Here are a number of values that guide our choices and actions in NLV. They are being REAL, RELEVANT, AND RESPONSIVE.

BEING REAL
We value a fellowship where real people live real lives through seeking and knowing a real God who wants to meet us in a real and lasting way!

Being real for us means “no hype, no manipulation” in our meetings, during worship, and when praying for one another. We do not try to drum anything up or do things for “religious effect”; rather, we, like Jesus, look to the Father to see what he is doing at any given point in time, and we try to get on board with what God wants to do.

We don’t pretend to be someone else with God or with each other. It is important that our words and deeds match up.

Being real with one another shall be seen in the way we talk, dress, pray, and act. We shall relate to one another in an honest and open fashion. We are honest about our struggles. We accept brokenness in each other. Real questions can be asked, real lives are mended, real (tangible) help are offered when we see needs, and people can have real conversations about life and eternal issues.

BEING RELEVANT
We value a fellowship that is relevant.

People ought to be able to walk off the street into our meetings and not feel out of place or like they have stepped back in time a hundred years. God is already relevant so we don’t need to make God relevant, but sometimes we need to be careful not to become stumbling block to others. We aim to create an atmosphere where everything from our language, our dress and music are in touch with the current culture of our community. This is why we have a simple auditorium without any ornate decorations or religious symbols, and we dress casually, allowing people to “come as they are.”

We shall make every effort to make the Christian message as simple and easy to understand as possible, and relevant, presenting real (biblical) answers to the issues that challenge people living in the community. Singapore is a great country where hard work pays, i.e. success and the good life can be got if you set your mind to it and apply yourself. Our great challenge to being relevant is to demonstrate that God’s grace and favor is far better and that a relationship of intimacy and trust with God is best. We shall demonstrate the reality, goodness, power and love of God, and share how he will work powerfully in our lives.

BEING RESPONSIVE
We value a fellowship that is responsive and dynamic.

We love God and others and tell his story because he first loved us. We do what we do because we have experienced for ourselves the goodness, mercy and justice of God, among other things. We expect that God’s presence, power and grace can breakthrough at any time into our lives and circumstances.

We shall be responsive to the Holy Spirit’s daily leading of our personal lives and of the fellowship. We shall do the stuff that Jesus did in response to the Spirit of God coming upon us.

We tell others of our story because he has made us into oaks of righteousness, given us crowns of beauty instead of ashes, oil of gladness instead of mourning, a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.

We don’t see ministry as being church bound, that is, something just done in our meetings, because God is always working. Our Father in heaven is intent on advancing his kingdom on earth. So too we shall be intent as we go on our way every day, in our neighbourhood, school and workplace. We shall join in his work whenever we see the Father at work. Everyone here gets to play a role to continue the co-mission started by Christ.

We value a climate in the fellowship where service is eagerly volunteered. People function as leaders without waiting for appointments and wanting titles. The opportunity to build church from the bottom up is welcomed.

We value people and prefer to promote people rather than programs. When a person has shown passion and leadership for a particular ministry project (say a Mercy Works project), we shall rally behind that person and affirm him or her. We shall do what we can to fulfil God’s destiny for each person in the fellowship.

Everybody needs a skeleton and a church body is no different. We need a structure to function effectively but we believe that organization should always follow organism. In other words, we need enough organization to hold God’s activity, but the structure should never take precedence over God’s movement or be a substitute for God’s activity. As such, we shall maintain as little structure as possible to get the job done, and build structures that enhance rather than stifle ministry and relationships. This means everyone shall have a really short line to the pastor!