We value many things at Living Waters; however, there are some things that are particularly important to us — we call them our core values.  These core values are guiding principles that dictate our behaviour and actions; they reflect the kind of congregational culture that we value, the spirit in which we do things, and the way we relate to one another.  They also act as sign posts as we move forward together.

Anglicanism:   Anglicanism is both ancient and reformed, and embraces the three streams of historic Christianity: Evangelical, Anglo-Catholic, and Charismatic.  We value the earliest teachings of the Church consistent with Scripture, as expressed in the historic creeds.  We also value the Protestant Reformation of the Church, when the Reformers sought to recover the clarity of the Gospel.  As Anglicans, our lives are shaped by the Bible, the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and the tradition of Common Prayer.  In our worship life, we seek to embrace the best of the historic teaching and traditions of the Church while welcoming fresh expressions of the Holy Spirit in our midst.

Authenticity: We desire to be the real thing — followers of Jesus who not only talk the talk, but also walk the walk.  We are not interested in any form of hypocrisy, wearing masks, or pretending that we have it all together. Transparency is important to us in our relationships with each other and we seek to be open and honest about how we are doing and what we are feeling. 

Community: We recognize that God has designed us to be together — that we were made for relationship and created for community.  At Living Waters we seek to care for one another and to honour one another.  We seek to be encouragers and to build each other up.  While we enjoy wonderful community together on Sunday morning as a large group, we also see community happening on an even deeper level in small groups and in places where we deliberately engage one another in meaningful relationship.  Our desire is to see everyone cared for and caring for others.

Generosity:  Jesus was generous and we too seek to be a generous people.  Generous as we give to the church and the work of God, generous with each other in ways that are surprising and a testimony to our love for one another, and generous with those around us, outside our church community.  We desire to be known for our generosity so that God may be glorified through us.

Healing: We are convinced that the fruit of God’s salvation, worked out in each of us, is wholeness in Christ, and we are committed to ministries which assist us and others to enter fully into this wholeness.  This includes one-on-one prayer for healing, healing events offered throughout the year, and opportunities for personal prayer appointments with clergy and lay leaders.  We desire to instill in all people an expectation to grow in one’s full potential in Christ — spirit, soul, and body.  In doing so, we believe that we are better able to live out the Great Commission and our ministry to the world.

Prayer: We believe that prayer is the most effective weapon that God has given us.  Unless we under gird all that we do in prayer, we will never live into the full potential to which God is calling us.  Living Waters has active intercessory prayer groups, an emergency prayer chain, and a gifted and committed healing prayer team.  We truly desire that Living Waters would be the “house of prayer” that God desires.

Proclamation: Believing that we are saved by God’s grace as appropriated through His gift of faith, we continually seek to proclaim, in word and deed, our faith in Jesus, through whom God’s grace has been manifested.  While desiring to respect the dignity and freedom of all people, we do not waiver from the Biblical perspective that there is no other Name by which one must be saved than that of God’s only Son, Jesus.  We are committed to providing opportunities for people to make the initial step of surrendering everything they are and everything they have to Jesus, and to encourage them in the ongoing working out of their salvation through increased intimacy with Him. 

Releasing: We believe that we have all been given gifts by God with which to serve one another, to help build the church, fulfill its vision to reach those far from God, and to help care for a hurting world–in short, to make a difference!  We value not only the recognition of these gifts, but also the releasing of these gifts.  When we are empowered and released in the things God has called us to, amazing and incredible things can happen!

Spiritual Formation: We are a people who desire to be more like Jesus.  Although we respect the notion that we are at different places along the road, we celebrate the fact that each of us has chosen the same path.  A path of experiencing God in His fullness, of learning to be Christ-like and then applying what we have learned in love.  We are a people who follow the ways of the Bible and understand that our spiritual formation is not complete without a disciplined life.  To know Jesus is to hunger for more, and we wish to be a people hungry for spiritual formation.

Truth: We believe that the Bible is the final authority in all things, and that the wisdom of God is found in the church’s traditional, historic applications of God’s Word in daily life as well as in the new work of the Holy Spirit on an ongoing basis.  It is our desire to provide opportunities for people to deepen their understanding of God’s Truth, as revealed in His Word, and to better apply this Truth in their everyday lives.

Worship: We believe that all life is to be lived out worshiping God — returning to Him a portion of the love that He has so richly bestowed upon us.  Primarily, we are called to worship God by giving ourselves as a living sacrifice.  Corporate worship lies at the heart of our shared life together, and whether traditional or contemporary; formal or informal it is conducted in away that brings honour, glory, and praise to God.  Central to our worship is the Word of God — which is read and proclaimed — and the sacrament of Holy Communion — the sharing in God’s divine life.  Through our worship we encourage people to “taste and see that the Lord is good.”