Just as with individuals, values play an important part in the outworking of a movement, and that’s why we’ve recently taken time to stop, consider and reiterate the values that we hold collectively as Scripture Union England and Wales.

As we explored, one thing became immediately clear – the six values that we’ve now defined (see below) are not new values for Scripture Union. Far from it, in fact. Instead, we discovered that the values we hold dear today are values that SU has held for more than 150 years, right since our early days as the Children’s Special Services Mission. Whether they’ve been explicitly articulated over the years or not, the ‘new’ values are portrayed in the stories of what God has been doing through SU across the decades.

Perhaps then, you’re asking why we are bothering to articulate them now. Apart from being a good reminder to us all of who we are, we’ve had the chance to consider how our values are reflected in our actions and behaviours as a movement – does what we do communicate who we are and vice versa? And we’ve been able to look at the long-held principles of Scripture Union too, to make sure we continue to demonstrate those in our work. Our heritage is so important to us!

We have defined six core values that help shape and drive us…

We serve the living God, depending on him in faith, and trusting him to transform us and the lives of those we work with.

God first. Always. We believe that Scripture Union’s mission is God-given, and that we as individuals and as a movement are called to serve and glorify him as we make him known to the 95% of non-churchgoing children and young people in England and Wales (‘the 95’). Everything we do is done in, through and for God. As it says in 2 Corinthians, ‘For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God and they will be my people.”’ (2 Cor 6:16)

Day to day, this will be evident in how SU staff and volunteers approach the work – we ensure that everyone here feels called to play their part in SU, and can see how the work they do contributes to God’s overall mission here.

We are rooted in the Bible, seeking a sound understanding that is applied in daily living and encouraged in the lives of others.

With a name like Scripture Union, it’s probably not a surprise that the Bible is one of our values! It’s also key to our overall mission as a movement, which is ‘to create opportunities for children and young people to explore the Bible, respond to Jesus and grow in faith’. We don’t just want them to hear about Jesus, we want them to encounter him for themselves through the Bible.

When Jesus met some of his earliest followers on the road to Emmaus, even he used the scriptures to explain who he was (Luke 24:27) so it makes sense that we would do the same. Ever since Annie Marston created the Bible cards for children back in the late 1800s, we’ve been helping children and young people (as well as the not-so-young!) to dig deeper into the Bible and understand it better. Today we still publish the Bible, but our key focus is on helping the 95 to engage with Jesus through the Bible.  As a staff team, we meet every day at the beginning of the day to study God’s word together. We also ensure that all of our resources are rooted in the Bible, so that everything we do comes from there.

We trust in the power of prayer, embedding it into everything we do.

Philippians 4:6 says ‘Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.’ When the Bible tells us to present every situation to God, it’s easy to see how that then becomes one of our values. It’s a constant reminder for us, that we don’t work in our own strength, but in God’s strength, doing the work that he calls us to do. By bringing all of that to him in prayer, we trust him to guide us as we do it, to provide all that is needed and to use what we offer for his purposes.

When we meet every day to study the Word, we also pray together – for the 95, for the Faith Guides and churches who we partner with, for our supporters, our work and anything else that comes up. We come together to bring everything to God, trusting him with it all. It’s also why we include daily prayer requests in Connecting You, our quarterly supporter magazine and on our online Bible reading Guide, Word Live.

We share God’s heart for children and young people, demonstrating his love to them and inviting them into lifelong relationship with Jesus.

Way back in 1867, as SU’s founder Josiah Spiers wrote God Is Love in the sands at Llandudno, the focus of our mission has been children and young people. We believe wholeheartedly that there is no age limit for a relationship with God, and that the youngest generations need to hear and respond to the invitation that God gives, especially today as a staggering 95% don’t go to church. In Mark 10:13-16, Jesus makes it quite clear that children are welcome in the Kingdom of Heaven, and in Matthew 18 we see him exhorting us adults to become more childlike as we receive it. In fact, he goes further than that in warning against anyone who obstructs children in their belief in him (Matthew 18:6-7) and we take that very seriously at Scripture Union.

That’s why we work so hard to provide activities, resources, holidays, events and more, all designed to help children and young people get to know Jesus in a way that’s appropriate to their age, ability and interests. Our aim is to help them build a faith that lasts a lifetime.          

We work to create a safe and caring culture in all we do, reflecting God’s heart as we strive to excel in the mission he has called us to.

We believe that God calls us to love one another, and that love extends to how we treat and care for one another. As John writes, “let us not love with words or speech, but with actions and in truth.” (1 John 3:18), So we take our responsibilities seriously, making sure that our culture and activities are safe and caring environments for children, young people, volunteers and staff alike. It’s why we continue to strive for excellence in our safeguarding policies and practices, complete risk assessments and health and safety audits for all activities and maintain our first aid and mental health first aid qualifications within the team. It might sound like a lot of training and admin, but it’s part of our practical outworking of God’s love.

We invest in relationships to advance mission opportunities, empowering each other in the Kingdom.

We’re really excited by our God-given mission to share his good news with the 95, but it’s a huge task and not one we can accomplish on our own. That’s why we are committed to working in relationship with others; with individuals as Faith Guides or volunteers at events, with churches who share our vision and calling, and with other organisations who also hold this common goal. It’s this unity that we read about in Ephesians 4 where, ‘speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.’ (Ephesians 4:15-16). At the time of writing, we’re in relationship with hundreds of Faith Guides and their churches, as well as working partnerships with several like-minded Christian organisations.

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We hope, as you’ve read through these six values, that you’ve seen the SU you know and love in them. It’s our prayer, firstly, that we’ll already be living out these values as we work, and secondly, that we’ll continue to grow in each one of them, with God’s help. We’re so grateful for your partnership and support as we do. Please continue to pray for SU’s work as we demonstrate God’s love to the 95 through who we are, how we act and what we say.