June Hopelines 2025

About a year ago, some of the LHNM Board, the Executive Council, and I got together and spent time seeking God and putting core language around what we value as a ministry. I was so encouraged by the process and am excited to share our core values with you at this time. It isn’t a radical departure or shift from what we’ve been doing, but the exercise of putting language to our values really helps anyone connected to LHNM know what we’re about, and helps the leadership determine where we want to go next. At one point in the exercise we had over 100 words written down on separate 3”x5” cards and sticky notes. After getting all of our values written down we discussed the words, grouped like ones together, and then grouped similar terms that were distinct into four categories. 

Our core values aim to provide our staff, volunteers, and board with a common language that we can use to help make decisions and to ensure what we are doing lines up with who we intend to be. Our values help guide us to be able to accomplish our mission well. With a rich and diverse ministry history we realize that in order to be effective in acting out and working with these values they should be acted out with a spirit of humility, attempting to be relevant to our context, driven by our mission, and be done with, by and for First Nations believers. 

1. Living by Faith

Our life in ministry must be one that is reliant on and driven by our relationship with God. We value being a community of believers that are striving to live by faith in Jesus. One main component of this value in action is how much time we are dedicating as a team to praying for our ministry.  

2. Relationships

Our ministry is with people and it is highly relational. Relationships take time and effort to develop and nurture them. We are committed to long-term involvement in people and communities for the sake of the Gospel.

3. Integrity

We lose our witness to others when we are not living with the utmost integrity. That’s not to say that we do everything perfectly all the time. We recognize we aren’t perfect (far from it, actually) but when we do fail we need to own up to our mistakes, learn from them, ask forgiveness and move on, striving to be the best we can be each day through the power Christ gives us.

4. Development 

We want to be helping people reach their full potential, whether it’s staff learning new skills, or people we come into contact with moving towards God. God’s kingdom is expanding here on earth and we want to be good stewards of what he has entrusted us to do. We are excited to see First Nations believers growing in their faith and leadership skills.  

I’m so encouraged to be part of an organization that strives to champion these values. I’m excited to see where God will be leading us in the future. May he be glorified more and more in our lives every day!

Andrew lang