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Core Values of the New Jersey Synod

 

Core values are guiding principles that are essential and enduring, and provide guidance for all aspects of this expression of the church. Core values express what the organization stands for and how it will conduct itself. A set of Synod leaders, when asked to identify the core values of the New Jersey Synod, offered a variety of thoughts that were distilled into twenty value words (these are found in italics). The following core values describe what we are deeply passionate about as a Synod:

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FAITHFULNESS

Rooted and nurtured in relationship with God through Word and Sacrament, we follow Jesus for the sake of the world. Daily prayerful discernment and striving for excellence in discipleship move us forward into God’s future. 

 

GENEROSITY

To live is to give. Giving beyond expectation or reason can reflect the grace and compassion of the One in whose image we are made. 

 

RESPECT

This is about justice: justice for each child of God, honor especially for the least, and respect in all relationships so that they are life-giving, grace-filled, safe, and create peace, as the Creator intended. 

 

DIVERSITY

All of God’s children together express the wonder and majesty of creation. Life in community, fully and richly inclusive and marked by unfailing hospitality, is a sign of God’s Kingdom. 

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CHANGE

The Gospel is about transformation, stirred by the power of life over death. Hope-filled people can change; hopeless people cannot. 

 

INTERDEPENDENCE

Synod literally means to walk together. Our journey together is experienced as accompaniment, committed to collaboration, marked by multiplication, and blessed with synergy as we engage in God’s mission. 

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1930 State Highway 33

Hamilton Square, NJ 08690

609-586-6800

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© 2024 New Jersey Synod, ELCA
All rights reserved.

“Our synod office is located on land which is part of the traditional territory of the Lenni-Lenape, called “Lenapehoking.” The Lenape People lived in harmony with one another upon this territory for thousands of years. During the colonial era and early federal period, many were removed west and north, but some also remain among the continuing historical tribal communities of the region: The Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation; the Ramapough Lenape Nation; and the Powhatan Renape Nation, The Nanticoke of Millsboro Delaware, and the Lenape of Cheswold Delaware. We acknowledge the Lenni-Lenape as the original people of this land and their continuing relationship with their territory. In our acknowledgment of the continued presence of Lenape people in their homeland, we affirm the aspiration of the great Lenape Chief Tamanend, that there be harmony between the indigenous people of this land and the descendants of the immigrants to this land, “as long as the rivers and creeks flow, and the sun, moon, and stars shine.”

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