Strategies & Guiding Principles
Strategies
Strategies are specific to time and place, culturally informed and grow out of each faith communities strengths and giftedness. River of Joy uses different strategies in our kingdom work than our brothers and sister who are seeking the kingdom in Tanzania, in the urban core, or even down the road in Scott County.
River of Joy’s strategies are simple. We seek to:
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Keep Christ at the center of our activity and our discussions
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Engage our local and global community
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Develop the skills of teaching and passing faith in the home
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Grow God’s creative, redemptive, life-giving mission
Guiding Principles
Guiding principles help us as a community of faith to navigate our life together. Just like strategies, guiding principles are unique to each faith community as we collectively strive for a kingdom life together. As a community of faith, River of Joy seeks to creatively engage our local and global community through Christ. Our guiding principles:
WE GATHER TO GO
We come together as a community for the purpose of equipping each other to live fruitful lives in the world.
We come together as a community for the purpose of equipping each other to live fruitful lives in the world.
THE COMMUNITY IS THE CURRICULUM
We are a community committed to teaching and learning from each other as we move forward in a common life.
We are a community committed to teaching and learning from each other as we move forward in a common life.
WE PARTNER FREELY
We know we do not have the corner on kingdom living so we seek to partner with individuals and communities that are engaging in kingdom work.
We know we do not have the corner on kingdom living so we seek to partner with individuals and communities that are engaging in kingdom work.
River of Joy goals and measurements
Goals and measurements allow us to gauge the effectiveness of our strategies and our actions. Measurements can be “hard,” like the number of people, number of meals provided, or money given to support a cause. Measurements can also be “soft,” like hearts changed, relationships restored, or paradigms shifted.
As a community of faith, River of Joy sets goals and measures both “hard” and “soft” elements. Our primary “hard” measurement is the impact that we have in the world. How many meals did we provide? How many bikes did we repair and distribute? How many gifts did we give? How many dollars did we give away to fund water resources? On the “soft” measurement side, we measure transformation- of ourselves, our community, and the larger community that we engage.
We believe that measurement without a connection to vision and mission is useless. We place a primary value on the importance of being able to tell the story of Christ at work in us as a part of our goal setting and in the measurement of our effectiveness.
