I write today, therefore, not about the sins of others, but about my own. If our core values have been less than they could be or should be, or if they have been trampled upon rather than undergirded and supported by leaders, I have been among those responsible. These characteristics of people and organizations are very important. Our core values are not listed together in one place. They permeate our tradition, our discussions, our General Conference legislation, and all we are and do.
Any list is an extrapolation and biased by the one reporting.
Further, since core values are often underneath our consciousness, no list is complete. Finally, all discussions of values lead to dissension and disagreement, simply because of our propensity to confuse the ideals we hold and the way we butcher those ideals in our present actions. If, as an example, I say that hospitality is a core value, then someone else will automatically disagree because he or she has not experienced The United Methodist Church as hospitable. The list could, of course, be much longer. But my longing is to narrow the longer list of values to a shorter list of core values.