Christian Distinctives

Our Ethos

Agapé believes that our ethos emerges from a desire and motivation to obey Christ’s command to go into all the world and make disciples (Matt 28:19-20) and to love one another (Jn 15:17); both those we seek to reach outside the organisation, and to reflect this love internally in our relationships with one another.

The motivation for our mission comes from Christ’s love compelling believers (2 Cor 5:14) and is therefore an expression of our faith in Christ. This faith produces a distinctive heart attitude of love, which is characterised by the following values and behaviours:

• Christ Likeness - seeing the image of God increasingly evidenced and developed within individuals (Rom 8:19-21) through the empowering of the Holy Spirit (Eph 5:18)
• Christ Directed Behaviour - out of our love for Christ, we recognise the unique contribution of each person, helping them realise their full potential as individuals and maximising their effectiveness (Eph 4:15-16)
• Christ Centred Community - our love for Christ has its focus and outworking in sacrificial love for one another (1 Jn 3:23). We recognise both our complete dependence on Christ as our head, and our interdependence on each other whom we seek to serve and submit to (Gal 5:13, Eph 5:21) as members of one body.

These values and behaviours are intrinsically linked to both the success and fulfilment of our mission and also the attitude and motivation of our staff. The way our mission is achieved is as important as the mission itself (Jn 13:34, Matt 22:36-39, 1 Cor 13:1-2).

As this attitude and motivation come only from a relationship with Christ, it becomes a genuine occupational requirement that all our core staff (as defined in Agapé’s justifiability policy) have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and are committed to obeying all his commands (Jn 14:23). It is also essential that this relationship continues to grow and these attitudes and behaviours are evidenced in increasing measure. The success and furtherance of our mission require our staff to act in good faith and with loyalty to this relational ethos and to evangelical Christian standards of behaviour. Failure to do so may result in disciplinary action. (See Code of Conduct)

Notwithstanding this, the organisation is committed to diversity amongst its staff and volunteers and will not discriminate on grounds that are unrelated to our ethos. (See Diversity Policy)

Attachments are not shown but may be available on request from info@christiandistinctiveness.org