities determine your behaviors. If your calendar is filled with committee meetings, worship service prep, and hospital visits, it’s no wonder evangelism isn’t happening.

Realignment requires making bold, sometimes uncomfortable, decisions. In one of the church turn-arounds that I led, I helped the congregation understand that the bulk of member care was meant to be in the hands of the membership. Rather than engage in hospital visitation, I raised up a visitation team from my elders and taught them how to do member care from the side of the hospital bed. Up until that time, the pastor had been the primary hospital visitor, and my decision to limit my visits wasn’t popular with some of the members. On the other hand, I invested that time in building networks within the community, and from there, we experienced significant and ongoing growth. Decisions like these mean you risk upsetting some church members and having to bear their ire. Tough? Absolutely. Necessary? Without a doubt.

Ultimately, the question isn’t whether you’re busy – the question is whether you’re busy doing the right things. Your behaviors either reflects the mission or exposes the gaps between what you say you value and what you actually prioritize. So, what changes will you make today to bring your values into alignment with your mission? Because the truth is, your mission can’t wait for tomorrow.

Wrap Up

Here’s the bottom line: mission has to drive everything. Or at least, it should. If the mission is to make disciples – and it is – then every belief, every value, and every behavior must align with that purpose. Anything less is a distraction.

As a pastor, your job isn’t just to uphold the mission; it’s to live it. Your calendar, your priorities, and your day-to-day behaviors need to reflect your commitment to reaching the unchurched and discipling the found. If they don’t, it’s time to take a hard look in the mirror and ask yourself: “What do my actions say about my true values?”

Realignment isn’t easy. It means making bold, often uncomfortable decisions. It means upsetting routines and risking pushback. But here’s the truth: growth doesn’t happen in comfort zones, and the mission can’t wait for everyone to get on board. To use Jim Collin’s Bus Analogy, your job is to set the direction of the bus, to get the right people in the right seats, and then to close the doors and drive away. Sometimes, that means leaving those who refused to get on the bus back at the bus stop. In other words, pastor, it’s time to drive!

So, here’s the challenge: take stock of your values, both personal and organizational, and compare them to the mission. Where do they align? Where do they fall short? Then get serious about making the changes starting today. At the end of the day, it’s not your intentions or your words that define you; it’s your actions. And in this case, those actions must make disciples.