Clothing. "What do I wear?" At Agathos, clothing styles range from very casual to nice casual. Contemporary styles are perfectly acceptable, even those that may be considered somewhat edgy. If there is a problem, we will let you know in a respectful way, but unless there is something offensive printed on your clothes, chances are anything will okay. If you would wear it at the mall and nothing offensive is printed, you can count on it being okay.

Equipping. "What will I learn?" Agathos is an equipping church. We teach practical skills that you can apply to your personal life and that you may use to help others. We shy away from "trite spiritual clichés," preferring to teach practical techniques instead. If we use what sounds like a cliché, we'll explain exactly how to do it.

Leadership. "Who will I become?" Agathos has a Leadership Culture. It starts with learning in such a way that you may teach. Then it goes to helping, then leading. We teach everyone, men and women, adults and teens, to be leaders - not just in church, but in all areas of life. Husbands are expected to be the leader in the home, and this is accomplished by rising up to leadership, not by holding a wife back. As a generalization, we believe that most women want to be able to unleash their potential and still have a man who can lead them. We teach people how to unleash their potential, and how to lead those whose potential is unleashed.

Responsibility. "What is expected of me?" A basic responsibility is making choices. We expected our people to exercise Will Power ("I will stick to what it right no matter what I feel"). We expect our people to look for personal responsibilities in Scripture, not for things to impose on others. Example: If the Bible says "Wives submit to your husbands" an Agathos husband's attitude would be "I need to lead so she can submit more easily."

Applied Creationists. Most Christians believe that God is Creator. One of the unanswered questions is often "So what?" If God designed and engineered the system, then that means something. Even though it doesn't work quite as smoothly as it did when first created, a huge number of principles still work very effectively. Math answers don't change. Physics are not subject to whim. God's Ordered universe works on Principles, and aligning with those Principles is aligning with God. Henry Blackaby (author of Experiencing God) said "An encounter with the Truth doesn't LEAD to an encounter with God, it IS an encounter with God."

Royal Knight. This is the image we use to understand what is expected of us. The Bible calls God the King of Kings, and it says we are adopted by Him as His children - thus we use the image of a noble Prince or noble Princess. He is a King, and we are His servants, and using a Servant Warrior ideal - we use the image of a Knight. As Royalty, we should be responsible, thinking about those for whom we are responsible, thinking about how we represent our King (God) and our Family (Christianity). As Knights, we should be chivalrous warriors, strong and capable, training and honing our skills to be of better service to our Lord and King.

Ladies and Gentlemen. We look for one's leadership potential to be unleashed, and we look for a warrior's attitude in all things. At the same time, as befits both royal and knightly behavior, we are ladies and gentlemen. Gentlemen should open doors for ladies, who, in turn, should respond with a polite thank you. Gentlemen should help ladies off with their coats, and be generally helpful. Ladies, in turn, should be gracious and kind as well. In short, men and boys should behave in Gentlemanly ways, and women and girls should be Ladylike. This is tempered with our warrior ideals, since even very feminine women are still encouraged to be warrior-like, too. If this seems contradictory, keep in mind that our view of "Nice" and "Safe" isn't emotional and weak. Many of the women in leadership are martial arts instructors, and while ladylike, feminine, kind, and loving - they are by no means weak. Likewise, the knights of Europe and the Samurai of Japan each had strict codes by which they lived (chivalry in Europe, bushido in Japan) that included courtesy, good manners, protecting the weak, honoring ladies and service.

Compliments and Positive Humor. Agathos has a very encouraging culture. We give compliments easily, and we take compliments graciously. When we joke, we do so in a positive manner. Society has enough people trying to cut people down, make fun of them, and insult them. At Agathos, we are a place people can expect the best in them to be recognized by others. Feel free to compliment others all you like. Accept compliments graciously when given to you. No negative humor - yes, it can be funny - but it's also hurtful. When others make fun of us, we know we would prefer they saw good in us, not just bad. Likewise when we deal with others. If you want to be humorous, do so in a complimenting, positive manner.

Gossip, Prayer Requests, and Illustrations. "Be loyal to the absent." If you would not say something in front of the person about whom you are talking, then perhaps you should not be saying it at all. Our basic Gossip Rule is "If I'm not part of the problem or part of the solution, OR you're not part of the problem or part of the solution - then I probably should not be saying anything." If you hear anyone gossiping, always ask if the person he/she is talking about knows that this is being shared. If it reflects badly on someone, or it's very personal in nature, it probably should not be shared. Many relationships have been destroyed and people damaged by gossip, and gossip has a tendency to be untrue. That's why we always go back to the source. Gossip should not be disguised as a "prayer request" or as an illustration for a story.

Sermon Illustrations. "The Principle is important, not the people." If a real life story is being used that will reflect badly on someone, and there is any possibility that someone will know whose story is being told, the leaders reserve the right to modify the story to disguise the identity of the people involved. He may become she, a business partnership may be a marriage - whatever changes will help make the people unrecognizeable and still illustrate the principle. However, when it's a good example, we try to identify the people. Everyone should be confident that if we are talking about you - we're sharing good things. If we're not sharing good things, we won't say who we're talking about.

Basic Guidelines of Agathos philosophy of Interpretation

Action over Expectation
Active over Passive
Advance over Retreat
Change Self over Change Others
Character over Begrudging Obedience
Complete over Simplistic
Conquer over Withdraw
Design Faith over Intervention Faith
Fact over Feeling
Faith over Disbelief
Freedom over Law
Give over Receive
Glorify God over Diminish God
Hard Truth over Easy Cliché
Inclusive over Exclusive
Intelligent Faith over Blind Faith
Joy over Complaint
Love over Hate
Objective over Subjective
Reconcile over Tension
Responsibility over Right
Seek Value in Opposition over Attack
Strength over Safety
Stewardship over Trust
Trust over Challenge
Understand over Caricaturize
Who You Are over What You Do

AND THE FLASHPOINT OF CONTROVERSY...

We believe that anything the Bible says is sin - is sin. Period. So murder, for example, would always be sin no matter what someone felt about it.

We also believe in a principle called Whatever is Not of Faith is Sin. This means that if you believe it's wrong, then it's wrong for you.

An area in which we've taken a LOT of fire is a simple idea: women's swimwear. Strangely, some of our most passionate attackers have wives, daughters, and daughter-in-laws who follow our rule, and they allow it, but for some reason it's wrong for us to actually SAY it's okay.

This is what it has been all about: Bikinis. We believe that bikinis are pretty ordinary swimwear in Southern California, so we believe it is okay for a Christian woman to wear a bikini if that is her normal swimwear. Based upon our experience, most Christians don't actually have a problem with this idea - but a huge number of people in Christian leadership do. It's pretty amazing. Pastor Conway ended up putting together a 16 page report to thoroughly explore the subject. It is available here in .pdf. Strength vs. Safety.