CORE IDEOLOGY, as well as its implications, is reflected within any organization in:

Learning the "ropes" of an organization is becoming familiar with these more or less implicit, undefined understandings of the way a community or group thinks and acts. It's "just the way we do things." EVERY group, association, community, church, and organization has its own distinct culture. What matters and what doesn’t matter, what is appropriate or inappropriate, are reflections of organizational culture.

SANCTUARY is both our identity and our culture.

A sanctuary is a safe place of refuge and personal protection, where inhabitants are free to live and grow without fear of threat from the outside world.

Sanctuary is our way of life for those within the community and those we connect with outside the community. It is the way we think and act and interact. Sanctuary -- "safe, sensitive, and non-judgmental" -- is our culture.

The stories we celebrate are those that reflect our core values and beliefs. Stories that stir our hearts with compassion and/or anger are those that violate our core values and beliefs. These are all “Sanctuary Stories”.

Sanctuary is, admittedly, a paradox. It is protection from the threat of the outside world – a safe haven, a sheltered harbor. In this way it is fundamentally exclusive. Yet it is the outside, unchurched world TO which and IN which Sanctuary is offered and happens.

Sanctuary is less a program than a way of life, less a place than a presence. It is both verb -- something we do -- and noun -- a condition that exists. It is both human construction and the activity of God in human relationships. Sanctuary exists where people feel unthreatened, safe, and valued -- whether they deserve it or not.

When Jesus came to the defense of a woman caught committing adultery when the church leaders of that day were ready to stone her to death, he said, "Whoever is without sin, let them cast the first stone." And all the accusers slowly drifted away. In that moment, Jesus embodied the culture we call Sanctuary. It is this Jesus we seek to honor and imitate.

In Sanctuary we provide personal and emotional safety in Christian ministry to others – unchurched and churched – since this is simply who we are and what we are. Because this is who and what Jesus was. Sanctuary adapts to context and is, therefore, dynamic.

For one person Sanctuary is encouragement and affirmation of worth. For another it is touch, a handshake, or a smile of personal validation. For still another it is listening with unconditional acceptance and non-judgment, demonstrating the unmerited favor of Jesus Christ. And under the right circumstances, it is sharing our faith and understanding of the gospel. Sanctuary is the love of Jesus Christ.

This is our ministry and mission. Sanctuary is what we seek to more effectively penetrate and permeate North America with. More Sanctuary in individuals, in relationships (including marriage), in organizations and in society as a whole.