These questions are straight from Jim Collins, tweaked a bit for the ministry context.
What's fun about Jim (and a bit different from my style) is that he could care less how the core values sounds— he just wants raw clarity. One exercise he does to really test values is to run each individual value through a series of seven, "yes or no" questions. Each person should take 5-10 minutes and record their responses for each of your ministry's values. (So if you have 5 core values, you will have 35 "yes or no" responses.)
Core Value: ________________________________
- YES / NO If you were to restart your ministry, would you built it around this core value?
- YES / NO Would you want your ministry to stand for this core value 100 years into the future, no matter what changes occur in the outside world?
- YES / NO Would you want you ministry to hold onto this core value, even if at some point if became less attractive to the public—even if in some instances your ministry was penalized or persecuted for living this core value?
- YES / NO Do you believe that those who do not share this core value—those who breach it consistently—simply should not be leaders in your ministry?
- YES / NO Would you personally continue to hold onto this core value even if your were not rewarded for holding it?
- YES / NO Would you change jobs before giving up this core value?
- YES / NO If you awoke tomorrow with more than enough money to retire comfortably for the rest of your life, would you continue to apply this core value to your productive activities?
After each person records their responses for each value individually, have them write on a board, only values that they recorded a "yes" to for every question. Your true team core values will be the ones where 2/3 or your leadership write on the board. That is, 2 of every 3 leaders (staff, elders, etc.) said yes on every question for this value. Make you final list of the authentic core values.